AC 2.3 - sociological Flashcards
Durkheim functionalist theory
- see society as a stable structure based on shared norms, values and beliefs of what is right and wrong
- this produces a social solidarity or integration (all members of society believe they belong to one unit)
- most people conform to society’s shared norms and don’t deviate
CRIME IS INEVITABLE
- some crime is inevitable as in every society some individuals are inadequately socialised and likely to deviate
- society contains many social groups with different shared norms
- this is call anomie (when shared norms become weakness)
THE FUNCTIONS OF CRIME
- boundary maintenance = crime produces a reaction which reminds the criminal of what is right and wrong
- social change = people must challenge existing norms and values in order for society to progress
- safety valve = some deviant acts can act as a safety valve as they allow people to release their urges without harming society
- warning light = deviance indicates that an institution isn’t functioning properly
Mertons strain theory
- the root cause of crime is due to the unequal structure in society
- focuses on the USA but can be applied to the UK
- American society values wealth and they should achieve things legally
- not everyone has an equal chance of achieving success
- opportunities for working class people are often blocked by poverty and inadequate socialisation
- this creates a strain between the goal of wealth and actually achieving it
- this causes crime and deviance
- those who achieve the goal legally are conformists
- Merton says those who can’t achieve it have 4 ways of adapting to the strain:
~ INNOVATION = accept the goal but find illegal ways to achieve it
~ RITUALISM = give up striving for success so carry on in a dead end job - RETREATISM = dropouts who reject both goals and means
- REBELLION = reject the existing goals by replacing them with new ones to change society
Merton - subcultural theories
- delinquent subcultures are groups whose norms and values are deviant
- these theories apply to the idea of a strain between goals and means
- key idea is that these subcultures let people gain status in illegal ways
Merton - subcultural theories - status frustration
Albert cohen
- he agrees with Merton but has other views too
- sees subcultural deviance as a group response to failure (not just an individual one)
- he focuses on non-utilitarian crimes
- says most working class boys end up at the bottom of schools hierarchy
- teachers may regard them as ‘thick’ and put them in lower sets
- leads to them suffering from status frustration ~ felling worthless
- subculture offers a solution as hey get an alternative status hierarchy by getting respect from their peers through delinquent acts
- it means they do they opposite of what society values e.g., society respects property so the subculture vandalise it
Merton - subcultural theories - 3 subcultures
Cloward and Ohlin
- they say that different neighbourhoods give rise to different types of deviant subcultures
CRIMINAL SUBCULTURES
- arise in areas where there is a longstanding professional criminal network
- select suitable youths for utilitarian crimes and a future criminal career
CONFLICT SUBCULTURES
- arise when the criminal opportunities are within street gangs
- violence provides a release for frustration and they earn a source of status from gangs
RETREATIST SUBCULTURES
- made up of dropouts who have failed both legal and illegal opportunity structures
- often based on drug use
Interactionism - labelling theory
- they see our interactions with one another as based on meanings or labels
- crime and criminals are social constructs that we create through our social interactions
- state that no act is deviant nor the criminal itself
- it only becomes so when we create rules and apply them to people
- to understand criminality we need to focus on how they get labelled in the first place
Interactionism - labelling theory - differential enforcement of the law
- Interactionalists argue that social control agencies label certain groups as criminal e.g., police
- this results in a differential enforcement
- this is where the law is enforced against one group more than others
- found that police arrests were based on stereotypes
- police have begun to use their typifications to arrest people
- these groups are more likely to be stopped, arrested and charged
Interactionism - labelling theory - labelling and self fulfilling prophecy
- by labelling someone as deviant, society encourages them to become so
- there are 2 types of deviance:
~ PRIMARY DEVIANCE = uncaught acts that haven’t been labelled and they dont see themselves as criminal
~ SECONDARY DEVIANCE = results from labelling, people may treat the person based off their label - offender may then become rejected by society and join a deviant subculture
- leads to a self fulfilling prophecy = they become what they have been labelled as
Interactionism - labelling theory - the deviance amplification spiral
- this is where they attempt to control deviance but it leads to an increase rather than a decrease
- prompts even greater attempts to control it and then more deviance occurs
- caused by 3 things:
~ Media exaggeration = causes growing public concern - Moral entrepreneurs = calls for a takedown from the police
- Negative labelling = label them in a particular way say they’re deviant
Interactionism - labelling theory - interactionism and crime statistics
- they next the use of statistic provided by the police
- say that statistics measure what the police do rather than what criminals do
- police typifications mean they spend more time looking for and arresting this group so statistics will be made up of these people
- statistics are a social construction not a true measure of crime
Marxism
- a structural theory
- argue that the unequal structure of a capitalist society shapes people’s behaviour
- they say society is divided into 2 classes:
~ the ruling capitalist class = own the means of production e.g., businesses, land
~ the working class = those who labour the capitalists exploit to make money - all institutions in a capitalist society work to maintain this inequality
- law and its enforcement by courts and police are ways of keeping the working class in their place
- the marxists view has 3 main elements:
~ capitalism causes crime
~ law making and law enforcement are biased
~ crime and law perform ideological functions
Marxism - capitalism causes crime
- believe all crime is inevitable in a capitalist society because its a crime causing system
- this is due to several reasons:
~ exploitation of working class causes poverty so they have to turn to crime to survive
~ capitalism pushed goods at people leading to utilitarian crime - inequality results in frustration leading to deviance
- capitalists can be money greedy leading to corporate crimes
Marxism - making and enforcing the law
- they see making and enforcing laws as serving the interests of capitalists
- William Chambliss argues that laws are made to protect private property of the rich
- e.g., there’s laws against squatting but the rich can own multiple houses
- very few laws challenge the unequal distribution
- believed that the law is enforced selectively
- laws go against the working class but the upper class e.g., white collar crime is less likely to be prosecuted than street crimes
Marxism - ideological functions of crime and law
- argue that ideas about crime and the law are an ideology (set of ideas that conceal the inequality in a capitalist society)
- selective law enforcement makes it look like crime is the fault of the working class
- encourages workers to blame working class criminals for their problems
- the ideology also shifts attention away from more serious crimes
Right realism
- they see crime as a growing problem, especially street crime
- mainly think of practical solutions to reduce crime
- best way to reduce crime is through control and punishment rather than rehabilitation
- reject the marxist view that poverty causes crime
- they say crime is a product of 3 things:
~ biological differences between individuals
~ inadequate socialisation
~ offending is a rational choice
Right realism - biological differences between individuals
- William and Hermstein said biological differences can make some people more likely to commit crime
- personality traits associated with criminality are innate e.g., aggression, low IQ
Right realism - inadequate socialisation
- effective socialisation can teach self control so reduce crime
- they see having a nuclear family as the best agency of socialisation
- Murray argues that an underclass is being made and they fail to socialise children properly
- absent fathers mean boys lack discipline and don’t see anyone support their family
- leads to them turning to delinquent role models
Right realism - offending is a rational choice
- rational choice theory (RCT) assumes we are all rational beings with free will
- committing a crime is based on rational thought of the consequences
- argue that crime rates are high because perceived costs of crime are low
- criminals see little risk of being caught and don’t expect severe consequences
Left realism
- see inequality in capitalism as the cause of crime
- the main victims are disadvantaged groups, working class, ethnic minorities and women
- crime rates are high in working class areas where unemployment and deprivation is high
- want to reduce crime levels by making society equal
- Lea and Young found 3 causes of crime: relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation
Left realism - relative deprivation
- crime has its roots in relative deprivation (how deprived or badly off someone feels in relation to others)
- found 2 factors that are increasing peoples sense of deprivation:
~ media pump out messages urging people to want material possessions via promoting
~ society is becoming more unequal due to cuts in benefits, unemployment, job insecurity and low pay - many people now have no chance of ever affording the sort of lifestyle the media portray
Left realism - subculture
- a subculture is a groups’s way of solving the problem of relative deprivation
- criminal subcultures share society’s materialistic goals but because legal opportunities are blocked, they turn to crime
- youths may find that they are denied access to well paid jobs because of discrimination or the poor quality of education they have received
- then leads them to crime to achieve the consumer goods they desire
- not all subcultures turn to crime, some may turn to religion to find comfort and an explanation for their deprivation
- may encourage conformity rathe than criminality
Left realism - marginalisation
- marginalised groups are ones that lack organisation to represent their interests and lack clearly defined goals
- jobless youths have no clear goals or organisations to represent them
- have a sense of powerlessness, frustration and resentment of injustice which they express through crime
Surveillance theories
- involves monitoring people to control crime
- look at the methods by which surveillance is carried out e.g., CCTV, tagging and databases
Surveillance theories - Foucault: the panopticon
- Foucault argues that we are increasingly controlled by surveillance through what he calls ‘disciplinary power’
- illustrates this by reference to a prison design known as the panopticon
- in the panopticon prisoners’ cells are visible to the guards from a central viewing point but the prisoners cannot see the guards.
- this means they don’t know if they’re being watched
- surveillance turns into self surveillance and discipline becomes self discipline
Surveillance theories - synoptic surveillance
- Mathiesen argues that as well as surveillance from above, we now have surveillance from on land
- this is where everyone watches everyone (synoptic surveillance)
- e.g., many drivers and motorcyclists have dashcams or cameras on
Surveillance theories - actuarial justice and profiling
- actuary is someone who calculates the risk of something happening
- e.g., the likelihood of your hose being burgled within the next 12 months
- this is seen as a new form of surveillance
- aim is to predict and prevent future offending
- uses statistical information to compile profiles of likely offenders and reduce crime
