AC 3.2 Evaluation of sociological theories

Question 1

What are the strengths of Marxism’s theory?

Answer 1

-Does provide an expiation for crime that
covers all social classes and a variety if
offences
- Highlights the impact of selective law
enforcement and how white-collar crime is
underreported
-Demonstrates how the law reflects
differences in power between the social
classes. Also, how inequality in society can
lead to criminal behaviour

Question 2

What are the weaknesses of Marxism’s theory?

Answer 2

-Largely ignores other non-class inequalities
such as gender or ethnicity
-There are many prosecutions fir white-collar
or corporate crime.

Question 3

What are the strength of Interactionism (labelling theory)

Answer 3

-Shows how law is often enforced in a
discriminatory way. It highlights the
consequences of labelling
-Highlights weaknesses in official statistics,
which allow bias in law enforcement
-Highlights the role of media in defining and
creating deviance and for producing moral
panics

Question 4

What are the weaknesses of interactionism (labelling theory)

Answer 4

• Fails to explain why deviant behaviour happens in the first place. There is no acceptance that some people may choose deviance
• Ignores the victim of crime and focuses on the ‘criminal’ there is the potential to romanticise crime
• Criminals do not need a label to know they are doing wrong. Plus, labelling does not always lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 5

What are strengths of right realism?

Answer 5

-Helped produced and shape the
government’s research into crime. For
example, it has stimulated a range of victim
surveys and practical measures to combat
crime
-Offers a more practical approach to tackling
crime than its mainly theoretical
predecessors such as Marxism or labelling

Question 6

What are the weaknesses of right realism?

Answer 6

• Ignores wider structural causes of crime such as poverty

- Ignores the increasing gap between rich and poor creating resentment

Question 7

What are the strengths of left realism?

Answer 7

-Explores the role of the victim of crime,
especially the poor or vulnerable, in much
more depth than any other Criminological
theory
-Recognises multiple cases of crime
-Left realism avoids the worst excuses of both
right and left wing approaches by neither
glorifying nor attacking the police

Question 8

What are the weaknesses of right realism?

Answer 8

-Does not explain why everyone in relative
deprivation fails to turn to crime
-arguably made up of a mixture of other
theories pulled together
-Fails to explain white-collar or corporate
crime