AC2.3 and AC3.2 Describe and Evaluate Sociological Theories of Criminality

Question 1

Durkheim’s functionalist theory

Answer 1

Everything in society has a function.
crime is inevitable result of inadequate socialisation/anomie.

Question 2

Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Functions of crime

Answer 2

1. Boundary maintenance - crime unites society’s members against wrongdoers, reinforcing the boundary between right and wrong.
2. Social change - for society to progress, individuals with new ideas must challenge existing norms and values; this is deviance at first e.g. Rosa Parks.
3. Warning light - deviance indicates that a society isn’t functioning properly so action can be taken to fix it.

Question 3

Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Strengths

Answer 3

• First to recognise that crime can have positive functions for society, e.g. reinforcing boundaries between right and wrong by uniting people against the wrongdoers.

Question 4

Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Weaknesses

Answer 4

• Claims society requires a certain amount of deviance to function but offers no way of knowing how much is the right amount of crime.
• Crime might be functional for some, but it is not functional for the victims.

Question 5

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory

Answer 5

Everyone is encouraged to strive towards the American Dream of a big house, lots of money and cars. For some people society was not a place of equal opportunity. Crime is the result of unequal access to society’s goal of wealth. Not all have equal chance to achieve wealth, this creates strain for working class people who cannot access wealth legitimately.

Question 6

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Innovation

Answer 6

Accepts the goal but finds illegal ways to achieve it - utilitarian crimes.

Question 7

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Ritualism

Answer 7

Abandon society’s goals but will conform to approved means.

Question 8

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Retreatism

Answer 8

Reject approved goals and means.

Question 9

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Rebellion

Answer 9

Create their own sets of goals and means.

Question 10

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Conformity

Answer 10

Accepts approved goals and means.

Question 11

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Strengths

Answer 11

• Shows how both normal and deviant behaviour arise from the same goals. Conformists and innovators both pursue ‘money success’, but by different means.
• Most crime is property crime, because society values wealth so highly; working-class crime rates are higher, because they have less opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately.

Question 12

Functionalism - Merton’s strain theory - Weaknesses

Answer 12

• Ignores crimes of the wealthy and over-predicts the amount of working-class crime.
• Focus on utilitarian crime e.g. theft, ignoring crimes with no economic motive e.g. vandalism.

Question 13

Subcultural - Cohen: Status frustration

Answer 13

The result of people being unable to achieve societies’ goals by legitimate means is a sense of ‘status frustration’. Alternative means need to be used.
Crime is a group response to unequal access to society’s goal of wealth.

Question 14

Subcultural - Cohen: Status frustration - Subcultures

Answer 14

Offer a solution by providing an alternate status hierarchy in which society’s values are inverted - they gain status by being deviant.

Question 15

Subcultural - Cohen: Status frustration - Strengths

Answer 15

• Show how subcultures perform a function for their members by offering solutions to the problem of failing to achieve mainstream goals legitimately.

Question 16

Subcultural - Cohen: Status frustration - Weaknesses

Answer 16

• Ignore crimes of the wealthy and over-predict the amount of working-class crime.
• Assume everyone starts with mainstream goals and turns to a subculture when they fail to achieve them. Some people don’t share those goals in the first place; they may be attracted to crime for other reasons.

Question 17

Interactionism and labelling theory - Interactionism

Answer 17

Sees our interactions with each other as based on meanings or labels. Crime and criminals are social constructs.

Question 18

Interactionism and labelling theory - Labelling theory

Answer 18

No act is criminal or deviant in itself - it only becomes so when others label it as such.

Question 19

Interactionism and labelling theory - Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 19

When an offender is labelled, society’s reaction pushed them into further deviance. They live up to their label.

Question 20

Interactionism - Cohen: The mods and rockers

Answer 20

Media exaggeration caused growing public concern.
Negative labelling.

Question 21

Interactionism and labelling theory - Strengths

Answer 21

• Shows that the law is not a fixed set of rules but socially constructed.
• Shifts focus on how police create crime by applying labels - may explain why some groups are overrepresented in crime statistics.

Question 22

Interactionism and labelling theory - Weaknesses

Answer 22

• Deterministic, assumes we have no choice but live up to labels.
• Gives offenders a victim status.
• Fails to explain why labels are applied to some groups but not others.

Question 23

Marxism

Answer 23

Regards crime as the result of the type of economic system known as capitalism.

Question 24

Marxism - Capitalism

Answer 24

An economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Question 25

Marxism - Bourgeoisie

Answer 25

The rich, upper class.

Question 26

Marxism - Proletariat

Answer 26

The working class.

Question 27

Marxism - Capitalism is a criminogenic system

Answer 27

• Exploit people and make them poor, so crime becomes the only way to survive.
• Feelings of inequality and exploitation causes people to act in non-utilitarian ways to express their frustration.
• Capitalism encourages the profit motive and this promotes crime amongst business people such as white-collar crime or corporate crime.

Question 28

Marxism - Making and enforcing laws

Answer 28

Chambliss - Laws are made to protect the private property of the rich. There are laws against the homeless squatting in empty houses. No laws against rich owning multiple houses.
Selective law enforcement - White collar and corporate crimes of the rich are mush less likely to be prosecuted than working class ‘street crimes’.
Example: Carson - Out of 200 companies who had broken safety laws, only 3 were prosecuted.

Question 29

Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law

Answer 29

Ideology is used to hide the real impact of capitalism and the crimes of the powerful. The crimes of the working class (the proletariat) are often source of headlines and political discussion, rather than the crimes committed by large organisations or members of the elite.

Question 30

Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law - Benefit fraud vs Tax fraud

Answer 30

Tax fraud cost the UK £20 billion in 2018-19, 9 times more than benefit fraud (£2.2 billion).

Question 31

Marxism - Strengths

Answer 31

• Provides an explanation for crime that covers all social classes and variety of offences.
• Highlights the impact of selective law enforcement ad how white collar crime is under policed and corporate crime is rarely prosecuted.
• Demonstrates how the law reflects differences in power between the social classes and how inequality in society can lead to criminal behaviour.

Question 32

Marxism - Weaknesses

Answer 32

• Largely ignores other non-class inequalities such as gender and ethnicity.
• Overstates the amount of crime in working-class communities e.g. not all working-class people commit crime and not all capitalist societies have higher crime rates e.g. Japan’s homicide rate is only about 1/5 of the USA’s.

Question 33

Right realism - 3 causes of crime RIB

Answer 33

Rational choice theory - Deciding to commit a crime is a choice based on rational calculation of the consequences. Crime rates are high if the risk/cost of getting caught is low.
Inadequate socialisation - Effective socialisation reduces the chances of engaging in crime. Murray - welfare dependent, lone parents fail to adequately socialise their children and increase the risk of them offending.
Biological differences - Personality differences e.g. anger and low IQ lead to offending.

Question 34

Right realism - Strengths

Answer 34

• Offers a more practical approach to tackling crime that is mainly theoretical predecessors such as Marxism or labelling.
• Research by Flood-page et al (2000) supports the view of the decline of the family. The found children, particularly males, from lone-parent backgrounds.

Question 35

Right realism - Weaknesses

Answer 35

• Ignores wider structural causes of crime such as poverty.
• Not all crimes are the result of rational decision. Violent crimes are often impulsive. Offenders may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol so wouldn’t calculate the risks and rewards before offending.
• It fails to explain white-collar crime. Focus is on young males and street crime.

Question 36

Left realism - 3 causes of crime MRS

Answer 36

Marginalisation - Powerless people in society, powerlessness leads to frustration and pushes them to the edge of society. Feeling like an outsider leads to rejection or norms and values, resulting in deviant behaviour.
Relative deprivation - People recognise that they are less well off in comparison to others and may turn to crime to close the deprivation gap. Media is sending out messages of material possessions. People can’t afford this lifestyle.
Subcultures - Criminal subcultures share society’s materialistic goals - legitimate opportunities to achieve them are blocked so they turn to crime.

Question 37

Left realism - Strengths

Answer 37

• Explores the role of the victim of crime, especially the poor and the vulnerable, in much more depth than other theories.
• Realise multiple reasons for crimes - holistic.
• Draws attention to the reality of street crime and its effects, especially on victims from deprived groups.

Question 38

Left realism - Weaknesses

Answer 38

• Fails to explain white collar crime or corporate crime - reductionist.
• Over-predicts the amount of working-class crime - doesn’t explain why not everyone in relative deprivation turns to crime - reductionist and deterministic.