AC2.3 Sociological Theories Flashcards
What is sociology
Study of society and human behaviour/relationships between individuals and agencies (e.g family, education)
Functionalism
- Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917)
- theory about how society and individuals operate
- society is based on value consensus - shared norms and values are agreed upon
- social stability - society is a stable structure due to shared norms
- deviant behaviour weakens norms (anomie) which could lead to society becoming dysfunctional
-e.g anomie London riots 2011 - some crime is beneficial:
-reaffirms social boundaries (social cohesion)
-social change keeps norms up to date
-deviance indicates an agency isn’t working
Functionalism evaluation
Strength
- some crime is good as it reaffirms boundaries and brings social change
Weakness
- portrays society as overly harmonious - underestimates amount of conflict in society
- too simplistic - we all agree on values with no freedom/decision making
Strain theory
- Merton (1968)
- deviance is a result of a strain between goals and the accepted means of achieving them
- different levels of society have goals relative to status (upper/lower class)
- relative deprivation - strain of legitimately achieving goals
If a goal can’t be reached there will be a reaction:
- conformity - conform to succeeding goals by legitimate means
- innovation - accept goals but reject legitimate means - crime
- retreatism - unable to achieve goals and withdraw from society - e.g drug addicts
- rebellion - reject goals and means - replace goals with alternative goals e.g political activist
Strain theory evaluation
Weakness
- exaggerates working class crime
-blames lower class that can’t achieve goals
-doesn’t consider upper class crime - doesn’t explain why people behave the way they do
-could be due to environmental or individualistic factors
Marxism
- Karl Marx (1883)
- theory about conflict between classes in a capitalist society
- ruling class exploits working class for profit causing inequality - wealth produced by businesses go to individuals who own it
- Bonger (1961) believes capitalism is based on selfishness/greed - working class is driven to crime due to desperate circumstances of exploitation
- marx argued capitalism is unfair - predicted a workers revolution - result in fair system/communism
-False class consciousness - working class is not aware of exploitation
-hegemony - ruling class values are forced on working class
-agencies are ideological state apparatus that work for ruling class
Marxism evaluation
- focuses on laws being beneficial for ruling class
- ignores ruling class crime
Marxism - zero tolerance policing
- police arrest discriminately - e.g 2011 riots minor offences were arrested
Strengths
- brings back order in society - e.g 2011 riots over in 4 days
- maintains law and order (right realism)
Weaknesses
- focuses on working class crime - ignores ruling class crime
- proves police are ideological state apparatus
Ineractionalism - labelling theory
- Becker
- a label is a reaction by society to a deviant/criminal act
- labels are used during interactions with others
Becker focused on Malinowski’s study on Pacific Island culture:
- incest wasn’t frowned upon if discrete
- if affair became too public, islanders reacted with abuse and ostracised offenders - e.g young man killed himself
- Becker concluded that society labels individuals as criminal
Labelling consequences - self-fulfilling prophecy
- label is given
- label is heard often so label is internalised
- label becomes ‘master status’ so you can withdraw from society
- define yourself as the label so you act upon it
- deviant acts are committed which reinforce the label
- self-fulfilling prophecy is created
E.g Cicourell - typical delinquent
- if a young person acts as a delinquent they’re labelled as criminal
- increases chances of getting arrested
Interactionalism evaluation
Weaknesses
- labels can be rejected
-not internalised
-Reiss studied male prostitutes that regarded themselves as straight despite having sex with men - deterministic
-implies that once labelled, deviant acts are inevitable
-no freedom of choice to change
Moral panics and deviance amplification
- Cohen
-
mods and rockers clash
-negative labelling ‘folk devils’ marginalised them causing police to crack down on crime
-led to more arrests and media exaggeration which increased public concern -
Marxism
-creation of moral panics is a form of social control to support ruling class against deviant working class -
interactionalism
-interested by the process of labelling deviance and the reaction of police/media as a result of the label
Realism theory
- practical view of crime which offers suggestions for policy change to reduce crime
- many government policies are inspires by realism - e.g neighbourhood watch
Left realism
- labour/left wing view based on inequality of opportunity
- finds root causes of crime and gives people opportunities
- main offenders are marginalised groups - poor/in disadvantaged communities with less opportunity
- awareness of poverty and inequality of wealth causes criminality
Marginalisation
- disadvantaged communities with less opportunity
- powerless to improve situation as they have no influence on politics
- e.g young people, unemployed, ethnic minorites
Left realism - relative deprivation
relative deprivation - how deprived someone feels compared to others
Lea and young argue:
- media promotes material possession
- but society is becoming more unequal (low pay, benefits cuts, etc)
- some won’t have the opportunity to afford the media promoted life style
