crime and deviance

Question 1

Why does Durkheim say crime is inevitable?

Answer 1

Durkheim says crime is a normal, integral part of all healthy societies. He says it is found in all societies because
- not everyone is socialised into the same norms and values
- diversity means some subcultures have different norms and values
Modern societies tend towards anomie (normlessness) where the rules governing society weaken.

Question 2

What are the two positive functions of crime?

Answer 2

1. Boundary maintenance
   Crime unites the members of society in condemnation of the criminal, reinforcing solidarity through the courtroom which deters others from breaking the law.
2. Adaptation and change
   People with new ideas challenge existing norms and values, which appears as deviance. Neither a very high nor a very low level of crime is desirable:
   - too much crime breaks the bonds of society
   - too little crime means society is over-controlling its members

Question 3

Evaluate functionalist theories of crime.

Answer 3

• Functionalists explain crime in terms of its function eg strengthening solidarity. However just because it does this doesn’t mean it’s the reason for its existence.
• Functionalism looks at the functions crime serves for society but ignores how it may affect different groups within society.
• Crime doesn’t always promote solidarity and may actually lead to isolation of individuals instead.

Question 4

What does Merton’s strain theory say deviance is a result of?

Answer 4

Deviance is the result of a strain between:
- the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
- what the institutional structure of society actually allows them to achieve legitimately

Question 5

What is the American dream?

Answer 5

It tells Americans that society is meritocratic but denies opportunities to achieve legitimately. There is a strain between the goal of money success and the lack of opportunities which leads to pressure to resort to crime and deviance. This is alleviated by the American culture emphasising success at any price rather than through legitimate means.

Question 6

What are the 5 deviant adaptations to strain?

Answer 6

CIRiRetReb
Conformity
goals ✅ means ✅
Innovation
goals ✅ means ❌
Ritualism
goals ❌ means ✅
Retreatism
goals ❌ means ❌ (DROPOUTS)
Rebellion
goals ❌ means ❌ (CHANGE THE RULES)

Question 7

Evaluate Merton’s strain theory

Answer 7

• Marxists argue that Merton ignores the ruling class’ ability to make laws which criminalise the poor and not the rich.
• Assumes there is value consensus and ignores the fact that not everyone shares the same goal.
• Ignores the role of group deviance.

Question 8

What are subcultural strain theories?

Answer 8

Those which see deviance as the product of delinquent subcultures which provide an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve legitimately.

Question 9

What are Cohen’s ideas about Merton’s strain theory and status frustration?

Answer 9

He agrees with Merton that deviance mainly occurs within the lower classes but he criticises Merton on two grounds:
1. Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain but ignores the fact that it mainly occurs in groups
2. Merton focuses on utilitarian crime but ignores non utilitarian crime

Cohen says w/c boys suffer status frustration due to the lack of opportunities to achieve legitimately. They resolve this by rejecting m/c values and forming delinquent subcultures.

Question 10

What is an alternative status hierarchy?

Answer 10

The delinquent subcultures invert the values of mainstream society. Because they failed in the legitimate opportunity structure, they create an illegitimate one where they can win status from their peers. This becomes an alternative status hierarchy.

Question 11

Evaluate Cohen’s theory

Answer 11

+ It offers an explanation for non utilitarian deviance
x He ignores the possibility that w/c boys never accepted m/c goals in the first place and so don’t see themselves as failures.

Question 12

Explain Cloward & Ohlin’s ideas about 3 subcultures.

Answer 12

These subcultures form because of unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures:
1. criminal subcultures
give youths an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime in neighbourhoods with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime.

2. conflict subcultures
   arise in areas of high turnover which prevents a stable professional criminal network from developing
3. retreatist subcultures
   not everyone who wants to do professional crime succeeds. This means they are double failures who couldn’t succeed in both the legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures. They focus on illegal drug use.

Question 13

Evaluate Cloward & Ohlin’s theory

Answer 13

• Matza: most delinquents aren’t strongly committed to their subculture
• Miller: the lower class has a separate subculture which doesn’t value success so isn’t frustrated by failure

Question 14

What is a deviant according to Becker?

Answer 14

A deviant is someone to whom the label has been successfully applied.

Question 15

What are moral entrepreneurs?

Answer 15

They are people who lead a moral crusade to create a new law. This has two effects:
- the creation of ‘outsiders’ who break the new rule
- the creation of a social control agency who enforce the rules
PLATT: juvenile delinquency was created by a campaign by upperclsss victorian moral entrepreneurs to protect young people.
New laws come about from powerful people’s efforts to make a behaviour unacceptable.

Question 16

Who gets arrested?

Answer 16

Whether a person is arrested, charged and convicted depends on
- their interactions with agencies of social control
- their appearance, background and personal biography
- the situation and circumstances of the offence

PILIAVIN & BRIAR: police decisions to arrest a youth were based on time and plans, class, gender, ethnicity and physical cues.

Question 17

What did Cicourel say about the negotiation of justice?

Answer 17

Justice isn’t fixed but negotiable. Officers’ typifications make them focus on w/c people and areas, patrolling more intensively, leading to more arrests and confirmation of stereotypes. They see w/c youths as potential offenders and so won’t support non-custodial sentences for them.

Question 18

What is the social construction of crime statistics?

Answer 18

CICOUREL: official stats are socially constructed and don’t give us a valid picture of crime. Agents of social control are influenced by labels and typifications so the stats only tell us the activities of the police rather than the criminals.
Alternative statistics like self report methods are more valid. However people may lie, forget or conceal information.

Question 19

What is the dark figure of crime statistics?

Answer 19

The difference between the real rate of crime and the rate mentiomed in official statistics.

Question 20

What is primary deviance?

Answer 20

LEMERT: it refers to acts that haven’t been publicly labelled. Offenders can rationalise them and they have little impact on their status/self concept.

Question 21

What is secondary deviance?

Answer 21

It results from societal reaction. People may be caught deviating and publicly labelled and humiliated. The label becomes their master status and leads to a SFP where they feel they have to live up to their label. Further deviance caused by this is secondary deviance.

Question 22

Describe Young’s study into deviance

Answer 22

He studied hippy marijuana users who used drugs daily (primary deviance). Labelling made them see themselves as outsiders, creating a SFP. They formed a deviant subculture (secondary deviance).

x DOWNES & ROCK: we can’t predict whether someone who has been labelled will follow a deviant career because they can choose not to.

Question 23

What is a deviance amplification spiral?

Answer 23

A process in which the attempt to control deviance leads to an increase in the levels of deviance.

Question 24

Explain Cohen’s folk devils and moral panics study.

Answer 24

Press exaggeration and distorted reporting of the mods and rockers’ disturbances caused a moral panic. Calling them folk devils led to further marginalisation and more deviance.
LEMERT: rather than deviance leading to social control like functionalists say, social control actually leads to deviance.

Question 25

What are the two types of shaming according to Braithwaite?

Answer 25

1. Disintegrative shaming
   The crime and the criminal are both labelled as bad which leads to exclusion.
2. Reintegrative shaming
   The act rather than the actor is labelled as bad. This gives them a chance to be forgiven and readmitted into society but also recognise where they went wrong. Lowers the risk of secondary deviance.

Question 26

Explain the sociology of deviance in suicide

Answer 26

DOUGLAS: suicide stats are socially constructed. They tell us about the activities of those who construct them rather than the suicide rate. We must use qualitative methods to understand the labels coroners attach to deaths.

Question 27

Explain the sociology of deviance in mental illness

Answer 27

Interactionists reject official statistics and say they are socially constructed.
LEMERT studied paranoia and found that the primarily deviant act of person A not fitting in led to them being excluded which caused the secondary deviant act of negative responses from them. It became a cycle with the simultaneous confirmation that people are conspiring against person A aswell as the fears of other people for person A’s mental health.

Question 28

Explain institutionalisation in deviance.

Answer 28

Goffman’s asylums study had people admitted to total institutions:
- they underwent a mortification of the self
- degradation rituals took place
- inmates internalise their identity or resist the situation

Question 29

Evaluate labelling theory

Answer 29

• deterministic by suggesting a deviant career is inevitable once labelled
• ignores the fact that people may actively choose deviance
• focuses on less serious crimes
• fails to explain why people commit primary deviance before they are labelled.