Crime and Deviance Flashcards
Reasons for increase in crime rates
- More laws to break
- Better policing, more crimes are documented
Official Crime Rate
- Police recorded crime
- Court and prison records
British Crime Survey
- Victim surveys
- Self report surveys
Who came up with strain theory?
Robert Merton
Conformist
People who accept society’s goals and work hard to achieve them
Ritualist
People who do not aspire to society’s goals but accept the means of achieving them. They may do a job but are not interested in promotions
Innovators
Support the goals of society, but use criminal means to achieve them
Retreatists
Reject society’s goals and may be seen as drop outs (eg, alcoholics, drug users)
Rebels
These create alternative goals to those prescribed by society and may seek a counter culture.
What is strain theory?
A sociological theory that explains the relationship between social structure and deviance.
Criticisms of Strain Theory
- Assumes there is a consensus around goals and means
- Why do some turn to crime, but others not? (Too deterministic)
What is labelling according to interactionists in crime.
There is no deviance, there are only acts which are labelled as deviant.
Howard Becker ‘The Outsiders’
Social groups create deviance by creating the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance
Moral enforcers
Agencies such as media and police who have the power and resources to create and enforce rules.
Why do moral enforcers impose certain rules on people
Social control - rules are made by the rich and thus benefit them.
What are the 4 things Durkheim argued crime was?
- Inevitable
- Universal
- Relative (our attitudes to crime differ)
- Functional (has a role to play in society)
Kingsley Davis - Safety Valve
Deviance acts as a safety valve for society. Eg, prostitution has the positive function of relieving mens sexual tension
Boundary Maintenance
Crimes that provoke an overwhelming response from society where the majority of people share the view that something is not acceptable. Promotes social solidarity
Adaptation and change
Actions which are initially seen as crimes, can show society there is a push to change status quo.
Hirshchi - Bonds of Attachment
What stops us from committing crimes is the ‘bonds of attachment’
What are the ‘Bonds of Attatchment”
- Attachment (family, friends)
- Commitment (future, career)
- Belief (honesty, morality)
- Involvement (social clubs)
