Crime and deviance Flashcards
Anomie (Durkheim and Merton)
A Functionalist concept that Durkheim refers to a society that is in a state of normlessness, characterised by a lack of social cohesion and solidarity. Merton further suggested that anomie was caused by a strain between the goals of a society and the socially acceptable means to achieve them.
Boundary maintenance (Durkheim)
The Functionalist belief that the punishment for crime and the shared social condemnation reminds people of the limits in society.
Bourgeoisie
The Marxist term for the dominant social class in society, typically the middle-class.
Canteen culture
This refers to the way in which people working in a particular workplace can develop a shared set of values and prejudices, e.g. a conservative canteen culture is suggested as an explanation for police discrimination.
Chivalry thesis (Pollack)
This refers to how mostly-male law enforcement officers tend to attempt to protect women from the criminal justice system out of gentlemanliness, e.g judges and magistrates may take pleas for mitigation more seriously when the offender is female.
Criminogenic capitalism (Bonger)
The Marxist belief that capitalism causes crime by socialising the proletariat into a culture of greed and enabling their exploitation.
Crisis of capitalism
This refers to a persistent decline in economic activity (i.e. an economic recession)
Deviancy amplification (Becker)
The Interactionist belief that levels of deviance or crime can be increased by the societal reaction to deviance itself, e.g. Mods and Rockers.
Ideological state apparatus (Althusser)
The Marxist belief that the bourgeoisie’s formal institutions of social control maintain social control over the proletariat through ideology.
Institutional racism
This refers to a systemic form of racial discrimination that occurs within institutions, organizations, and social structures.
Law of opposites (Surette)
The notion that crimes that are commonly committed (e.g. property crimes) are rarely reported in the news, whilst those that are statistically less likely to occur are featured heavily. For example, violent and sexual crimes make up less than 5% of crimes committed in the UK, yet they account for nearly 45% of media coverage of crime.
Primary deviance (Lemert)
The acts that people commit before they are labelled as deviant.
Master status (Becker)
This refers to the main way in which we think of and identify ourselves.
Meritocracy (Parsons)
The functionalist belief that we all have equal opportunity to succeed as a result of merit and ability, rather than through our ascribed status.
McMafia (Glenny)
This refers to the organised criminal networks in Europe, operating similarly to a franchise such as McDonald’s.
Proletariat
The Marxist term for the less dominant social class in society, typically the working-class.
Repressive state apparatus (Althusser)
The Marxist belief that the bourgeoisie’s formal institutions of social control maintain social control over the proletariat through coercive power.
Secondary deviance (Lemert)
The subsequent deviant acts that an individual performs after being labelled as deviant.
Self concept (Becker)
This refers to the beliefs, feelings, thoughts, and images you hold about yourself (e.g. physical appearance, talents, etc.)
Self fulfilling prophecy (Merton)
This refers to when individuals accept the label they’re given and change their behaviour to reflect it, e.g. those labelled as ‘deviant’ are potentially more likely to commit further crimes.
Selective law enforcement (Snider)
The Marxist belief that law enforcers focus on policing the working-class, leading to more arrests for petty crimes than corporate and white collar crimes.
Social change
This refers to the ways in which a society develops over time to replace beliefs, attitudes and behaviours with new norms and expectations.
Social solidarity (Durkheim)
The Functionalist belief that there is a sense of unity and mutual support that binds members of a society together.
Spiral of denial (S. Cohen)
This refers to the process of how the state makes great efforts to conceal and justify their crimes, going through three stages: “It didn’t happen”, “It’s not how it looks” and then “It had to be this way”.
