Crime and Deviance: Social Order/ Social Control

Question 1

What is a crime?

Answer 1

A behaviour which breaks laws and is punished by the legal system.

Question 2

What is deviance?

Answer 2

A behaviour which goes against the norms, values and expectations of a social group or society.

Question 3

Comparing crime and deviance:

Answer 3

Crime is mostly deviant, but not all deviance is criminal.

Question 4

Causes of crime and deviance:

Answer 4

• Offenders social background.
• Upbringing, Social position.
• Inadequate socialisation, poverty.

Question 5

The way society reacts to crime and deviance:

Answer 5

• Labelling Offenders.
• Treating them differently.

Question 6

How/why some acts are defined as a crime:

Answer 6

• Power to make and enforce the law.
• Criminalise threats to the interests of the powerful.
• Punishment avoidance.

Question 7

How are crime and deviance socially constructed?

Answer 7

They are created by social processes, rather than simply occuring naturally as a result they vary culturally and historically.

Question 8

How does crime vary historically?

Answer 8

It was a crime to be homosexual before 1967 because it was illegal.

Question 9

How does deviance vary historically?

Answer 9

It used to be viewed as deviant if a woman was wearing a skirt above her ankles in Victorian England.

Question 10

How does crime vary culturally?

Answer 10

Polygamy is illegal in the UK, but in many other countries it is legal.

Question 11

How does deviance vary culturally?

Answer 11

in the United States, Americans do not generally impose time-based restrictions on speech. However, in the Christ Desert Monastery, specific rules govern determine when residents can and cannot speak, and speech is banned between 7:30 pm and 4:00 am.

Question 12

How do cultural norms influence deviance?

Answer 12

Cultural norms are relative making deviance relative also.

Question 13

How are crime and deviance situation dependent?

Answer 13

They depend on the context of the interaction. For example, it is not deviant to swear at your mates but swearing at a teacher in school breaks norms, values, and expectations.

Question 14

Plummer (1979)

Answer 14

Made a distinction between situational dependence and societal dependence.

Question 15

Societal Deviance Plummer (1979)

Answer 15

Refers to acts which are seen by most members of society as deviant in most situations. E.g public exposure.

Question 16

Situational Deviance - Plummer (1979)

Answer 16

Refers to acts which are only defined as deviant in particular contexts. E.g. Being naked at home versus in public.

Question 17

What is Social control?

Answer 17

Refers to the various methods that are used to persuade or force individuals to conform to the dominant social norms and values of a society or group.

Question 18

How does Social Control happen?

Answer 18

Socialisation

Question 19

What is the aim of Social Control?

Answer 19

To avoid society collapsing into chaos and disorder and to maintain social order.

Question 20

What is Social Order?

Answer 20

A relatively stable society in which people generally comply with social norms and values.

Question 21

What are sanctions?

Answer 21

Rewards and punishments that reinforce social norms.

Question 22

Formal Sanctions

Answer 22

Carried out by an official agency e.g. fine for speeding.

Question 23

Informal Sanctions

Answer 23

Carried out by the public e.g. a pat on the back.

Question 24

Negative Sanctions

Answer 24

A punishment for deviating from the norm e.g community service for stealing.

Question 25

Positive Sanctions

Answer 25

A reward for conforming to the norm e.g. OBE.

Question 26

List ways in which Crime and Deviance are socially constructed:

Answer 26

• Culturally
• Historically
• Situationally

Question 27

Social Solidarity

Answer 27

Agreement among society’s members about what values are important, a shared culture.

Question 28

Value Consensus

Answer 28

The integration of people into society through shared values, a common culture, shared understandings and social ties that bind them together.

Question 29

Socialisation

Answer 29

The process of learning the culture of any society.

Question 30

Anomie

Answer 30

A sense of normlessness - confusion and uncertainty over social norms - often found in periods of rapid social change and other disruptions of routines and traditions of everyday life. e.g. death of the Queen.

Question 31

How does Functionalism see society?

Answer 31

• As based on value consensus; members of society sharing a common culture.
• They share the same norms, values, beliefs and goals. Sharing the same culture produces social solidarity; it binds individuals together, tells them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves.

Question 32

How does society attempt to achieve solidarity?

Answer 32

• Socialisation
• Social Control