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Sociology > CRIME AND DEVIANCE / THEORIES > Flashcards

CRIME AND DEVIANCE / THEORIES Flashcards

1
Q

Do functionalists believe in social facts or social constructs?

A

Social facts. Crime is a social fact that can be objectively measured

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2
Q

Do functionalists adopt causal or non-causal approach?

A

Causal approach. Crime arises from the weakening of social cohesion

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3
Q

What are the 2 mechanisms that create social solidarity?

A
  1. Socialisation - teaching norms and values
  2. Social control - formal and informal that rewards conformity and punishes deviance
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4
Q

Why according to functionalism crime is?
1. Functional
2. Inevitable
3. Necessary

A
  1. Functional - has a warning function
  2. Inevitable - not everyone is socialised the same way
  3. Necessary - provokes social change and strengthens social solidarity
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5
Q

According to Durkheim, what is the difference between crime rates in pre-industrial and modern society?

A

There was less crime in pre-industrial society
1. Pre industrial - mechanical solidarity = severe punishment
2. Modern society - complex = high risk of anomie

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6
Q

According to Durkheim, what are the 2 reasons why crime would be present in all societies?

A
  1. Different socialisation
  2. Deviant subcultures
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7
Q

According to Hirschi’s control theory, what are the 4 bonds of attachment?

A
  1. Attachment - caring about others
  2. Involvement - level of business interest in social life
  3. Commitment - personal investment in our lives e.g. mortgages, careers
  4. Belief - conviction that one should abide by the law
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8
Q

According to Durkheim, what’s the role of punishment?

A

To reaffirm society’s values, reinforce social solidarity and mend the offender

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9
Q

What did Erikson use to demonstrate the warning function?

A

Truancy. if students are absent, it suggests that something is wrong

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10
Q

According to Merton’s strain theory, what are the 5 modes of adaptation?

A
  1. Conformity - accept goals accept means
  2. Innovation - accept goals reject means
  3. Ritualism - reject goals accept means
  4. Retreatism - reject goals reject means
  5. Rebellion - reject and substitute both
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11
Q

What is a safety valve according to Davis?

A

Prostitution serving a safety valve to protect the nuclear family (a man releases sexual tension without getting in a relationship with a prostitute)

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12
Q

According to Polsky, what is a safety channeling?

A

Watching pornography is a way of channelling sexual desires that would otherwise threaten nuclear families

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13
Q

According to functionalism (KA6) what are the ‘other’ functions of crime?

A
  1. Safety Valve
  2. Safety Channeling
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14
Q

How did Erikson called courtroom situations whereby the boundaries are reaffirmed?

A

Degradation Ceremonies

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15
Q

what are reactive subcultures?

A

those that are formed in response to the failure

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16
Q

according to Matza’s dift theory, what are the 5 techniques of neutralism?

A
  1. Denial of responsibility - in with a bad crowd
  2. Denial of injury - nobody was hurt so it’s ok
  3. Denial of the victim - the punishment was deserved
  4. Condemning the condemners - the police are corrupt and brutal
  5. Appeal to their duties - loyal to friends and family
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17
Q

how capitalism maintains control over people? (according to CCCS)

A
  1. Ideological dominance
  2. Economic pressure
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18
Q

What are the 6 focal concerns according to Walton Miller? (FATSET)

A
  1. Fate - little chance to overcome the fate that awaits them
  2. Autonomy - it is important not to be pushed around by others
  3. Trouble - ‘I don’t look for trouble, but it follows me’
  4. Smartness - looking and sounding good is the key
  5. Excitement - it’s important to search thrills
  6. Toughness - being physically stronger and showing it is important
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19
Q

What are the 3 subcultures according to Ohlin and Cloward and what are their characteristics?

A
  1. Criminal subculture - already established hierarchy
  2. Conflict subculture - in areas with high population turnover, no stable hierarchy
  3. Retreatist subculture - for double failures, based on illegal drug use
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20
Q

Which subcultural theory argues there’s unequal access to both: legitimate and illegitimate opportunity strucutre?

A

illegitimate opportunity structure - Ohlin and Cloward

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21
Q

which subcultural theory explains non-utilitarian crime?

A

Status frustration theory - Cohen

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22
Q

To support drift theory, give an example of the value that are present in mainstream society and in criminal groups

A

Toughness - a value in sport

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23
Q

What is the difference between the corporate and white-collar crime?

A
  • Corporate crime is committing crime on behalf of the company
  • White collar crime is office based crime including ripping from the company
24
Q

Outline one of the 4 reasons why corporate crime is not seen as a serious problem in society

A
  1. They’re invisible by the public
  2. They’re complex and hard to identify
  3. Victimisation is indirect
    Corporates are rarely taken to court
25
Q

Outline 3 characteristic of global capitalism and how they lead to crime

A
  1. Shifting production to the countries with lower costs - increases unemployment making people turn to crime out of poverty
  2. Neo-liberal system based on less control allows for money to travel around the world - encourages tax evasion because finance is difficult to trace
  3. Capitalist values is greed which results in bribery and corruption
26
Q

What is inverse victimisation law?

A

the paradox as to why poor people become the victims of crime more often than rich ones - as taking from the rich becomes harder and harder

27
Q

Marxists want to overthrow the captalism and establish communism. What do neo-Marxists want? (2)

A
  • Socialism
  • Acceptance of deviant groups rather than prosecution
28
Q

What are the 6 stages of the fully social theory of crime by Taylor, Walton and Young?

A
  1. wider origins of the deviant act
  2. immediate origins of the deviant act
  3. the actual act
  4. immediate origins of social reaction
  5. wider origins of social reaction
  6. impact of deviant’s future actions
29
Q

What is the neo-marxist case study to illustrate that crime is an active political response?

A

Hong Kong protests - reflected extreme prices for housing

30
Q

What do postmodernists believe are the root causes of crime?

A

They are undiscoverable in postmodern society and crime is merely a product of individual’s free will

31
Q

What does Henry’s and Milovanovic’s transgressive approach to crime suggest?

A

That the definition of crime should be taken outside the boundaries of what’s legal and shouls account for any sort of social harm

32
Q

What is meant by the term liquid surveillance? (Bauman & Lyon)

A

There are many forms of surveillance, sometimes we are not even conscious of being under surveillance. This erodes our sense of civil liberties

33
Q

What is postmodernist solution to crime?

A
  • Fragmentation in society should be reflected in fragmented organisation of crime prevention
    e.g. private security firms controlling public places
34
Q

According to Becker, what 2 effects does law creation have?

A
  1. Emergence of the new groups of outsiders
  2. The expansion of social control agents to enforce the rule and impose the label
35
Q

What 3 factors determine who gets labelled? (Interactionism)

A
  1. Their interactions with the police and court
  2. Their appearance and background
  3. The situation and circumstances of the offence
36
Q

What are the 2 types of deviance? (Lemert - Interactionism)

A
  1. Primary deviance - hasn’t been publicly defined as deviant
  2. Secondary deviance - gets public reaction and can lead to rule enforcement
37
Q

What community Lemert researched and found that stutterring occurred as a result of the high pressure?

A

Coastal lnnuits in Canada

38
Q

According to Becker, what are the 3 principles of labelling?

A
  1. Rule breaking isn’t always defined as deviant
  2. Someone has to have a vested interest in enforcing a certain rule
  3. If the person is successfully labelled, the consequences follow
39
Q

What are the 5 steps in the process of labelling leading to self-fulfilling prophecy? (Becker)

A
  1. Individual is publicly labelled as deviant → rejection from some social groups
  2. Further deviance
  3. Official treatment also excludes the individual
  4. Individuals join the organised groups → accept deviant identity
  5. Within a group, a deviant subculture develops
40
Q

What’s the example of self-fulfilling prophecy? (Young)

A

Hippies were stigmatised as dirty frug takers → they started accetuating their differences through the appearance and drug taking → this has become their symbol differentiating them from others

41
Q

What 3 case studies deviancy amplification could be attached to? (Interactionsim)

A
  1. Jock Young - Hippies
  2. Lemert - Stuttering
  3. Cohen - Folk devils and moral panics (mods and rockers)
42
Q

Interactionism key area 5 - ‘labelling and criminal justice policy’. What does it develop? What 3 principles does it include?

A

How labelling theory can be applied to criminal policies
1. Attempts to control offenders can have the opposite effect
2. Labelling theory should affect social policy making (decriminalisation)
3. Stop public shaming

43
Q

According to Braithwaite (Interactionist), what are the 2 types of shaming? Which one he believes has a positive impact?

A
  1. Disintegrative shaming - crime and criminal are labelled as bed and the offender is excluded from society
  2. !Reintegrative shaming - the act is labelled, but the actor is not
44
Q

Mix n Match

Study:
1. Physical cues
2. Typifications
3. Juvenile Delinquency
4. Common sense theory

Sociologist:
a. Platt
b. Cicourel
c. Piliavin and Briar
d. Cicourel

A
  1. Physical cues - Piliavin and Briar
  2. Typifications - Cicourel
  3. Juveline Delinquency - Platt
  4. Common sense theory - Cicourel
45
Q

What’s the concept: ‘cultural inclusion, economic exclusion’ according to Young? (Left-Realism)

A

Media promotes cultural inclusion that even poor can access it, but in reality poor don’t have economic resources to achieve these lifestyles

46
Q

What’s relative deprivation? (Runciman - LR)

A

How deprived you feel in relation to others

47
Q

What’s the name for the concept describing people getting fed up on media messages and therefore being dissatisfied with their expectations being unachievable?

A

Bulimic Society - Young

48
Q

What are the 3 features of relative deprivation + late modernity?

A
  1. Growing individualism
  2. Weakwning of informal social controls
  3. Growing economic inequality (globalisation)
49
Q

What are the 4 components of the toxic mix? (Left Realism)

A
  1. Greater risk
  2. More uncertainty
  3. Less informal control
  4. Exclusion from aspirational lifestyles
50
Q

According to Lea & Young, what’s the paradox of modern society?

A

Contradiction between more prosperity and more crime

51
Q

According to Lea & Young, what is the main factor that helps groups avoid marginalisation?

A

Participation in production processes

52
Q

According to Right Realism, what are the 3 factors affecting learning environment for boys making them to crime?

A
  1. Self-expression
  2. Low impulse control
  3. Immediate gratification
53
Q

According to Murray (RR), what are the 3 features characterising the underclass?

A
  1. Crime
  2. Illegitimacy (children are born outside marriage)
  3. Economic inactivity
54
Q

What historical event led to people becoming more dependent on the state? (RR)

A

Generous revolution - 1960’s

55
Q

According to Wilson and Hernstein (RR), changes in what 2 factors will lead to changes in crime rates?

A

Costs and Benefits

56
Q

What does Felson’s ‘routine activity theory’ suggest?

A

motivated offender + absence of guardian = crime

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