CRIME AND DEVIANCE: Theories of C&D

Question 1

What are Crimes?

Answer 1

Behaviours that break formal, written rules in society (laws)

Question 2

What is Deviance?

Answer 2

Behaviour that doesn’t conform to a society’s consensus norms and laws (‘Unwritten Rules’)

Question 3

What is the difference between crime and deviance?

Answer 3

Criminal behaviour breaks a rule agreed in parliament and passed into law whereas deviant behaviour is so unusual it makes others consider you dangerous or undesirable

Question 4

What does ‘Social Construction’ refer to in crime and deviance?

Answer 4

Social construction is the creation of social facts through a strong value consensus. This explains why definitions change along with norms of society

Question 5

What does Durkheim believe about the functions of Crime and Deviance?

Answer 5

• Inevitable in all societies. We experience life differently and have different demands on us, so it’s impossible to expect everyone to have the same values and morals.
• Beneficial in small amount. Signs of a healthy society, just as a fever shows a strong immune system

Question 6

How does Durkheim say that Crime and Deviance are beneficial to society?

Answer 6

• Strengthen collective values (we unite against extreme wrongs)
• Enable social change (through forcing difficult conversations)
• Act as a safety valve by ‘letting off steam’
• Act as a warning device

Question 7

What does Merton believe about the functions of

Crime and Deviance?

Answer 7

It’s caused by strain and anomie. These lead to status frustration, where people feel motivated to break society’s rules because it seems impossible to be successful within their limits.

Question 8

What did Merton say were the 4 reactions to strain?

Answer 8

• Innovation: find new illegal/immoral ways to reach an accepted goal
• Conformity: accept limited means and work within the law to achieve an accepted goal
• Ritualism: accept limited means and abandon hope of reaching accepted goals
• Rebellion: reject legal means and abandon agreed and accepted goals

Question 9

How does Cohen’s (1971) Subcultural Theory explain C&D?

Answer 9

• Some people can’t get what they want or need from legal or respected means. Reject majority culture and form their own subcultures which meet their needs better and improve self-esteem
• Subcultures have their own rules so members build self esteem they couldn’t get in normal life. Explains why many criminals carry on offending and get worse over the course of their life.

Question 10

What is a Delinquent subculture?

Answer 10

Groups of people who feel status frustration and deal with it by becoming criminal and/or deviant.

Question 11

What is Status Frustration?

Answer 11

Feeling that you’re powerless and not well-respected because you’re unsuccessful and are denied status (e.g. perform badly at work so never get a promotion)

Question 12

How does Cloward & Ohlin’s (1960) subcultural theory explain C&D?

Answer 12

Look at working class subcultures. They felt ‘delinquent’ was too broad for these people, who were under extra strain and even less respected in a capitalist society.

Question 13

What were Cloward and Ohlin’s three delinquent subculture types?

Answer 13

• Criminal subcultures: commit utilitarian crimes to get money or status
• Conflict subcultures: commit aggressive crimes towards those who are seen to represent their oppression
• Retreatist subcultures: failed in ‘normal’ society and have also been rejected by other subcultures. They become deviants and suffer. (e.g. addicts, prostitution)

Question 14

What are is Hirschi’s (1969) Social Bond Theory ?

Answer 14

Believes social order relies on socialisation and a strong value consensus, like Durkheim. Noted other structural theories only explained why a small majority of people are driven towards crime, and his theory is about what prevents most people being criminal or deviant.

Question 15

What were Hirschi’s four social bonds?

Answer 15

• Belief > e.g. shared political beliefs/ religion
• Commitment > e.g. raising a family and supporting work
• Involvement > e.g. keeping busy with clubs that link you to others
• Attachment > e.g. feeling as though you have a stake in the community

Question 16

How do traditional Marxists explain crime and deviance?

Answer 16

Believe structural inequality leads to resentment, and ultimately causes conflict that breaks the value consensus

Question 17

Marxist principles applied to crime and deviance

Answer 17

• Capitalist society is criminogenic: Capitalist society is criminogenic
• Laws reflect ruling-class ideology : the law is made by the ruling class so therefore it will reflect their interests above all others. Crime is ideologically constructed to demonise the working class
• Scapegoating : where the system does punish someone from the ruling class, it’s only done to prevent a backlash
• Selective Law Enforcement: the law is interpreted differently depending on who is accused of breaking it

Question 18

How do Neo-Marxists explain crime and deviance?

Answer 18

Remove structural elements from traditional Marxism but retain the conflict message. Say working class criminals are victims of the system but still blame them for choosing to turn to crime rather than calling the system ‘criminogenic’. Their founding theory was called ‘New Criminology’.

Question 19

What is the Neo-Marxist theory of ‘New Criminology’ ?

Answer 19

The ruling class is hegemonic (power-hungry) and elites use the media to give unbalanced views that make their natural enemies (the working class) look guilty. Legitimises their cruel actions and makes society reliant on their knowledge.

Question 20

What is Moral Panic?

Answer 20

Whipping up a storm in the media to demonise people who threaten you or to distract everyone from your criminal actions. This can allow a change of political agenda that benefits the ruling class.

Question 21

How do Labelling Theorists explain crime?

Answer 21

Say some people are demonised by society, causing them to internalise bad ideas about themselves. They develop poor self-esteem and lash out, supporting a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 22

What are the main ideas of Labelling Theorists?

Answer 22

• Power relationships: the ‘deviant’ label is almost always given by a powerful person to a weak person
• Selective law enforcement: labelling affects treatment of people doing wrong.
• Deviancy Amplification: bad labels make others treat criminals badly. This makes them resentful and makes their actions more serious/aggressive in a ‘deviancy amplification spiral’
• Moral entrepreneurs: people or organisations that can apply powerful labels

Question 23

What are the two types of deviant or criminal labels?

Answer 23

1. Primary Deviance: acts seen as a ‘one off’ or mistake (short term label)
2. Secondary Deviance: acts seen to indicate bad character (permanent label). Amplified by hostile treatment of the individual leading them to acquire a ‘master status’. They are a ‘criminal’ rather than just someone who has committed crimes.

Question 24

How do Feminists explain crime and deviance?

Answer 24

Focus in women’s experience of crime and Criminal Justice System. Argue women are driven to C&D for different reasons than men, and that the CJS deals with them poorly by ignoring their differences

Question 25

What did Heidensohn (2012) believe about crime, and the differences between men and women?

Answer 25

• We have a ‘collective amnesia’ on female crime and deviance. Stereotypes means women are ignored
• There’s been ‘neglect and distortion’ of women’s role in crime, both as criminals and victims
• Society and the CJS are still too patriarchal and this prevents productive change. Research and policy are both by men and for men.
• Sociology fails female criminals and victims with its ‘malestream’ composition

Question 26

What issues did Heidensohn (1996) identify with study of C&D?

Answer 26

• Academics/researchers are mostly men
• Male researchers tend to identify with ‘working class rogues’. Leads to macho attitude towards female crime and deviance
• Female crime is harder to study as it tends to be on a smaller scale and less violent. Female crime is often hidden which were named ‘hidden offenders’, which account for 2/3 of female crime.

Question 27

How have Feminist Sociologists contributed to study of C&D?

Answer 27

• Making a case for focus on women’s experience
• Adapting male theories and making new ones to explain female C&D
• Highlighting victimisation of women in research
• Challenging lenient treatment of female offenders compared to male in the CJS; letting them off is denying them rehabilitation

Question 28

What are Realist Theorists?

Answer 28

Perspective that cares about practicalities rather than ethics. Focus on material evidence and consequences rather than moral responsibility and ethical consideration. In C&D, they want to focus on data and evidence based concerns to explain and solve C&D. Can be towards both the right and left of the political spectrum

Question 29

What do Left Realists believe about the explanations for crime?

Answer 29

Aimed to remove abstract conflict ideas from Marxist and NM theories to give a more concrete understanding. Issues with other left-wing theories

• Tend to celebrate working class ceviants as revolutionary heroes. Behaviour shouldn’t be romanticised
• Research suggests most people don’t care about white collar or corporate crime.

Question 30

What did Lea & Young (LR theory) suggest as three explanations for crime?

Answer 30

• Relative Deprivation: increasing difference in wealth and opportunity makes many people resentful and angry
• Marginalisation: Poor, ethnic minority, WC and low-education people feel disconnected from society and feel no incentive to follow rules. Easily angry about being forgotten
• Subcultures: inequality and lack of opportunity creates status frustration for many young people.

Question 31

What did Young’s (2003) ‘Bulimic Society’ say about wider issues leading to status frustration? (LR Theory)

Answer 31

• Says modern societies are saturated with media influence. We’re all forced to binge information and advertising. Adverts and celebrities show ‘ideals’ most of us will never achieve and this leads to frustration
• When people realise they can’t satisfy the capitalist ideal, they purge their frustrations; becoming aggressive, antisocial and/or deviant

Question 32

What did Young say was responsible for relative deprivation?

Answer 32

• Individualist Cultures: capitalism, humanism and identity politics all focus on the self above others. Weakens bonds with society
• Loss of informal control: families are spreading out as the young can’t afford to live where they grew up.
• Economic/financial inequality: gap from richest to poorest in the UK has increased more than 400% since 1974. Less equal society leads to more depression, resentment and anger.

Question 33

What did Lea and Young’s ‘Square of Crime’ suggest were four elements that interact to produce C&D?

Answer 33

• Structural and Formal control factors: actions of official control agencies
• Public and Informal control factors: reactions of communities to C&D
• Role of Victims: why do some people become victims? will they report anything?
• Role of Offenders: does the offender feel guilt? are they acting selfishly or do they have no choice?

Question 34

What do Right Realists say about crime and deviance?

Answer 34

Developed from New Right. Believe that criminals and deviants are responsible for their actions and freely choose to do them. This means they tend to favour harsh punishment and want to make examples of offenders to deter others from making poor choices.

Question 35

What are the main common ideas of Right Realists in relation to crime and deviance?

Answer 35

• Value consensus and objective morality underpin society: society only functions when there is strong social order
• All people are selfish: can’t trust individuals to make good choices if they can get away with crime.
• Community control: if gov exerts enough control, then crime will decrease. Can embed desired behaviours in education and policy for more control.
• Rational Choice Theory: know what they’re doing is wrong and do it regardless
• Opportunity Theory: people choose to commit crime only when there’s a good opportunity.
• Underclass: whole layer of society occupied by lazy, deviant and irresponsible people/
• Crime will always exist: crime is a natural part of society’s structure.

Question 36

How do Postmodernists’s view society?

Answer 36

Based on the dialectic principle. IDea we can find the ‘truth’ by gathering experts and getting them to argue their points. Winning points from each are likely to form to combine truth.

Question 37

What types of Postmodernist are there?

Answer 37

• Dialectic Materialists: we can use concrete observations of events and structural phenomena to discuss and argue about society
• Dialectic Idealism: structures are irrelevant because they only reflect social constructions and the value consensus, si we can only meaningfully argue about ideas and individual experiences.

Question 38

How do Postmodernists explain Crime and Deviance?

Answer 38

Take a Dialectic IDealist approach, which they call ‘Transgressive Criminology’ (Henry and Milanovic 1996). Their core belief is that inequality and exploitation through uneven power dynamics are responsible for society’s problems. Transgressive criminology is all about the ‘harms’ that crime causes and is caused by.

Question 39

What are the two ‘harms’ mentioned in ‘Transgressive Criminology’ ?

Answer 39

• Harms of Reduction: using your power to cause immediate harm to a victim
• Harms of Repression: using your power to restrict or disrupt others progress.

Question 40

Why do Postmodernists think individuals commit crime?

Answer 40

Katz (2008): crime can’t be studied by looking at social trends bc in modern, global society there is no structure and everythings constantly changing. By the time you understand it, it changes. We can only look at individuals
Lyng (2005): crime is ‘seductive’. It is exciting and criminals often do it for the thrills. Wanted to be seen as ‘living on the edge’. Known as ‘Edgework’, making a career of it.