Deviance and Crime (Lecture 13)

Question 1

Social Structure

Answer 1

• regular, predictable, repeated forms of social relations in operation most of the time
• makes society possible: it’s the common framework we all operate within

Question 2

How is Social Structure seen in theoretical paradigms?

Answer 2

• Structural Functionalists: sees social structure as created by needs of society, operating above individual control
• Symbolic Interactionists: argue that such structure rely on constant re-creation by meaningly acts
• Critical Theorists: sees structures as serving the interests of one group by repressing another

Question 3

Deviance

Answer 3

behaviour that contradicts normal social structures or values to a degree that leads others to condemn or punish it
• doesn’t necessarily mean open revolt against social structure, but the deviant is usually aware of being deviant
• make take forms of criminal deviance (eg: theft, murder, racism) or non-criminal deviance (eg: unusual appearance, mental illness etc..)

Question 4

Conformity

Answer 4

adjustment of individual behaviour, attitudes and beliefs so as to meet social norms and the expectations of others in your society
• more in response to wishes of others and may not entail ‘inner’ change
•Durkheim suggests that society requires us to be sufficiently similar that society remains stable (absence of similarity, society may enforce it punitively)

Question 5

Social Stigma

Answer 5

• personal characteristic that sharply distinguishes an individual form ‘ norm’ in the yes of society, and leads to them being viewed as ‘lesser’
• may include appearance, behaviour, ethnicity, health (mental and physical)
• people exhibiting these features are often excluded, and consequently, they try to hide their stigma and try to appear ‘normal’

Question 6

Primary Deviance

Answer 6

the basic act of deviating from the norm or committing an often -minor crime (eg: speeding), without identifying oneself as ‘deviant’
• may lead to secondary deviance

Question 7

Secondary Deviance

Answer 7

the (willing or unwilling) incorporation of deviancy into your sense of self and you gradual identification as a ‘deviant’

Question 8

Anomie (Durkheim)

Answer 8

• ‘normlessness’ or ‘lawlessness’- a state in which social norms that normally regulate us are weaker and less binding
• for Durkheim, individuals need such guidance to help order their own lives
• society is dysfunctional when it fails to regulate individuals’ behaviour

Question 9

Differential Association theory

Answer 9

• explanation of crime by looking at how we learn from peers as to how to become criminals
• focuses both on methods of crime and also (more crucially) on attitudes towards law and authority learnt from peers (motives and values learnt from reference group)

Question 10

White Collar Crime (Edwin Sutherland)

Answer 10

• extremely high rates of crime in ‘white-collar’ professions (eg: bankers, executives etc..), showing similar levels to those in poverty
• white-collar criminals often worked in a ‘culture of criminality’ in which it was seen as good to cheat the law

Question 11

Social Control theory (Travis Hirschi)

Answer 11

• explains crime as a result of weak bonds between parents and children, including disciplinary
• by developing a strong bond between individual and society, crime can be reduced
• potential delinquents didn’t feel a ‘bond’ with or stake in society

Question 12

What do ‘bonds’ entail?

Answer 12

• BELIEF in social norms
• ATTACHMENT to others (eg: parents)
• COMMITMENT to the rewards offered by conformity
• INVOLVEMENT in conventional activities (eg: volunteer, sports team)

Question 13

Strain Theory (Robert Merton)

Answer 13

• Society applies pressure on individuals to achieve certain goals (success, money, power), but doesn’t provide adequate means to all people
• excluded groups feel anomie and are forced to turn to illegal means to goal (deviance)
• social structures that force people into acts of criminality to achieve socially-defined goals

Question 14

Victimology (CT Fischer)

Answer 14

• the study of what sort of people become victims and under what circumstances
• helps identify where aid is most needed to remedy problems of crime
• he suggests that victims of crimes may fall into crime themselves as a result.
• eg: victims of child sexual abuse may more likely view others as threats and lose a sense of personal agency

Question 15

Routine Activity Theory (Theories of Victimology)

Answer 15

• becoming a victim mostly depends on where and how you routinely spend time
• looks for situations with suitable vulnerable targets, a lack of guardians or overseers and presence of potential offenders
• eg: people in total institutions (eg: prisons) are at risk

Question 16

Lifestyle Theory (Theories of Victimology)

Answer 16

• engaging in high-risk activities puts you at the greatest risk of becoming a victim. The victim’s lifestyle is what makes him/her a target
• eg: mend who choose to go out drinking a lot may be victims of violent crime (bc drug use may make you vulnerable to attack)

Question 17

Deviant Place Theory (Theories of Victimology)

Answer 17

• victims are those who venture into high risk places

* victims are thus disproportionately drawn from poorer classes, as poverty forces them to live in high-risk areas

Question 18

Victim Precipitation Theory (Theories of Victimology)

Answer 18

• something about the victim may (actively or passively) ‘incite’ the criminal– regardless of intent
• victim may not even be aware before of the existence of the attacker (eg: attacks that are racially motivated)
• members of gender, ethnic, sexual or political minorities may be targeted because attacker is prejudiced

Question 19

Purposes of Punishment

Answer 19

• Retribution: inflicts harm on the criminal because the evil done ‘deserves’ it (eg: talion law- an eye for an eye)
• Deterrence: inflicts harm to frighten other potential criminals away from crime (eg: capital or corporal punishment esp. in public)
• Rehabilitation: reforms the criminal, turning them into a useful member of society (eg: education, support, disciplinary training)
• Restorative Justice: Remedies or undoes the harm done to the community or victim (eg: making vandals clean up the mess they made)
• Incapacitation: prevents future harms to community by keeping offender out of it (eg: lengthy prison sentences)

Question 20

Recidivism

Answer 20

repeating criminal offences after convictions and punishment for a previous crime
• used to see the effectiveness of forms of punishments empirically by measuring rates of recidivism
• former felons may fall bak into crime due to difficulties finding employment afterwards (bc of criminal record), leaving few options for subsistence other than crime

Question 21

Prisonization (Donals Clemmer)

Answer 21

• process of resocialisation into subculture or prison life when entering penitentiary
• reduces prisoner’s autonomy and ability to cope, while they acquire criminal skills
• prisons may contribute to felon’s return to crime (bc first-time criminals may learn more from experienced criminals)
• he suggests that the humiliating, controlling nature of prison regimes is at fault

Question 22

Repressive (criminal) law

Answer 22

• Consists of prohibitions and injunctions; ‘punishes’ by inflicting harm on offender
• connects individuals to interest of society in general; we are punished in the name of all (eg: ‘people vs bluth’
• may enforce similarity of behaviour: makes us all act similarly
• Mechanical Solidarity

Question 23

Restitutive (civil) Law

Answer 23

• consists of regulations about (eg: contracts); ‘punishes’ by restoring situation laid out in contract
• Connects individuals to other individuals; regulates our relationships to maintain society
• usually doesn’t concern itself with private behaviour; allows differences
• Organic Solidarity

Question 24

Criminalization

Answer 24

the social, legal and political processes by which previously-tolerated acts or behaviours come to be seen as ‘criminal’
• popular belief that a particular social groups is somehow a threat to social order (despite lack of evidence)
• tide of public opinion leads to criminalizing their acts

Question 25

Labelling Theory (Howard Becker)

Answer 25

• theory explaining criminality as a product of the labels that society applies to certain acts, and NOT as the result of any intrinsic character flaw of deviant
• society sets up rules that label certain acts as ‘wrong’ and when people find their acts as ‘deviant’ then they come to identify themselves as outsiders and deviants which leads them to act more deviantly
• suggests that we should look just as much at the motives and acts of dominant groups who determine labels as at the behaviour of so called deviants

Question 26

Great Confinement (Michel Foucault)

Answer 26

term for mid 17th century movement to ‘confine’ or lock up vagrants, the mad etc.. which led to the desire to ‘cure’ them and return them to Reason (monitoring them the whole time)
• emphasis on rationality

Question 27

Hierarchical Observation

Answer 27

• Subject is under constant observation by an unseen power

* eg: anonymous university bureaucrats have access to your transcripts

Question 28

Normalizing Judgement

Answer 28

• we are expected to meet certain exact standards of achievement
• eg: soldiers must carry out drill exactly, you need a certain level of education to get a job

Question 29

Examination

Answer 29

• direct analysis of individuals to compare them to others

* eg: you sit exams ad get a GPA that places you EXACTLY in ranks of all students

Question 30

Discipline (Foucault)

Answer 30

• describes the ‘training’ of humans to meet standards of supposed ‘normality’ instead of ‘deviating’ (effective by constant observation)
• we stop questioning these standards and instead, concentrate on trying to measure up the the ‘norm’
• we are ‘disciplinary subjects’– we learn to act in trying to meet standards defined by Power and to avoid deviating
• therefore, knowledge is Power–> the very ways Power knows and measure us create its control over us