General theoretical explanations Flashcards
Why did Durkheim believe crime was inevitable?
Some people are inadequately socialised meaning they are more likely to deviate. Some people are exposed to different influences and circumstances: it is impossible for them to all be alike. Not every member of society can be equally committed to the same collective sentiments.
What society did Durkheim imagine?
A society of perfect people where the standard of behaviour would be so high that the slightest slip would be considered a serious offence.
What did Durkheim argue were the positive functions of crime?
Social integration, social regulation and social change
What is social integration?
The cohesion that members of society experience when they share a collective expectation of the norms and values.
How does crime cause social integration?
People tend to come together when someone has committed a terrible crime. There is a shared sense of anger towards the breach of morals that the criminal has committed.
How does crime cause social change?
Deviant behaviour causes people to reflect on what is or is not allowed within society. Allows them to discover when the law does not line up with the collective sentiments of the majority. Leads to necessary legal reform which benefits the community.
How does crime cause social regulation?
By punishing the offender authorities are sending a warning message to the rest of society.
How did Durkheim view society?
As a stable structure based upon shared norms, values and beliefs concerning right and wrong.
How do subcultures impact social norms?
Shared rules of behaviour become less clear. Shared norms become weaker.
According to Merton, what causes crime?
The vision of success in American culture is attached to material and financial gain. Anomie is caused by the pressure to accomplish these goals. There is a strain between society’s expectations and the means to live up to them. People turn away from legitimate means of achieving success.
What is anomie?
The state of lawlessness that comes with a breakdown of social order. People feel untethered to the collective consciousness entering a normative confusion.
What are the five responses to strain to anomie?
Conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion
What is conformity?
Following the normative means of achieving success regardless of structural setbacks.
What is innovation?
Accepting the goal but finding alternative means to achieve it.
What is ritualism?
Abandoning the goal but still conforming to the means to achieve it.
What is retreatism?
Rejecting both the goal and the means to achieve it.
What is rebellion?
Rejecting existing goals to replace them with new alternative goals.
What are the advantages of strain theory?
Considers how social structures create pressure to turn to deviance. Explains why certain demographics may be more likely to commit crime.
What are the disadvantages of strain theory?
Does not explain non-utilitarian crimes. Gives too much focus to individual crime ignoring group deviancy. Disproportionately attributes criminal activity to the working-class. Uses official crime statistics which tend to obscure white-collar crime.
Which group does status frustration affect the most?
Young, working-class males.
Why does status frustration effect young, working-class males?
Generally valued forms of success are impossible for many groups to attain. Felt discouragement because of being defined as failures and denied respect from the rest of society.
What does status frustration cause?
Use their shared problem to collectively form a deviant subculture which flips the norms of the dominant culture. The behaviours valued by the subculture are those that wider society tends to condemn.
Why do members of deviant subcultures commit crimes?
Members are rewarded with praise and status if they successfully carry out criminal behaviours. Gaining each others respect and striking back at the society that has rejected them.
What are the advantages of status frustration?
Explains non-utilitarian crimes. Explains the prevalence of group deviance.
What are the disadvantages of status frustration?
There is a much wider variety of subcultures that are not accounted for. Does not acknowledge crimes committed by those who have not been marginalised. Assumes that all members of society strive for the same forms of success.
What do right realists believe is the cause of crime?
Reject the idea put forward by Marxists that deeper structural or economic factors are the causes of crime. They do accept that high levels of social disorder and low levels of social control are associated with higher crime rates but mainly believe that the individual is responsible for crime.
What is rational choice theory?
Most criminals are rational actors. They weigh up the costs and benefits to assess whether a crime is worth committing. If the risk of getting caught is low or the punishment if caught will not be severe, the individual is more likely to commit the crime. Crime will increase if it brings high rewards relative to working within the rules of society.
What is a disadvantage of the rational choice theory?
Assumes criminals have free will
Who came up with the routine activities theory?
Cohen and Felson
What is the routine activities theory?
Social control methods, lack of opportunities and the risk of being caught prevents crime from occurring. Crime needs three conditions, including motivation, availability of opportunity and targets, and lack of capable guardians
Who came up with the underclass theory?
Charles Murray
What is the underclass theory?
Changes to family structure were responsible for the increase in the crime rate in the 1970s and 80s. Increasing welfare benefits since the 1960s have led to increasing numbers of people to become dependent on the state. This has led to the decline of marriage and the growth of lone parent families. Women can now live off benefits rather than having to get married to have children. Lone mothers are ineffective agents of socialisation, especially for boys.
Why do boys from lone parent families become criminals?
Boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models. Turn to delinquent role models on the street to gain status through crime. Fail to learn self-control and the difference between right and wrong. Rather than supporting their families through a steady job.
Who came up with the broken windows theory?
Wilson and Kelling
What is the broken windows theory?
Broken windows represent the various signs of disorder and lack of concern for others. Leaving broken windows unrepaired sends out a signal that no one cares. In these neighbourhoods there is an absence of social control. The police are only concerned with serious crimes and turn a blind eye to petty nuisance behaviours. Members of the community feel intimidated and powerless. The situation deteriorates, tipping the neighbourhood into a spiral of decline. The area becomes a magnet for deviants.
Who came up with the biological differences theory?
Wilson and Hernstein
What is the biological differences theory?
Crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors. Biological differences between individuals make some people innately predisposed to commit crime due to personality traits, including aggressiveness, risk-taking and low intelligence
What is a disadvantage of the biological differences theory?
Conflicts with the view that people choose to commit crime freely
What are the disadvantages of right realist theories?
Ignores the structural causes of crime such as poverty and social inequality. Assumes that all crimes are rational and does not consider irrational crimes with no benefit such as crimes of passion. Too concerned with street crime and ignores corporate or white-collar crimes which may be more costly and harmful.
What do realist criminologists argue?
Criminologists should abandon grand theorising approaches such as about the ultimate causes of crime. Focus on working with governments to develop practical solutions to crime. Particularly emphasise the increased use of police and punishment to control crime.
Who are the main left-realist theorists?
Young, Lea and Mathews
What do left-realists criminologists believe?
Victims of street crimes are most likely to be the working-class people. Criminologists should focus in dealing with these types of ordinary crime rather than focusing on elite crime. Crime and the fear of crime are real social problems and that should be taken seriously.
What do left realists think causes crime?
Relative deprivation, marginalisation and subcultures
What is relative deprivation?
People are deprived compared with others in society. People were better off in the 1980s than they were in the 1930s but crime was worse in the 1980s. People are not actually poorer but live in close proximity with people who are much richer. Even though the divide was greater in the 1930s, those in poverty were less aware of the lives of the wealthy. Society was more segregated while now people on the poverty line may live very close to the rich. They have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because the media and advertising have raised expectations. There is more pressure to get more stuff to keep up with others.
What is marginalisation?
People lack the power to fully participate in society due to poor education, lack of opportunities and unemployment. Marginalised people lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. Results in the feeling of resentment and frustration, expressed through violence.
What are subcultures?
Working-class subcultures develop from the problems arising from social inequality. A collective subculture forms to develop a collective solution to relative deprivation. Want to achieve mainstream goals of society but resort to illegitimate means.
What are the disadvantages of left realist theories?
Relies on quantitative data from official statistics. Interactionists would argue that we need to investigate qualitative data to reveal the meanings behind the acts. Too soft on the criminal. Does not explain how criminals should be dealt with.
How is capitalism crimogenic?
Crime is a natural outgrowth of the capitalist system and the criminal justice system works for the elites and against lower classes. Social order is categorised by an unequal class hierarchy where powerful groups impose order on the working-class. The legal system serves the interests of the Bourgeoisie, so the power is held by them. The laws reflect Bourgeoisie ideology and works to control the masses, prevent revolution and keep people in a state of false consciousness.
What is a capitalist society?
David Gordon says “capitalist societies are dog eat dog societies.” The capitalist system encourages individuals to pursue self-interest rather than public duty. Putting their interests before the interests of others, the community and the environment. There is an immense competitive pressure to make more money and be more successful. Because in a competitive system this is the only way to ensure survival.
What does capitalism encourage?
Through advertising etc. encourages individuals to be materialistic consumers. These individuals aspire to an unrealistic and often unattainable lifestyle. Individuals who lack the legitimate means to achieve the materialist norm may have feelings of failure, inadequacy and frustration.
How does capitalism impact law?
Capitalist states are reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns such as pollution. They do not want to alienate large companies because these generate income. The rights of property owners to keep their properties empty are put before the rights of the needy to shelter.
What are the superclass?
The superclass or the ruling-class are at the top of the social hierarchy while the underclass are at the bottom.
How do the superclass cause crime?
The super wealthy segregate themselves from the wealthy by living in exclusive gated communities and travelling via private jets etc. This visible evidence of massive inequalities gives the underclass a sense of injustice and anger. Leading to economic crime as well as violent street crime.
What type of crime is prevalent in capitalist societies?
Corporate crime and white-collar crime
What is corporate crime?
Committed by or on behalf of corporations or businesses which act to further their interests. The drive is to increase profits.
What is white-collar crime?
Committed for an individuals own interests, often against the corporations within which they work. Difficult to prosecute because the offender will use sophisticated means to conceal their activities. The level of public awareness remains low because the public are unaware of the crimes taking place.
Who is famous for white-collar crime?
Bernie Madoff executed the largest Ponzi scheme in history defrauding thousands of investors.
What is selective law enforcement?
The police focus on policing the underclass and working-class. The justice system ignores the crimes of the elite and the middle-classes, but they are just as likely to commit crimes. The disproportionate prosecution of working-class serves to maintain ruling-class power and reinforce ruling-class ideology.
How does selective law enforcement benefit the capitalist system?
The imprisonment of selected members of the lower classes neutralises opposition to the system. By punishing individuals and defining them as failures we ignore the failings of the system that lead to the conditions of inequality and poverty that create the conditions which lead to crime. The imprisonment of members of the underclass sweeps out of sight the worst jetsam of society.
What are the advantages of Marxist theories?
There are lots of statistics and case studies to support the harms of corporate crime. Provides explanations for crimes committed by various social classes, a variety of offences and the nature of law.
What are the disadvantages of Marxist theories?
Street crime does more harm than corporate crime. Crime exists in non-capitalist societies. Realists would argue that it focuses on victims of crimes of the rich, not the real victims. Postmodernists would argue that it is reductionist and society is more complex. While capitalism and economic class might well influence behaviour, there are many other equally important influences.
What do neo-Marxists believe ?
Emphasise the cultural aspect of class conflict rather than the economic focus. Recognise that working-class criminals make a conscious choice to break the law. Sometimes this is a positive political act against the Bourgeoisie. The crimes are meaningful and are symbolic acts resisting occupation.
What do neo-Marxists consider?
The structure of society, the structural background to the criminal act, the immediate cause of the criminal act, the impact of the criminal act, the societal reaction to the act and the impact of that reaction.
