intro lessons

Question 1

what is crime?

Answer 1

an infraction of the criminal law

Question 2

what is deviance?

Answer 2

a behaviour which goes against conventional norms and generally accepted values. most people read it as inappropriate or unacceptable or wrong. deviance is usually subject to a variety of social controls ranging from mild disapproval to severe punishment.

Question 3

how did pease (2002) define crime?

Answer 3

actions deemed to be so disturbing to citizens or disruptive to society as to justify state intervention

Question 4

what is social order?

Answer 4

social stability and social solidarity in modern society. citizens tend to agree and share similar norms, values and morals and well integrated into society. share sense of belonging.

Question 5

what is social control?

Answer 5

need to regulate the behaviour of citizens of an society in order to make sure they conform to laws and rules so that social order is not threatened

Question 6

what are the two types of social control?

Answer 6

1. formal social control - social institutions that enforce social control. law, courts, police and prisons. suppress and punish illegal behaviour
2. informal social control - enforces behaviour that society expects of particular people. less strict than formal. “how others perceive and judge us”

Question 7

what is social construction?

Answer 7

idea that the same behaviour can be interpreted in many different ways, dependent on points of view. an action is not deviant or criminal until it is defined as being so

Question 8

why can deviance be relative and subjective?

Answer 8

depends and varies according to time, place and culture. interpretation is vital. crime and deviance is a social construct and vary over time and space.

Question 9

what is an example of crime and deviance changing over time?

Answer 9

use of seatbelts only legal since 1983. not criminal or deviant before this.

Question 10

what is an example of crime and deviance changing over place?

Answer 10

chewing gum is illegal in singapore. carries $100,000 fine or 2yr prison sentence. criminal in singapore but not the UK

Question 11

why do marxists believe crime is committed?

Answer 11

many crimes are committed due to monetary motive. laws may be based around punishing mainly lower class crime such as theft, rather than upper class crime like corruption or finance fraud.

Question 12

why do interactionists believe crime is committed?

Answer 12

laws promote labelling which can lead to deviance.

Question 13

what are the two types of deviancy?

Answer 13

• secret / private deviancy
• open / public deviancy

Question 14

how does plummer define the types of deviance?

Answer 14

• societal deviance
• situational deviance

Question 15

what is societal deviance (plummer)?

Answer 15

refers to categories or behaviour which are common sense that the population have classed as deviant. influenced by dominant beliefs and institutional practices and laws. high degree of consensus exists in population over the identification of what is and is not deviant. eg. armed robbery or murder

Question 16

what is situational deviance (plummer)?

Answer 16

concerns actual manner in which people go about creating rules and interpreting actions as deviant. process affected by society and its dominant beliefs, but people are free to interpret the event in terms of the situation or context that it occurs in. eg. being naked in a shop is deviant according to the situation, but would be perfectly acceptable at home