Module 8: sociological theories of crime Flashcards
Durkiem and Anomie theory
societies could be placed along a continum ranging from mechanical to organic.
Durkiem and Anomie theory: Mechanical societies
primitive, consisting of many small, isolated social groups who are self sufficient
Durkiem and Anomie theory: Organic societies
highly complex work and social relationships, specialised forms of labour exist, along with highly interactive relationships
Durkiem and Anomie theory: Mechanical societies: solidarity
solidarity achieved through uniformity of members, with members exerting pressure on each other to conform
Durkiem and Anomie theory: Organic societies: Solidarity
law serve to regulate interactions between groups
Anomie
the breakdown of social norms
- exists when social norms no longer control the activity of group members, can lead to many consequences like deviance
Durkheim Positive crime theory
that crime is normal in societies and has positive benefits such as it shows unacceptable behaviours, highlights social causes of crime and creates solidarity
Sociological ecology of crime
uses durkheim theory
focuses on the effects of mass immigrations and consequent disorder upon crime
states that each city is characterised by concentric zones
Sociological ecology of crime - inner zones
found that inner zones 1 and 2 have the highest crime rates as immigration disrupted usual processes of social control resulting in disorganization
Sociological ecology of crime - outer zones
people in outer zones are more law abiding and more organised
Merton and Structural strain
using durkheims theory
focuses on social system and how it produces social norms
argues that society emphasises certain goals and these goals are attained be either legitimate or illegitimate ways
focuses on economic crime rather than violent crime
Merton and Structural strain - primary goal
wealth and financial success, emphasised by society
Merton and Structural strain - legitimate ways of achievement
through education and employment
Merton and Structural strain - anomie
results from imbalance between societal goals and the means of acheiving them resulting in strain and deviance
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response
members of society employ several different methods in response to anomie conformity ritualism retreatment rebellion innovation
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response - conformity
accept the cultural goals and means of attaining them, most common
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response - ritualism
accepts means, but rejects cultural goals
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response - retreatment
rejects both cultural goals and means ( outcasts, drunks and drug addicts)
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response - rebellion
rejects goals and means and substitutes with new ones (bikies)
Merton and Structural strain - adaption response - innovation
goals are important but the means of attaining them arent
most important adaption as people adopting non socially approved means of meeting cultural (stealing and fraud)
Social control theories
focus on why people dont commit crime
argues that society places restraints upon behaviour and when social restriants break down that is when criminal behaviour occurs
Social control theories - conformity
the more tightly people are tied to community the less likely they are to commit a crime
Social control theories - social bond controls
social bonds consist of 4 types of control
- attachment
- commitment
- belief
- involvement
Social control theories - social bond controls - attachment
attachment to other members of society facilitates internalising of society norms
Social control theories - social bond controls - commitment
commitment to culturally approved goals
Social control theories - social bond controls - belief
belief in societies rules
Social control theories - social bond controls - involvement
involvement in conventional activities, constrains opportunties to commit crime and strengthens social bonds
conflict theories
emerged in 1960’s
recognises that there are various groups in society and that they have conflicting interests, needs and values conflict therefore arises when groups are in competition for power or resources
Conflict theory - Pluralist theories
recognises society is composed of different groups that compete for power and resources to advance or maintain their interests
Conflict Theory - class conflict theory
originates from work of Karl Marx
capitalist society structured into capitalist class and workers
class derive power from owning means of production and exploit labour of workers
uneven distribution of wealth and power seen as source of conflict
Conflict theory - reiman theory
applied Marx analysis lower socioeconomic classes are the ones who are charged, arrested and imprisoned for street crime upper class offending is treated less severely if a behaviour is committed predominantly by middle and upperclass. it is less likely to be criminalised
Feminist theories
origins in conflict theory, examines importance of gender
emerged 1970
argues that women are afforded less power in society and structural disadvantaged
focuses on how gender impacts female offenders and victims and institutionalised inequality and discrimination towards women
Symbolic interaction- central premise
interactions we have with others influence how we see each other
Symbolic Interactions
people act towards things on the basis of meanings they have for that thing
meanings are formed and shaped through interacting with other people
meanings are handled and modified through an interpreative process
George herbert Mead:
behaviour is the productive of social circumstances and how the person understands those circumstances
Interactionist Approaches
4 approaches differential association social learning theory labelling Neutralisation
Differential Association
sutherland 1939 had 9 propositions of differential association
Differential Association - 1
criminal behaviour is learned
Differential Association - 2
Criminal behaviour is learned in interactions with other people in a process of communication
Differential Association - 3
the principal part of learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal
Differential Association - 4
when criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes (a) technique of committing the crime, which sometimes is very complicated, sometimes very simple.
(b) the specific direction of motives \, drives, rationalisations and attitudes
Differential Association - 5
the specific direction of motives and drives is learnt from definitions of the legal codes as favourable or unfavourable
Differential Association -6
a person becomes deliquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions unfavourable to violation of law
Differential Association - 7
Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity
Differential Association - 8
the process of learning criminal behaviour by associations with criminal and anticriminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning
Differential Association - 9
while criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values, since non criminal behaviour is an expression of the same needs and values
Social learning theory
examines both the content and process of what is learned
extended sutherlands work
incorporated concepts from operant conditioning and classical conditoning
Labeling
criminal behaviour results from negative social reactions to behaviour deemed criminal
2 forms - primary and secondary
Labeling - primary deviance
initial criminal/ deviant behaviour
Labeling - secondary deviance
reaction to primary deviance, particular by powerful others, leads to further criminal behaviour
Neutralisation
people engage in crime when they can temporarily drift form, and can neutralise social controls and expectations
requires some interactions with delinquent others to learn techniques of neutralisation
% techniques of neutralisation
denial of responsibility denial of injury denial of victims condemnation of condemers appeal to higher loyalites
Integrating theories
no single theory can account for the all offenders and all types of offending behaviour
Cesare Beccaria
argued that the most effective response to crime was punishment as people have free will and act rationally to maximise pleasure and minimize pain, crime becomes attractive when it requires less work effort than lawful means of attaining pleasure
pathological perspective
criminals could be identified by physical traits that in part explained their life of crime
Functionalism
framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability
each social structure has social functions or consequences
Functionalism - 5 social structure
religion family economy politics education
