Paper 3 Section B: Crime Theories Flashcards
Cloward and Ohlin
FUNCTIONALISM:
• The deviant is unable to achieve valued goals through legitimate means (‘blocked opportunities’), therefore using illegitimate means to gain them
• Access to ‘criminal subcultures’ where gang members can access criminal opportunity and make money isn’t available to all youths
• In more unstable areas, youth turn to violence and ‘conflict subcultures’ are formed to mark/defend territory
• Some youths who are unable to access success through mainstream ways may withdraw from society altogether, turning to addiction and petty crime, becoming ‘retreatists’
Miller
FUNCTIONALISM: • Argues that working class boys have their own ‘focal concerns’ (values which have the potential to lead them into deviant behaviour) • These are different to middle class youths, which helps explain why levels of deviance are higher amongst the working class • The ‘focal concerns’ of young working-class boys include being in trouble, being tough and ‘streetwise’ • Working class boys see these values as more important than middle class codes of conduct
Cohen
FUNCTIONALISM:
• He challenges the view that criminal activity is the same across all age ranges and says young deviance is uniquely non-utilitarian (not committed for profit) and associated with short-term hedonism (instant pleasure seeking)
• Working class boys are aware of mainstream values, such as success at school, understanding that a middle-class boy could get status if he achieved
• However, Cohen found that a working-class boy who clings to these values will see himself as inferior
• This creates status frustration
Becker
INTERACTIONISM:
• Deviance is socially constructed
• A label becomes a ‘master status’, meaning the deviant identity will control them
• ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’ is when a person is labelled over and over, therefore they may live up to this label
• Once someone is given a ‘master status’ it can be difficult to get away from it, such as finding it difficult to conform to society’s rules, such as holding down a job
• Becker argues that a ‘deviant career’ may start if someone joins a deviant subculture, and the person’s ‘deviant identity’ will become controlling
Plummer
INTERACTIONISM:
• Discusses the notion of a ‘deviant career’, where someone may join a subculture where they will commit deviant activities
• This deviant career can be applied to individuals who have been labelled homosexual
• This label becomes a ‘master status’ and the individual may internalise the label and start to pursue a ‘homosexual career’
• This could involve going to gay clubs and acting more camp
Lemert
INTERACTIONISM:
• Believes society’s reaction to behaviour is more significant than the behaviour is more significant than the behaviour itself
• He states ‘primary deviance’ – refer to acts which are not publicly labelled and seen as acceptable
• However, if the deviant behaviour attracts negative social reactions, it will start to affect the individual’s self-concept
• This is when ‘secondary deviance’ can occur, as someone engages in deviant behaviour as an expression of their deviant self-concept that they have been given
Althusser
MARXISM:
He said control is maintained through two sets of institutions:
1. The Repressive Status Apparatus (RSA) control through government, police, armed forces, and CIS (social control)
2. The Ideological Status Apparatus (ISA) control more subtly, through socialisation of accepting capitalist beliefs, e.g., through media, education
• ISAS show us those who are ‘deviant’, divide us and scare us, therefore justifying the use of the RSA
Box
MARXISM:
He uses examples of theft and murder to show how ‘crime’ is socially constructed
• He explains murder as ‘avoidable killing’, but many avoidable killings are not seen as murder
• These types of avoidable killings are seen as a less serious crime than murder
• The people who commit legally defined murder are usually poorer and less powerful than those who commit other ‘avoidable killing’
• These other acts that are ‘avoidable killings’ but are not seen as murder, such as health and safety in the workplace or negligence to employers are usually ones committed by the rich and powerful
Bonger
MARXISM:
• Bonger (1916) says there is a link between crime and economic conditions
• Crime is caused by poverty, poor living conditions and scarcity of resources
• Capitalism creates competition and inequality of resources
• This promotes greed and leads to materialism, racism and violence
Gordon
MARXISM:
• Gordon (1973) says there is lots of focus on violent crimes, but little attention on white collar crimes, despite the harm they do
• He also says in the USA, crime can be seen as the norm, with 91% of people saying they had committed a criminal act in 1961
• Gordon says crime is a rational response to situations someone is in, and capitalism causes inequality, causing crime to be committed
• e.g., in poor neighbourhoods, jobs are low paid and insecure which can cause someone to turn to crime, the same way corporate crime is committed by middle class businesses to maximise profits – it is seen as completely rational
Chambliss
MARXISM:
• Chambliss (1975) says that capitalism creates the desire to consume, but also creates the inability to earn enough money to meet these desires, which can then lure people to crime
• He agrees with Marx’s points that crime keeps some proletariat off the streets by putting them in prison (incarceration) and then employs people who work in prisons and the CJS, therefore reducing unemployment
• Chambliss also agrees that crime is committed through all classes, but it is the enforcement of the law which makes it look like just the lower classes
Merton
FUNCTIONALISM:
• He argues that there are clear goals in any social structure and there are also clear means to achieve these goals
• Crime and deviance occur when the goals are emphasised more than the acceptable means
• Therefore, Merton says there is a ‘strain towards’ anomie – the goal becomes more important than the means
• There are five different responses to goal of success:
1. Conformity – Most people work hard at school and in their job to earn money in legitimate ways
2. Innovation – This occurs with middle class people who are prepared to ‘bend’ the rules to make more money
3. Ritualism – Some people do not strive for great wealth, so they scale down and lower their aspirations
4. Retreatism – Those who struggle to achieve success may end up dropping out of society which judges them
5. Rebellion – The rebel may reject society’s goals but replace them with alternatives
CCCS
NEO-MARXISM:
• Hall and Jefferson (1976) and P. Cohen produced accounts of youth subcultures, such as ‘teddy boys’ and punks
• The CCCS argued that this could be seen as resistance against capitalist society
• In the book, ‘The New Criminology’ by Taylor, Walton and Young, they put forward the idea of ‘radical theory of crime’
• They believed that a ‘fully social theory of deviance’ must consider the structure of a capitalist society and the way it operates to benefit the ruling class
• It must also consider the individuals involved in the deviance – the offenders, police, judges – to consider how to interpret behaviour and actions
Taylor, Walton and Young
NEO-MARXISM:
• A ‘full social theory of deviance’ that Taylor, Walton and Young spoke about in 1972, must take on a Marxist understanding of the distribution of power in society
• It must consider:
1. The circumstances around a person’s choice to commit to a deviant act
2. The meaning of the act to that person
3. Any effects caused by society’s reaction, including labelling and deviancy amplification
• They suggest that a person’s class position may lead to the desire to fight the capitalist system
Gilroy
NEO-MARXISM:
• The view of crime as a form of resistance was developed by Gilroy with black criminality
• He said ethnic minorities turn to crime as a way to defend themselves in a society that treats them badly
• However, resistance does not need to be a conscious act, but rather a result of ager that may end up being channelled into violence and other crime
