Social Construction of Crime

Question 1

What are the four different social constructions of crime?

Answer 1

1. Contextual
2. Cultural
3. Historical
4. Generational

Question 2

What is the contextual construction?

Answer 2

• Crime and Deviance is context dependent meaning some behaviours are acceptable in some situations but some are not acceptable in the same situation

Question 3

What is the cultural construction?

Answer 3

• What is considered acceptable or rude varies depending on the culture, society or country you are in

Question 4

What is the historical construction?

Answer 4

• Criminal action can change over time, what was once illegal may now be acceptable or not

Question 5

What is the generational construction?

Answer 5

• How some age groups have acceptable behaviour however some is illegal for other age groups such as alcohol

Question 6

What are the two social constructions of crime argued by Ken Plummer?

Answer 6

1. Situational = The time and place
2. Societal = If it goes against the dominant ideology