Sociological Explanations

Question 1

functionalism - overview

Answer 1

.only explained by looking at social structures
.crime caused by soc. rather than in.

Question 2

durkheim

Answer 2

.pre-ind. soc, crime rare bcs fam and religion powerful agencies of socialisation and social control - influential combination of consensus and continuity, powerful influence on personal beh.
.crime rates higher in cities - modern life undermined religion and family. consensus, community and social control weaker, more likely to experience anomie

Question 3

anomie in context of crime

Answer 3

.sense of moral confusion that weakens commitment to shared values and rules - encourages crime and deviance

Question 4

Durkheim - how crime functions to benefit societies

Answer 4

.can promote pos. social change by highlighting aspects of social structure/law that are inadequate - suffragettes
.some crimes (terrorism) create public outrage, rein. community solidarity
.pursuit, trial and punishment reassures ppl that soc. is functioning effectively
.reminds public of social boundaries of beh.
.minor crime = safery valve, prevents more serious crime

Question 5

Durkheim eval

Answer 5

.issues w viewing crime as functional - child abuse
.marxisst reject view that soc. based on consensus - soc. reflects cap. patriarchal values and is based on conflict
.d. cant explain deviance e.g. why some subcultures more likely to commit crime
.assumes that criminal stats are accurate when they aren’t actually

Question 6

Merton

Answer 6

.cause of crime lies in rel. between culture and social structure of soc. e.g cultural ins. (mass media) socialise in. into believing that material success is a realistic goal (cap. soc)
.resources and opportunities are not fairly distributed is cap. soc. - those at bottom experience strain between goals and legitimate ins. means (ed. and work) - chance of accessing them blocked by those w econ. and social advantages
.can produce anomie

Question 7

the various ways merton states that in. respond to anomie

Answer 7

.conformity - mos of pop. cope, make best of what soc. offers them
.innovation - commitment to cul. goals may remain strong, some reject conventional, turn to illegal means
.ritualism - ppl lost sight of material goals, derive satisfaction form meaningless jobs
.retreatism - small no. reject both goals and means, drop out of soc.
.rebellion - seek to replace shared goals and ins. means w more radical alt, may use violent methods

Question 8

what does merton overall believe

Answer 8

.criminals not that different from law abiding citizens - they have same goal to achieve material success

Question 9

merton analysis - young

Answer 9

.influenced by m. - argues that ed. and media establishments stress meritocratic ideal
.meritocracy is a myth, ‘cos of inequality’ characterises financial reward in uk - business leaders and celebrities paid huge sums of money, hard-working ppl in full-time jobs struggle to survive

Question 10

what does young believe there is a contradiction between

Answer 10

.there’s contradiction between culture (focuses on monetary success and acquiring material goods) and ins. that make up social structure (fault to deliver material success for most)
.this contradiction produces anomie and violent criminality is a response to this

Question 11

evaluation of merton

Answer 11

.doesnt explain non-monetary crime (vandalism)
.ignores collective deviance
.assumed value consensus and accuracy of crime statistics

Question 12

functionalists subculturalist theory

Answer 12

.focuses in why working ppl commit crime
.juvenile delinquency - often malicious in nature and not linked to material and financial goals
.tries to explain why jd has a collective/subcultural character - committed as a part of a larger group or gang

Question 13

Cohen and fst

Answer 13

.delinquency caused by strain between cultural goals and ins. means of achieving them

Question 14

what does Cohen argue abt how status affects ppl

Answer 14

.suggests young ppl want status, respect and feeling valued - mc youth usually attain these from parents, teachers and peers as they achieve educational success
.wc boys denied status at school bcs parents have failed to equip them w skills that they need - placed in bottom sets so unable to aquire knowledge and status that higher students have - may leave school with fewer qualifications, low-paid jobs and unemployed - denied status by wider soc.

Question 15

what does Cohen state this results in

Answer 15

.low self esteem, feel alienated and angry at low-status that schools and soc. allocate them
.experience a form of anomie named ‘status fustration’
.respond by developing gangs/subcultures of like-minded boys who reverse norms and values of the dominant culture and award one another status on basis of ani school and delinquent beh.

Question 16

evaluation of Cohen

Answer 16

.ignores gender differences - only looks at male delinquency
.marxists - wc youth didn’t have ‘status fustration’ - don’t see themselves as failures, they reject mc notions of success (willis and the lads)
.maj. of wc youth don’t commit crime
.mc youth can commit crime

Question 17

cloward and ohlin

Answer 17

.type of crime committed by young ppl depends on illegitimate opportunity structure that is available to them in the area
.3 types of opportunity structures that produce 3 types of subcultures

Question 18

cloward and ohlin first subculture

Answer 18

.some areas, there’s est. patterns of illegitimate opportunity in which ppl experience criminal ‘careers’ - organised types of criminal subcultures mirror legitimate businesses (employees have specific roles and can be promotes upwards to to executive statuses

Question 19

cloward and ohlin second subculture

Answer 19

.inner-cuty areas may be dominated conflict sub-cultures which engage in highly masculinised, territorial/respect driven violence
.pitts - local youth in inner city London found it difficult to resist gangs membership bcs risk to themselves/family too great

Question 20

cloward and ohlin third subcluture

Answer 20

.if young ppl fail to gain access to either criminal/conflict subcultures, ma form retreats subculture - major activities drug use, commit crime e.g. burglary and shoplifting to finance it

Question 21

evaluation of cloward and ohlin

Answer 21

.subcultures overlap - gangs may also commit monetary crime
.assume value consensus and ignore conflict (issues w class and gender)
.matza - crit fst for suggesting that delinquents are different to other ppl - ‘delinquents’ drift in and out of delinquency - better explain. that ppl have subterranean values which might be attractive at certain points of someone’s life

Question 22

overall functionalist evaluation

Answer 22

.assumes there is some value consensus that ppl deviate from in some way - not everyone committed to mainstream goals - hard to sustain view in multicultural and unequal societies like Britain
.subc. theories only explain wc delinquency snd down explain white collar crime
.rely on pattern of crime shown by official statistics (unreliable)

Question 23

marxist explanation - overview

Answer 23

.see ppl beh. as moulded by the social structure based on conflict between lasses and social inequality as the driving force behind crime

Question 24

trad marxist theory

Answer 24

.cap. is criminogenic - crime is inevitable in cap bcs it emphasises econ. self interest, greed and personal gain, crime rational response to competitiveness and inequality in a soc. where profit and in. gain are seen as most important
.not confined to wc
.law reflects ruling-class interests and ideology - law making and law enforcement only serve in the interest of the ruling class

Question 25

what does Chambliss argue

Answer 25

.laws that protect private property are cornerstone of cap. econ. e.g. intro of English law into br. was African colonies , br, econ. interest lay in colonies tea, coffee and other plantations which need plentiful local labour .br. intriduce tax, payable in cash, to a non-money econ. where pay punishable offence - cash only earned by working on plantations = law served interest of cap. plantation owners

Question 26

trad marxists - what power do they believe ruling class own

Answer 26

.have power to prevent intro of laws that threaten their interests - few laws that challenge unequal distributions of wealth .although all classes commit crime, selective enforcement when it comes to application of law

Question 27

what does reiman argue

Answer 27

.more likely a crime is committed by higher class ppl the less likely the crime is treated as a criminal offence - street crimes disproportionately prosecuted whereas health and safety violations or serious tax evasion less so

Question 28

tax and crime

Answer 28

.tax justice network - $21-32 trillion kept in tax havens in 2012 leading to loss of $250 billion in tax .Owen jones - tax avoidance costs uk 20 times as much as benefit fraud

Question 29

what do ruling class produce due to the difference between the amount of wc and uc crime reported and comvicted

Answer 29

.'ruling class ideology' - dominant pro-cap. belief system through the ed. system, religion and mass media .lead to constant attention on benefit-scroungers, public encouraged to believe that welfare is over-generous and poor enforced and easy to scrounge off of state

Question 30

trad marxist view on corporations

Answer 30

.crimes by corporations often get off w/o punishments - HSE figures 2013-14 suggests their were 114 deaths a t work and 629,000 non-fatal injuries, only 547 prosecutions

Question 31

valuation of trad. marxists

Answer 31

.aware of crimes of powerful and how CJS can be manipulated by rich .recognises there is conflict between classes .recognises that cap. soc. influences nature of crime .one-dimensional - all laws benefit the ruling class, all crime is generated from criminogenic cap. system .struggles to explain changing nature of crime

Question 32

neo-marxism

Answer 32

.influenced by the many ideas of trad marxists but combine ideas from other approaches e.g. labelling theory

Question 33

neo-marxists agree w trad. marxists on…

Answer 33

.cap. soc based on exploitation and class conflict and characterised by extreme inequalities in wealth and power .state makes and enforces laws in interest of cap class, criminalises members of wc .cap. should be replaced by classless soc - will help reduce/eradicate crime

Question 34

neo-marxists disagree w trad. marxists on…

Answer 34

.reject deterministic approach that workers commit crime out of econ. necessity .crime as meaningful action and conscious choice, crime has political motive .see classless soc. as a goal, also emphasise liberty and diversity

Question 35

what to neon-marxists create in their work

Answer 35

.’fully social theory of deviance’ - combines trad. marxist and labelling theory .unlike functionalist view, looks at wider cap. soc e.g. wider and immediate origins of deviant act and act itself (meaning of it), immediate origins and wider origins of social reaction, effects of labelling

Question 36

hall’s viewpoint

Answer 36

.sees moral panic act mugging as an ideological attempt to distract attention from the failings of cap. .argues violent street crime nothing new and was in fact dropping in 70s (against media view) .points out that there isn’t an easy way to measure it - nearest legal category ‘assault w intent to rob’ .claims that outcry of mugging triggered by newspaper reports, supplied by info from police - caused police force operating against black youth .focus classically marxist - wider soc. and that crime seen as result of cap. - police provocateurs not agents of law responding to offences

Question 37

veal of hall

Answer 37

.criticised for not looking at motives of ppl at centre of activity, young muggers themselves .contradiction that increased police presence is necessary to maintain law and order - hall still states that there are no actual increase in street crime - if no increase, why threat to cap.

Question 38

neo-marxist subcultural theory

Answer 38

.some focus on spectacular wc or ‘deviant’ youth subcultures e.g. mods and rockers .suggest these can be seen as a form of ideological resistance to the dominant adult value system shaped by mc and cap. values .brake - existence expressed through subcultures, is also a form of illusion that appears to solve their problems but actually does

Question 39

cohen ‘skinheads’ study

Answer 39

.sometimes involved in football violence and hostile to ethnic minorities .argued this subculture represented a ‘magical recreation of wc culture’ to reassert and relive lifestyle that was under threat from urban redevelopment, loss of jobs in manufacturing and heavy industry and settlement of ethnic minorities in previously white wc areas .football violence attempt to defend ‘territory’

Question 40

what did hebdige look at

Answer 40

.meanings behind style of punk rockers and late 70s .argues that they set out to deliberately shock the establishment of soc by using everyday objects e.g. safety pins, deviant symbols - symbolically resist dominant cultural values of that time .does note that cap. soc quickly adapts and incorporates youth cultural style which strips them of their ideological significance, becomes anther consumer item

Question 41

evaluation of marxist subcultural theories

Answer 41

.cohen - writers were biased in that they wanted to prove that wc subculture were an attack on cap. and made sure they fixed ev of this .blackman - emphasis on wc subcultural resistance ignores the huge variation of subcultures based on gender, ethnicity and locality .thornton - no class basis to subcultures, simply creations of the media

Question 42

evaluation of marxist approach

Answer 42

.powerful counterbalance to explanations of crime that focus on in, their fam/community .force sociologists to explore wider social, economic and political factors that shape soc .crime can only happens when ppl are defined as breaking the law, law reflects differences in power between groups

Question 43

interpretivist approach - labelling theory - overview

Answer 43

.suggests that most ppl commit criminal acts but only some caught and stigmatised for it

Question 44

what does bartlett find

Answer 44

.conducts survey on 2000 ppl. .found average person commits 17 crimes a year - if ppl commit deviant acts of some kind then it is pointless to search for differences between deviants and non-deviants

Question 45

becker study - ‘the outsiders’

Answer 45

.used an example from 1940s study - youth kill’s himself bbc’s publically accused of incest - when case malinowski first inquires a t case, islanders expressed horror and disgust, on further investigation - incest not uncommon nor frowned upon but if affair got public then islanders reacted w abuse .becker argued - just bcs someone breaks a rule doesn’t mean others will define it as deviant, someone has to enforce rules, if person successfully labelled then consequences follow

Question 46

what’s an issue with becker

Answer 46

.doesnt help explain why ppls commit crimes knowing their actions will be against law before they have been labelled

Question 47

lemberg study

Answer 47

.distinguishes between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ deviance - primary is so commonplace that it doesn’t need explaining - it is trivial .‘secondary’ deviance result of societal reaction - being caught and public ally labelled as a criminal can involve being stigmatised, shunned or humiliated from normal society - once labelled, others only view them in terms of their label .provokes crisis of identity where they have to accept/reject label - accepting may lead to self-fulfilling prophecy .living up to deviant label provokes further reactions from soc. and this may lead to deviant career, seeking out others for support, maybe deviant subculture