sociological theories

Question 1

what are sociological theories?

Answer 1

focus on how society influences whether people become criminal

Question 2

what is social structure?

Answer 2

refers to how peoples place in the socioeconomic structure of their society influences their chances of becoming a criminal

Question 3

SS- what is a marxist view of crime?

Answer 3

criminal activity is inevitable in a capitalist society because of the ruling capitalist class exploiting the W-C

Question 4

Marxism- reasons why crime is seen as inevitable

Answer 4

1. exploited w-c driven into poverty
2. capitalists create a desire for consumer goods through aggressive advertising
   leads to crime such as violence, stealing, crimes for survival

Question 5

why does a capitalist society lead to crime?

Answer 5

the ruling class are more likely to commit white collar crimes because they want to be better than everyone else, so they commit crimes such as tax evasion and corporate crime

Question 6

what do marxists argue about white collar crimes?

Answer 6

they tend to be ignored, whilst street crimes are given a higher profile

Question 7

what are corporate crimes frequently punished with?

Answer 7

fines rather than prison sentences when the consequence can be damaging for many people, called selective enforcement

Question 8

evaluation of structural theories- STRENGTHS

Answer 8

explanation covers crime committed by all classes
theory had practical applications as it highlights impact of selective law enforcement

Question 9

evaluation of structural theories- WEAKNESSES

Answer 9

focuses mainly on class inequality and doesn’t address ethnicity or gender inequalities

leads to possible exaggeration of the amount of crime committed by w-c

Question 10

what views do right realists hold?

Answer 10

right wing conservative political viewpoints

Question 11

what do right realists encourage?

Answer 11

getting tough on crime

Question 12

what is crime linked to with right realists?

Answer 12

instead of rising unemployment or poverty, it’s linked to inadequate social control

Question 13

what factors do right realists see crime as a consequence of?

Answer 13

biological differences- inherited personality characteristics
inadequate socialisation- coming from single parent family and lacking hard working male role model
offending as a rational choice- weighing up costs and benefits of offending

Question 14

what would right realists believe about punishments?

Answer 14

too soft and need to be harder to deter more people from committing crime

Question 15

evaluation of right realists- STRENGTHS

Answer 15

Bennet and Wright found by interviewing burglars that the risks of committing the crime was the biggest factor

Rettig found the degree of punishment affected whether or not people commit a crime by giving students a criminal scenario with differing levels of punishment for the crime

Question 16

EV of right realists- WEAKNESSES

Answer 16

overlooks white collar crime

ignored left realist views that look at deprivation and poverty gaps

many violent crimes are impulsive reactions to events or a consequence of drugs and alcohol

Question 17

what view do left realists hold?

Answer 17

left wing socialist political opinions

Question 18

what do left realists see as the cause of criminal activity?

Answer 18

inequality within our society

Question 19

what do Lea and Young argue?- LR

Answer 19

three related causes of crime:
Relative deprivation- looks at how deprived you feel e.g lifestyle, possessions etc
Subculture- people belong to a subculture in attempts to solve the problem of relative deprivation
Marginalisation- some groups in society are marginalised in that they lack organisations that lead to a sense of powerlessness and frustration which leads to likelihood of violence

Question 20

EV of left realists- STRENGTHS

Answer 20

has practical applications, able to reduce crime if we reduce deprivation and poverty

Question 21

EV of left realists- WEAKNESSESS

Answer 21

fails to explain white collar crime which is often committed by those who are not in deprived conditions

Question 22

what does interactionism look at?

Answer 22

how people within a society interact with each other

e.g. labelling theory

Question 23

what is labelling?

Answer 23

we give people labels and then how we interact with people is influenced by their label

Question 24

what does the labelling theory argue about acts?

what is an example of this?

Answer 24

there are no act that is deviant or criminal in itself and only becomes one when we create rules and regulations around that act to make it crimnal

homosexuality was labelled a crime in the 1950s in the UK but no longer carries that label

Question 25

what did Edwin Lemert identify?

Answer 25

Primary deviance- trivial deviant acts that tend to go uncaught and don’t see themselves as criminals e.g. stealing stationary from work

secondary deviance- involves acts that have been labelled as deviant

Question 26

what can labels be a cause of?

Answer 26

a cause of crime as once someone gets labelled a criminal that becomes their master status

Question 27

what is a master status?

Answer 27

the thing that most defines someone

Question 28

what can happen to someone once labelled?

Answer 28

they can be rejected by society and being forces into a deviant subculture of other criminals with prisons being an extreme example

the person then identifies with the label and commits more crime (self-fulfilling prophecy) as the individual internalises the label and behaves in a way that mirrors the label

Question 29

EV interactionism- strengths

Answer 29

practical applications

shows the role the media play in public perception of crime which could lead to tighter restraints on the media and calls for more responsible reporting

Question 30

EV interactionism- weaknesses

Answer 30

fails to explain where the deviance originates in the first place

suggests lack of freewill where once someone has a label they WILL commit crime which isn’t true

takes focus away from the real victims of criminal behaviour as they are “victims” of being labelled which takes away responsibility for their actions from the criminal