Sociology: Crime and Deviance Flashcards
Why is crime good for society?
Boundary Maintenance, Adaptation and change, Safety Valve, Warning light
Boundary maintenance
Crime produces a reaction from society, which reinforces shared norms and values and brings society together (social solidarity). Also dramatizes wrongdoing by publicly shaming people and deterring people from committing crime. For example, James Bulger case (John Venables and Robert Thomson).
Boundary maintenance A03
Ignores how this may affect individuals, e.g., James Bulgers mum having to see her son’s killers in the papers and hear about the case all the time. Therefore, this is not ‘functional’ for the victim.
Adaptation and change
All change starts with an act of deviance for Durkheim, if crime is committed, then society needs to adapt by changing existing norms and values to bring positive change into society. For instance, Natasha’s law after the death of a woman from an allergy. Food businesses now have to include full ingredients on packaging.
Safety Valve
Davis argues that crime can release men’s sexual frustrations and prevent serious crimes such as DV or rape which can cause issues in the monogamous nuclear family. For instance, prostitution.
Safety valve A03
Radical feminists argue that this reinforces the patriarchy, dehumanizing women and making them seen as the inferior sex
Adaptation and change A03
Durkheim does not offer any knowledge of how much crime is normal for society
Warning light
Cohen argues that deviance indicates when a instituition is malfunctioning, informing society that a change needs to be made. For instance, truancy in schools, so fines for absences were introduced.
Warning light A03
Marxists say that this assumes that norms and values reflect the wishes of the population, however, it is actually made to benefit the ruling class.
What is strain theory?
Crime and deviance is a result of the strain between cultural goals and the structural factors which some people can’t achieve. Therefore, they have to resort to illegitimate means.
People want to achieve the American dream, but they are restricted by social structures, causing status frustration.
2 adaptations to strain
Conformity: accepting the goal and achieving it through legitimate means
Innovation: accepting the goal but achieving it through illegitimate means
Strain theory A03
Ignores crimes of the suites and only focuses on why the working class commit crime. However, tax evasion is committed often in the ruling class, and this provides no explanation for that matter.
Why does crime and deviance happen?(functionalism)
Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin
What does Cohen say about why crime and deviance happens?
Cohen says that working class boys face anomie in the middle class education system due to cultural deprivation, leaving them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy. They then reject the middle-class norms and values and form a subculture, offering an illegitimate opportunity structure where boys can gain status from illegitimate means.
Cohen A03
Cohen argues that the working class boys never held the middle class values in the first place, so this was not a reaction to failure, but maybe something else
Why does crime and deviance happen according to Cloward and Ohlin?
Cloward and Ohlin agree with Cohen’s ideas, but they note that not everyone resorts to utilitarian crimes. Instead, some resort to drug use and violence to gain status. This could be because they do not have access to an illegitimate opportunity structure, so must resort to a retreatist subculture consisting of dropouts.
Why does crime happen according to Marxism?
Criminogenic capitalism, state and law making, selective enforcement, ideological functions of crime and law, neo Marxism
Criminogenic capitalism
Crime is inevitable in a capitalist society, as it is based on the exploitation of the working class. The working class commit crime as it is their only way to escape poverty, e.g. theft. However, it also causes alienation, causing crimes such as assault or vandalism. Known as GAP crime (greed, alienation and poverty).
The state and law-making
Chambliss argues that the ruling class prevents laws that harm their interests, and they add laws that benefit them. For instance, the introduction of English Laws into Britain’s East African colonies to get people to work on tea and coffee plantations through a taxation that must be paid in cash.
Selective enforcement
Police choose which crimes they turn a blind eye to, Reiman found there are high prosecutions for street crimes committed by poor people, but not a lot of crimes of the suites are punished. E.g. man made a Facebook post organizing a riot and got 4 years in prison, Donald Trump did the same and got no prosecution.
Ideological functions of crime and law
Law gives the ruling class a caring face, such as the NHS or health and safety laws, promoting a false class consciousness. Gordon argues that this is to distract the working class from their exploitation.
Neo-Marxism, policing the streets
Example of this, young black men blamed for mugging, stories were sensationalized in the media, caused people to panic, therefore more police were on the street and more people were arrested.
The effects of labelling
Primary and secondary deviance, self fulfilling prophecies, deviance amplification spiral
Primary and secondary deviance
Primary deviance is a crime that goes unnoticed usually, such as shoplifting. However, once this deviance is labelled, it can turn into a secondary deviance, which results from societal reaction. This includes bigger crimes, such as mass shoplifting or robbery. This is because society labels this person.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Being labelled may affect people’s self-concept or sense of identity, making them accept their deviant label and see themselves as the word sees them. This could also lead to them joining a deviant career as nobody will employ them.
Deviance amplification spiral
The attempt to control deviance leads to it increasing instead, Cohen’s example of the mods and rockers. Police were patrolling the streets due to media sensationalism, leading to more people being arrested.
Why does crime happen? (according to right realists)
Biological differences, inadequate socialisation, rational choice theory
Right realist view on how to reduce crime
Broken windows theory, Zero tolerance policing, target hardening
