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Sociology Crime > Theories > Flashcards

Theories Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Durkheim

A

-society is consensual and people have shared values making a collective conscience

-Crime helps society to change but too much leads to social disruption

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2
Q

Durkheim positives of crime

A

-reaffirming boundaries

-changing values

-social cohesion

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3
Q

Kingsley Davis

A

-safety valve allowed minor crimes to avoid bigger problems e.g. drugs

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4
Q

Cohen

A

-crime boosts the economy for jobs and its an early warning sign showing where society is going wrong

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5
Q

Negatives of crime

A

Anomie- collective conscience is unclear during times of great stress

Egoism- becomes weak to restrain selfish desires of others

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6
Q

negatives of Durkheim

A

-exaggerates collective conscience

-vague when starting what crime is beneficial for

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7
Q

Merton

A

Strain theory

-society became dysfunctional

-crime is a poor fit between socially acceptable goals and the way to obtain those goals

-Unequal class based society

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8
Q

Merton - 5 forms of behaviour

A

conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion

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9
Q

Evaluate merton

A

+official statistics show crime is most property, material wealth

+explains 2011 riots

-Valier states there are no clear common goals

-Not all crime produces material rewards

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10
Q

Cloward and Ohlin

A

Illegitimate opportunity structure

some subcultures illegal career is available with illegal means to goals:

-criminal

-conflict

-retreatist

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11
Q

Evaluate Cloward and Ohlin

A

+evidence of organised crime

-not just a neat 3 clear category, they do overlap

-ignore crime of wider power structure

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12
Q

Cohen

A

Status Frustration

-crime was not money based

-w/c boys wanted to have m/c values but lacked

-School is where they reject the values of behaviour and gain status from peer groups

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13
Q

Evaluate Cohen

A

-Box states he ignores the fact w/c boys may never share the same goals to begin with

-doesnt look at female crime

-underplays the role of the relationship out of school

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14
Q

Becker

A

Labelling theory

-Examples from incest of people being tolerant and intolerant

-Just because someone breaks as rule doesn’t mean defined as deviant

-it is when rules are enforced which draws attention to them

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15
Q

Example of tolerance

A

Kitsuse

-75 heterosexuals interviewed and no one had the exact same response therefore no defined definition

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16
Q

Lemert

A

Primary deviance: rule breaking

Secondary deviance: consequences of the responses of others

Master Status

e.g. Canada and the chronic stuttering

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17
Q

Cohen

A

Moral Panic

-labels are amplified by authorities to groups which results in them being more deviant

e.g. Mods and Rockers, deviance amplification and folk devils

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18
Q

Deviance Amplification Spiral

A

-The drug takers

-media led to police targeting them

-Hippies became more secretive

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19
Q

Moral entrepreneurs

A

newspaper editors, MPs, religious leaders and campaigners

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20
Q

Evaluation of labelling theory

A

+raised important issues on police discretion/stop and search

+voice for powerless and outsiders

-labelling could be based on the actual serious offence

-deterministic, it may deter crime

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21
Q

Phenomenological explanation

A

-connection between human awareness and social action

-Society is created by humans, certain acts defined deviant and some not

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22
Q

Cicourel

A

Delinquency dealt in California

Officer typifications lead to stereotype including low income and single parent homes.

Stage 1: the decision to stop and interrogate

stage 2: negotiation of justice, talk there way out of it

23
Q

Evaluation of Cicourel

A

+justice can be negotiated
+day to day interaction when classifying deviance
-fails to explain
-where mental categories come from in the first place
-doesnt address the power balance

24
Q

Marxist explanation of crime

A

Laws are for the benefit of the ruling class and criminal laws reflects their interest

25
Q

Reiman

A

The rich get richer and the poor get prison

26
Q

Snider

A

-Capitalist societies such as UK laws threaten interest of large corporations by undermining their profit and are reluctant to enforce laws
e.g. minimum wage and Banking crisis 2008

27
Q

Sayer

A

-believes that rich shape the law so are unlikely to be put in prison e.g. government don’t close loopholes to avoid tax
and Tax justice Network 2012.
-In contrast Benefit scroungers have strict laws stated by Jones

28
Q

YouGov poll 2013

A

-People thought that 27% of social security was fraudulently claimed(people on benefits illegally) while research suggest the real figure is 0.7%

29
Q

Marxists

A

-Law does benefit most the population but law is biased and in favour of ruling class
e.g. tax evasion and benefit fraud

30
Q

Snider

A

Corporate crime in the USA does far more harm then street crime
e.g. Deepwater oil spill

31
Q

Corporate crime causes death

A

Health and Safety executives 2013/2014

142 fatal injuries and 2538 deaths from construction industry

32
Q

White collar crime examples

A

MPs expenses scandal 2009

33
Q

Chambliss

A

-Capitalism is based on competition, greed and selfishness which forms peoples attitudes

-pressure on the poor to commit crime is strong due to insufficient income

34
Q

Gordon

A

-Capitalism as criminogenic

-dog eat dog society, everyone fend for themselves

35
Q

Evaluation of Gordon

A

Difficult to apply to non-material crimes e.g. murder and rape

36
Q

Reiman

A

-Social conditions rather than individual motivation e.g. social injustice that causes crime, lack of opportunity

-Crime is portrayed as being carried out by the poor and poverty due to laziness therefore deserve to be poor

37
Q

Evaluation of Marxism

A

+role of capitalism

+broad explanation for causes of crime

-one dimensional in all laws seen as the outcome interest of upper class

-Jones states there are capitalist countries with low crime e.g. Japan

38
Q

The new criminology: Taylor, Walton and Young

A

Neo-Marxists

-economy is important

-capitalism to blame for inequality

-we need to see a transformation is society

BUT were critical of the idea that w/c are passive

39
Q

Key Neo-Marxist ideas

A

-Interactionist ideas to see how the behaviour of victims, media and offenders interact to influence how the situation develops

-Ruling class label w/c for their benefit and say w/c made an active voluntarist choice to break the law

40
Q

Hall et al

A

7 aspects of crime that must be considered:

micro-the actual act itself

macro-wider origin of society and who defines the action as deviant

41
Q

Taylor, Walton and Young

A

-They said they ought to uncover and explain the crimes of the rich e.g. role of police and CJS

-Ordinary criminals should be seen as someone fighting against injustice in capitalist society

-sympathetic to decriminalisation of many offences

42
Q

Stuart Hall: policing the crisis

A

-Moral panic about mugging

-Was used to distract attention away from failings of capitalism

-London mugging was the main focus in the media and forced to the top of political and policing agenda

43
Q

Evaluation of Neo-Marxists

A

-Rock stated it gave far too much of a romantic view of crime

-Carlen stated there was no specific discussion on the power of the patriarchy

44
Q

Right Realism

A

-serious problem

-victims of crime ignored

-fear increasing

-no realistic solutions

-came from 1970s named Thatcher, Zero tolerance

45
Q

Key features of right realism

A

-people are naturally selfish

-lack of community control

-crime will always exist

-Rational choice and opportunity

46
Q

Wilson and Kelling

A

Broken window thesis and zero tolerance

47
Q

Cohen and Felson

A

Routine activities theory and target hardening

3 conditions to make place

-motivation

-opportunity and target

-lack of capable guardian

48
Q

Evaluation of right realists

A

+New York fall in crime since zero tolerance

-emotional and thrill of crime is also important in explaining crime

49
Q

Left Realism

A

1980s

-politically left wing, labour

-A response to traditional Marxism and neo-Marxists

50
Q

Lea and Young

A

-crime is a serious problem for normal people

-the poor are at the highest risk of being a victim and highest fear of being am offender.

-most people don’t care about white collar and corporate crime

51
Q

Lea and Young 3 key concepts

A

Consumer culture gives an expectation of a good life/bulimic society

-relative deprivation

-Subcultures

-marginalisation ‘on the edge’

52
Q

The square of crime

A

4 elements

-interaction of offenders

-social reaction

-reaction formally and informally

-victims

53
Q

Left realism and policy

A

-New labour government 1997 to 2010

-Policies to reduce inequality

e.g. tax credits and minimum wage

54
Q

evaluation of left realism

A

Jones- don’t explain why not all people who experience relative deprivation don’t turn to crime

Hughes- fails to explain why street crime happens and relies too much on subcultures

Sociology Crime (7 decks)

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