theories of crime and deviance Flashcards
functionalist theories of crime deviance and social control
• For society to function effectively, its members must share a common culture of norms, values and goals.
• Sharing the same culture produces social solidarity.
• Functionalists argue that in order to achieve this consensus, society has two key mechanisms:
• Socialisation - ensures that individuals internalise the same norms and values.
• Social control - a system of sanctions, rewards for conformity and punishments for deviance.
• Accepting that too much crime would destabilize society, they also see crime as inevitable, universal and functional.
durkheim - crime is inevitable and functional
- crime is a normal part of a healthy society, there is an optimal amount for society to function - too much will cause anomie.
- 3 functions: reaffirming the boundaries, social cohesion, changing values.
- crime is an inevitable feature of social life because not everyone is committed to the shared values and moral beliefs of society.
mertons strain theory
• people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially accepted goals by legitimate means.
• the strain is between - the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve & what the structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately.
(members of society are placed at different positions in the social structure)
cohen - subcultural theorist
- lower working class boys hold the success goals of mainstream society but cultural deprivation means little opportunity to achieve it.
- leads to status frustration
- resolve the frustration by rejecting the success goals of the mainstream replacing them with different norms and values —> results in delinquent subculture
clowed and ohlin - subcultural theorist
• combined and developed the work of merton and cohen
• members of the lower working classes are under more pressure to commit crime because they are least likely to succeed via legitimate opportunity structures.
• access to illegitimate opportunity structures also varies. Not everyone who fails by legitimate means then succeeds in the alternative.
• Different neighbourhoods have/do not have different illegitimate opportunities for young people to acquire criminal skills and careers. Eg gang membership
marxist and neo-marxist explanations of crime, deviance, social order and social control
• proposes that it is the structure of society that causes crime.
• The criminal justice system is an institution as any other in society - it is an ideological state apparatus which aims to maintain and perpetuate capitalism.
• The position of the Bourgeoisie is protected by the law. The legal system and the police are used to control the masses, prevent revolution and keep people in a state of false consciousness.
Chambliss - capitalism and criminogenic
• Marxists see crime as a natural product of capitalism. Capitalism is based upon self-interest, pursuit of profit and personal gain.
• Chambliss argues that the greed, self interest and hostility generated by the capitalist system motivates crimes at all levels of society.
Eg capitalism encourages us to be materialistic consumers, aspiring an unrealistic and unattainable lifestyle
Snider - law is made by the capitalist elite and tends to work in their interests
• People have unequal access to the law.
• Snider (1993) Capitalist states are reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns.
Chambliss - the state practices selective law enforcement
• the cjs concerns itself with policing and punishing the marginalised, not the wealthy - performs ideological functions for the elite classes
• Working class crime more likely to be punished and criminals jailed, whereas the crimes of the elite are more harmful and they are more likely to get away with it
Taylor, young and Walton (neo-Marxist) deviance
- They accept the key to understanding crime lies I’m the “material base of society”, capitalist free market economies generates massive inequalities
- they insist criminals choose to break the law, many motivated by politics
labelling theory of crime
• The interactionist perspective focuses upon:
• The interaction between deviants and those who define them as deviant.
• The effects of such a label upon future actions.
According to interactionists - meanings are not fixed, they are developed in the process of interaction. So deviance is a product of negotiation between potential deviants and those who have the power to apply a label.
becker
• argues that there is no such thing as a deviant act, an act only becomes deviant when others perceive and define it as such eg nudity
• a label is applied depending on the context and profiles of the actor + audience
• groups are targeted not because they are involved in a higher rate of offending but because of stereotypical perceptions
Stanley Cohen
• examined impact of media coverage of deviant acts and found they tend to cause deviancy amplification spirals, deviance increases as a result of societal reaction
• moral panic leads to particular groups becoming defined as threats to the existing social order - caused by media uproar regarding mods and rockers
Cicourel
• illustrates how stereotypes resulted in systematic bias
• police and probation officers held a picture of typical delinquents and those that fitted the picture tended to be arrested and charged (labelled)
• delinquents are produced by agencies of social cohesion
lembert
• emphasised the importance of social reaction and distinguished between primary and secondary deviation
• primary deviation - deviant acts before they are publicly labelled
• secondary deviation - the response of the individual or the group to societal reaction
• therefore the original cause of deviation recess and gives way to the central importance of the disapproving and isolating reactions of society
