Topic 3- Crime And Deviance Flashcards
Criminal
Something against the law (illegal)
Deviance
Behaviour that does not conform to the norms and values of that particular society
Becker (1963) on deviance
Acts are not intrinsically deviant but are defined as such by powerful labellers: influential people and institutions who decide something is not acceptable. Depends on: time, age, situation, gender, society,
(Agents of) Social control
Institutions and groups that can determine the consequence of certain behaviour such as the judiciary system, the pénal system, the education system, relatives.
Formal and informal.
Includes rewards for conformity and sanctions for deviance.
Define anomie
Normlessness. More likely in modern society as things are more varied and unpredictable than in pre-industrial society
Criticism: Victimology versus Functionalism
Taking a functionalist approach would often ignore the effect crimes have on their victims.
Erikson quote
Boundaries or permissible action are often set by those in power
Merton- 5 ways people can react to American Dream
1) conformity: working your way up career ladder
2) innovation: either legal or illegal decisions the individual chooses
3) Ritualism: deviant but not criminal (giving up)
4) retreatism: giving up, no longer interested in ‘American Dream’
5) Rebellion: rejection and wanting to replace the Dream; criminal
Define labelling theory
Micro theory that focuses on individuals/ social groups and interactionalism
What do labelling theorists believe and argue
Interested in how and why certain acts are labelled or defined as criminal.
No Act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself in all situations and at all times. It only becomes so when it is successfully labelled as such.
Becker and creating deviance.
Social groups create deviance by creating the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders.
Criticisms of labelling
Can ignore wider social factors
Doesn’t acknowledge that people often reject labels or prove them wrong e.g Mirza’s study of black schoolgirls who were labelled as underachievers attained highly after rejecting this.
Define disintegrative shaming
Where not only the crime, but also the criminal are labelled as bad and the offender is excluded from society
Define reintegrative shaming
Labels just the act but not those who commit it (‘this person has done a terrible thing’ not ‘this is a terrible person’)
Moral panic
An over exaggerated reaction by society to a perceived problem usually driven by the media. Can lead to increased crime as groups are labelled and have stricter punishments put in place, which could create a self fulfilling prophecy.
Marx on crime; criminogenic capitalism
Crime is a central and essential feature of capitalism; many aspects of society rely on crime
Crime is inevitable because it is caused by capitalism
Gordon:
Crime is a rational response to the capitalism system and found in all societies yet official statistics make it look like a working class phenomenon
Snider
The state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate large capitalist concerns as they may scare off investors and damage profitability. The bourgeoisie commit most crime but this is masked through selective law enforcement.
Define Selective law enforcement
Crimes committed by the capitalist ruling class are often ignored by the police and law courts= over representation of working class crimes in official statistics.
Gordon:
- selective law enforcement reinforces ideology that individuals are to blame for crime so by punishing them, the capitalist system is protected
- labelling criminals aims to justify their incarceration
