Unit 2 AC2.3 AC3.2 Describe/evaluate sociological theories of criminality Flashcards
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Key idea
Crime is the inevitable result of inadequate socialisation/anomie
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Boundary maintenance
Crime unites society’s members against wrongdoers, reinforcing the boundary between right and wrong
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Social change
For society to progress, individuals with new ideas must challenge existing norms and values – this is deviance at first
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Safety Valve: Davis
For example prostitution acts to release men’s sexual frustrations without threatening the nuclear family.
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Warning light
Deviance indicates that a society isn’t functioning properly so action can be taken to fix it.
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Strength
First to recognise that crime can have positive functions for society
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Limitation
Does not suggest what the right amount of crime is for society to function properly
Functionalist theories - Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Limitation
Crime is not functional for all – e.g. vicitims
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory - Key idea
Crime is the result of unequal access to society’s goal of wealth
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Blocked opportunities
Not all have equal chance to achieve wealth – this creates strain for working class people who cannot access wealth legitimately
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Innovation
Accept the goal but find illegal ways to achieve it - utilitarian crimes
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Ritualism
Give up striving for success. Plod along in dead-end job
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Retreatism
Reject goal and means to achieve. Drop-outs e.g. drunks, vagrants
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Rebellion
Reject goal and means, replacing them with new ones in order to change society – political radicals and alternative cultures e.g. hippies
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Strength
Shows how normal and deviant behaviour arise from the same goals
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Strength
Explains why most crime in statistics is property crime and why working class crime rates are higher.
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Limitation
Ignores crimes of wealthy
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Limitation
Only sees deviance as an individual response
Functionalist theories - Merton’s Strain theory -Limitation
Focuses on utilitarian crime only
Function
Functionalists argue that everything has a positive role to play in helping society to run smoothly
Structural theory
An explanation that focuses on the way in which society is organised
Socialisation
Process of learning norms and values
Social solidarity / integration
All members of society feel like they belong to the same harmonious unit and most do not deviate from it’s shared norms.
Anomie
‘Normlessness’ Society has multiple sets of norms and values that are often conflicting.
Strain
Conflict between the pressure to conform to society’s norms in but still achieve it’s main goals of monetary success
Utilitarian crime
Crimes committed for financial gain
Subcultural theories - Cohen: Status Frustration -Key idea
Crime is a group response to unequal access to society’s goal of wealth.
Subcultural theories - Cohen: Status Frustration - Status frustration
Working class boys end up at the bottom of school’s official status hierarchy and feel frustrated and worthless
Subcultural theories - Cohen: Status Frustration -Subcultures
Subcultures offer a solution by providing an alternate status hierarchy in which society’s values are inverted – they gain status by being deviant
Subcultural theories - Cloward and Ohlin 3 Subcultures -Key idea
Different neighbourhoods give rise to different types of deviant subcultures
Subcultural theories - Cloward and Ohlin 3 Subcultures - Criminal subcultures
Arise in areas where there is a longstanding professional criminal network. They select youths for an ‘apprenticeship’ in utilitarian crime and future criminal career
Subcultural theories - Cloward and Ohlin 3 Subcultures - Conflict subcultures
Arise where the only criminal opportunities are within street gangs. Violence is a release for frustration and a source of status earned by winning territory from rival gangs.
Retreatist subcultures
Made up of dropouts who have failed in both the legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures. Often based on drug use.
Subcultural theories - Strength
These theories show how subcultures perform a function for their members by offering solutions to the problem of failing to achieve goals legitimately
Subcultural theories -Strength
Cloward and Ohlin show how different types of neighbourhood give rise to different illegitimate opportunities and subcultures
Subcultural theories -Limitation
Ignore crimes of wealthy and over-predicts working class crime
Subcultural theories -Limitation
Assume everyone starts with mainstream goals and turns to a subculture when they fail to achieve them, but some people don’t share those goals in the first place and may be attracted to crime for other reasons.
Subcultural theories -Limitation
Actual subcultures are not a clear-cut as Cloward and Ohlin claim. Some show characteristics of all three types.
Subculture
A group within society that has it’s own set of norms and values that differ from the mainstream
Status hierarchy
System of stratification based on social prestige. This can be linked to occupation, lifestyle etc.
Inverted values
Turning society’s values upside down so what is bad becomes good and vice versa
Non-utilitarian crime
Crimes committed without financial gain
Legitimate opportunity structure
A way to work your way up in society while staying within the confines of the law.
Illegitimate opportunity structure
A way to work your way up in society within a criminal or deviant network
Interactionism and labellign theories - Interactionism
Sees our interactions with each other as based on meanings or labels. Crime and criminals are social constructions.
Interactionism and labellign theories - Labelling theory
No act is deviant or criminal in itself – it only becomes so when others label it as such
Interactionism and labellign theories - Differential enforcement
Social control agencies use typifications to label some groups as criminal more than others
Interactionism and labellign theories - Primary and secondary deviance
Lemert argues that labelling is a cause of crime, He explains this by distinguishing between primary and secondary deviance
Interactionism and labellign theories - Self-fulfilling prophecy
When an offender is labelled, society’s reaction pushes them into further deviance. They have lived up to their label.
Interactionism and labellign theories - The deviance amplification spiral
An attempt to control deviance through a crackdown leads to it increasing rather than decreasing. This leads to greater attempts to control and even more deviance
Interactionism and labellign theories - Interactionism and crime statistics
Interactionists reject the use of statistics complied by the police because they believe they only measure what the police do (who they arrest) rather than what criminals do (how much crime there actually is).
Interactionism and labellign theories - Young: The Hippies
A study in which police attention and labelling led hippies to retreat into closed groups where drug use took over
The Mods and Rockers - The study
Cohen uses the Mods and Rockers study to explain the amplification spiral
The Mods and Rockers - Media exaggeration
Media exaggeration caused growing public concern
The Mods and Rockers - Moral entrepreneurs
Moral entrepreneurs called for a crackdown leading to more arrests, and more concern
The Mods and Rockers - Negative labelling
Negative labelling of mods and rockers as folk devils
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories - Strength
Shows that the law is not a fixed set of rules but socially constructed
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Strength
Shifts focus onto how police create crime by applying labels – may explain why some groups are overrepresented in crime statistics
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Strength
Shows how attempts to control can create more deviance
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Limitation
Deterministic – assumes we have no choice but to live up to labels
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Limitation
Gives offenders a victim status
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Limitation
Fails to explain primary deviance
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Limitation
Doesn’t say where power to apply a label comes from
Evaluating interactionism and labelling theories -Limitation
Fails to explain why labels are applied to some groups but not others
Label
A name, meaning, or definition attached to a person or act
Primary deviance
Acts that have not been publicly labelled – usually trivial and uncaught. Offenders don’t see themselves as criminal
Secondary deviance
Results from labelling – people treat the offender soley in terms of their label – this becomes their master status
SFP
The individual lives up to the label they have been given
Media exaggeration
The media make the story about a crime seem worse than it is
Moral entrepreneur
Someone of high status who publicly calls for a crackdown on crime.
Folk devils
A group or individual who is labelled negatively by society
Typifications
Ideas (usually held by the police) about what a typical criminal is like.
Social construction
Something that has been made or defined by society rather than occurring naturally.
Determinism
The idea that our behaviour is caused by an external force outside of our control – we have no free will.
Marxism - Key ideas - Inequality
Structural theory: the unequal structure of capitalist society shapes behaviour including criminality
Marxism - Key ideas -Two classes
Society is divided into two main class groups – Bourgeoisie and Proletariat
Marxism - Key ideas -Society’s institutions
All institutions including the law and criminal justice system work to support capitalism and keep the working class in their place
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Exploitation
Crime is often the only way to survive for the working class as they live in poverty
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Consumerism
Advertising pressures people into utilitarian crimes to get goods
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Alienation and frustration
Inequality causes people to lash out and commit non-utilitarian crimes
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Greed and the profit motive
Capitalism is a dog-eat-dog system and encourages corporate crimes to gain an advantage
Marxism - Making and enforcing the law -Chambliss
Laws are made to protect the private property of the rich
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Selective law enforcement
White collar and corporate crimes of the rich are much less likely to be prosecuted than working class ‘street crimes’.
Marxism - Capitalism causes crime -Example: Carson
Out of 200 companies who had broken safety laws, only 3 were prosecuted
Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law -Ideas about crime and law
These are an ideology that conceal the inequality of capitalism
Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law -Selective enforcement
Divides working class by making them blame each other instead of capitalism for the problems they face in society
Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law -Diverts attention
Nobody focuses on the much more serious ruling class crimes.
Marxism - Ideological functions of crime and the law -A caring face
Laws which seem to benefit working class (e.g. H&S) actually benefit capitalism and make it seem caring
Evaluating Marxism - Strength
Shows how poverty can cause working class crime and how capitalism promotes greed and encourages ruling class crime too.
Evaluating Marxism - Strength
Shows how law making and enforcement are biased against the working class and in favour of the powerful
Evaluating Marxism - Evaluating Marxism - Limitation
Focuses on class and ignores the relationship between crime and other inequalities e.g. race or gender
Evaluating Marxism - Limitation
Over predicts the amount of working class crime – not all poor people turn to crime.
Evaluating Marxism - Limitation
Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates (however Marxists point out that in countries with little welfare provision, like the USA, the crime rates are higher).
Structural theory
An explanation that focuses on the way in which society is organised
Capitalism
An economic system in which there are 2 classes. The ruling class exploit the working class for profit.
Bourgeoisie
The ruling class. They own the means of production. They exploit the working class for profit
Proletariat
The working class. They have to sell their labour in order to survive.
Institution
A complex, integrated set of social norms. E.g. the law, the education system, the family etc.
Consumerism
A society which values the buying or consuming of goods
Utilitarian crime
Crimes committed for financial gain.
Corporate crime
Crime committed by, or on behalf of, a company
Ideology
A set of ideas of beliefs
Criminogenic
Causes crime
White collar crime
Crime committed by an employee within the workplace
Selective enforcement
When the law in applied differently to different people
Realism - Left Realism and Crime: Lea and Young - Political outlook
Left wing, socialist. See inequality in capitalist society as root cause of crime. Crime reduction by making society fairer and more equal.
Realism - Left Realism and Crime: Lea and Young - Cause: Relative deprivation
The media and growing inequality make people unable to afford the lifestyle that is promoted to them. Some turn to crime to gain what they think they should have.
Realism - Left Realism and Crime: Lea and Young -Cause: Subculture
Criminal subcultures share society’s materialistic goals – legitimate opportunities to achieve them are blocked so they turn to crime.
Realism - Left Realism and Crime: Lea and Young -Cause: Marginalisation
Marginalised groups (e.g. unemployed youths) have no goals or organisations to represent their interests. Their frustration leads them into non-utilitarian crime
Realism - Evaluating Left Realism-Strength
Draws attention to importance of poverty, inequality and relative deprivation as causes of crime
Realism - Evaluating Left Realism-Strength
Draws attention to reality of street crime especially effects on victims from deprived groups
Realism - Evaluating Left Realism-Limitation
Henry & Milovanovic: Fails to explain crimes of the powerful
Realism - Evaluating Left Realism-Limitation
Over-predicts working class crime. Not all poor people turn to crime.
Realism - Evaluating Left Realism-Limitation
Focus on inner-city high-crime areas makes crime appear to be a greater problem than it is
Realism - Right Realism and Crime - Political outlook
Right wing, conservative. See crime as a growing problem. Best way to reduce it is via control and punishment
Realism - Right Realism and Crime -Cause: Biological differences
Wilson and Hernstein: Some individuals have biological traits which make them more prone to criminality
Realism - Right Realism and Crime -Cause: Inadequate socialisation
The underclass is welfare dependent and does not havethe right norms and values. Lone mothers mean boys lack a male role model and turn to gangs
Realism - Right Realism and Crime -Offending is a rational choice (RCT)
People weigh up the costs and benefits of committing a crime before deciding to do it. They have free will.
Realism - Right Realism and Crime -Felson: RAT
For a crime to occur there needs to be a motivated offender, a suitable target, and lack of a capable guardian
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Strength
RCT is supported by Rettig’s study where students choice to commit crime was determined by severity of punishment
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Strength
Feldman’s study also found that people would commit crime if risks were low/rewards high
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Strength
Bennet & Wright: Burglars said risk of being caught was important in deciding decision to commit the crime
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Strength
May explain some opportunistic crimes such as petty theft
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Limitation
Rettig & Feldman’s studies were lab experiments – not like real life
Realism - Evaluating Right Realism-Limitation
Bennett & Wright studied convicted burglars. May not be the same as successful ones!
Right wing
The view that social inequality is inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable
Conservative
Averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values. Favours competition and meritocracy.
Socialisation
Process of learning norms and values
Capable guardian
Someone such as security guard or police officer who acts as a deterrent to crime
Left wing
Supports social equality and often in opposition to social hierarchy. Wants to support the disadvantaged and reduce inequality.
Socialist
Believes in cooperation and collective ownership. Favours equality and social welfare.
Relative deprivation
Feeling poor or disadvantaged in comparison to those around you
Subculture
A group within society that has its own set of norms and values that differ from the mainstream
Marginalisation
Being on the outside of society
RCT
Rational Choice Theory
RAT
Routine Activity Theory
Surveillance Theories - Foucault: The Panopticon - Key idea
In today’s society people engage in self-surveillance. We are also under electronic surveillance. Surveillance has become an increasingly important form of crime control.
Surveillance Theories - Foucault: The Panopticon -The panopticon
A prison designed so that guards could see all prisoners, but prisoners did not know if they were being watched or not.
Surveillance Theories - Foucault: The Panopticon -Self-surveillance
Prisoners had to assume they were being watched and behave properly just in case.
Surveillance Theories - Foucault: The Panopticon -Disciplinary power
Foucault argues this design is now everywhere in society and disciplinary power and self-surveillance now reaches every individual.
Surveillance theories - Mathiseson: Synoptic Surveillance -Key idea: The Synopticon
As well as surveillance from above, we are now surveilled from below as well – everybody watches everybody.
Surveillance theories - Mathiseson: Synoptic Surveillance -Example
Motorists cyclists can monitor the behaviour of others with dashcams or helmet cameras. This may change the behaviour of others – they exercise self-discipline
Surveillance theories - Actuarial Justice and Profiling-Actuarial
Comes from the insurance industry – an actuary is someone who calculates the risk of certain events happening e.g. how likely it is for your house to be burgled
Surveillance theories - Actuarial Justice and Profiling-Feeley and Simon
Actuarial justice is a new form of surveillance. It aims to predict and prevent future offending. It uses statistical information to reduce crime by compiling profiles of likely offenders.
Evaluating surveillance theories - Strength
Foucault’s work has led to more research into surveillance and disciplinary power – especially the idea of an electronic panopticon
Evaluating surveillance theories - Strength
Researchers have identified other forms of surveillance such as actuarial justice and profiling
Evaluating surveillance theories - Limitation
Foucault exaggerates the extent of control e.g Goffman shows how some inmates of prisons and mental hospitals resist controls
Evaluating surveillance theories - Limitation
Surveillance may not change people’s behaviour as Foucault claims. E.g. studies show that CCTV may fail to prevent crime because offenders often take no notice of it.
Surveillance
Close observation, especially of a suspected criminal or criminal target
Panopticon
‘All-seeing’
CCTV
Closed Circuit Television – security cameras
Synopticon
Everybody watches everybody
Disciplinary power
Power that is exercised over people, to develop their capacity for self-control, or to encourage them to conform to society’s norms and values
Self-surveillance
When people have to regulate their own behaviour because they know they could be being watched.
General criticisms of sociological theories - The underlying causes
Sociologists disagree with each other about the causes of crime
General criticisms of sociological theories -Overprediction
Don’t explain why not every disadvantaged person turns to crime
General criticisms of sociological theories -Biological and Psychological factors
Neglect factors that might explain why one person might turn to crime but another person in the same social position might not
