Crime and deviance sociologists

Durkheim-Functionalist

Crime is necessary in society, and has a positive (enforcing collective conscience) and negative side (anomie).

Deviance also allows for change to occur which enables them to stay stable, but if crime is too high, it can prevent social change.

Cohen-Functionalist

Working class boys who are deprived are denied chances of achieving through cultural deprivation, and placed at the bottom of the hierarchy, leading to status frustration.

They rebel against MC habitus by forming gangs and subcultures, where deviant crime is valued.

Mertons strain theory

Based on American culture stating that everyone has the same goal of wealth, but some people do not equal chances of achieving this. This places them in a status frustration and causes a strain of anomie, where they engage in criminal acts when they do not achieve legitimate means of gaining money

Cloward and Ohlin-Functionalists

There are illegitimate and legitimate opportunity structures. However, access to both of these can be unequal, as in illegitimate opportunities, there may be gangs to provide a deviant route, but in other areas there aren't. There are 3 types of subcultures; retreatist, conflict, criminal.

Labelling theory

delinquency is a social construction

Lemert-interactionist

Primary deviance are insignificant deviant acts, but when crimes start to receive a societal reaction through labelling, it leads to encouragement of secondary deviance through a self-fulfilling prophecy

Becker-interactionist

behaviour is only labelled as deviant by society due to the consequences or reactions, where as the act itself is not actually deviant / self concept of being deviant can increase deviant behaviour as if they are shamed by the reaction, they may return to crime and reinforces criminal label

Marxism

capitalism is criminogenic, where capitalist society causes poverty, where working class people turn to crime in order to stay alive, and frustration of this can lead to violence

how many convicted members are male?

4/5

chivalry thesis

the idea that women are treated more leniently by the police force

Farrington

evidence against chivalry thesis: men generally commit more crime, of which many are under reported such as rape

Carlen

women living in poverty turn to crime as they feel powerless and oppressed, so they have nothing to lose / this was a rational choice in order to change their situation

Heidensohn

girls are socialized to be caring and attractive, which are less likely to lead to delinquency

Parsons

boys reject feminine models that express emotion and gentleness, and distance themselves by engaging in risk taking, aggressive behaviour

Cohen

absence of male role models mean that boys are more likely to turn to street gangs in order to find masculine identity

Heidensohn

women commit fewer crimes due to patriarchal control through employment, domestic and public control, where they are denied fewer opportunities to offend (this ignores crime in the home)

liberation thesis, adler

female crime is increasing due to society becoming less patriarchal

Messerschmit

men commit crime due to desire of hegemonic masculinity (hetrosexism and subordination of women), where they feel a constant need to present it to others. This can occur in WC as well as MC.

Cohen

studied Mods and Rockers who were portrayed as folk devils by the media causing a moral panic, when in reality, it wasn't as severe. They made them seem more dangerous through symbolism, where they used their clothes and lifestyle as a stigma

Winlow

young men increase body capital through bulking at the gym / crime can be seen as a potential career path either legitimately or illegitamately to express masculinity / those unemployed turn to gangs and drugs for protection

Katz

young men commit crimes for the thrill from the risk of being caught

7 times

black people are ... more likely to be stopped and searched than white people

Stephen Lawrence

an example of institutional racism in the Met police

Bowling and Phillips

cases are more likely to be dropped by the Crown Prosecution service against ethnic groups due to the lack of evidence, based on stereotypes

left realism

relative deprivation, subcultures and marginalization causes crime

right realism

biological, socialisation and rational choice causes crime

Wilson and Herrnstein

crime is causes by a mixture of biological and social factors. Some people are innately biologically determined to commit crime, but the right socialisation can steer them away. Eg children with lone parents are more likely to be criminal

Herrnstein and Murray

low intelligence causes crime

right realism

bad socialisation and lack of nuclear family causes crime, as self control and moral values are not taught

Clarke

individuals think about the consequences, where the rewards outweigh the costs, they are more likely to be delinquent

right realism

people turn to crime when an individual believes others have more than them through media portraying expectations, so they turn to crime in order to achieve what they are entitled to. As a solution, they turn to subcultures which can be marginalized by having no clear goals.

Sutherland

Differential association theory-people learn deviance from other deviants

Taylor, Walton and Young

some groups, such as hippies, do not share goals of wealth. But subultural theories assume that all people have this goal

a breakdown of social expectations and behaviour

anomie

producing crime

criminogenic

when the WC are denied opportunities to achieve through conventional means

status frustration

folk devils

groups that are seen threatening to society

Gilroy

Believes that black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes that label black people criminal, of which the criminal justice system subscribed to. However, ethnic minority groups may use crime as a resistance to fight against inequalities by capitalism

Lea and young

Left realists who state that even though racist policing leads to unfair criminalisation, this doesn't account for differences in statistics

Left realist

Ethnic groups are more likely to commit crime as in these groups, relative deprivation and marginalisation is more common and therefore more likely to cause subcultures

Ethnic minority groups

Which group is more likely to be victims of crime?

Neo marxists

Black criminality is a social construction

Phillips and bowling

Since the 1970s, there has been allegations that the police force is racist

3

Black people are ... times more likely to be arrested

7

EMG's are ... times more likely to be stopped and searched

Over represented

Black people are ... in the population groups that are more likely to be stopped, such as the young or unemployed / therefore, statistics are skewed by other factors such as age and gender

Victim surveys and self-report studies

Better methods than official statistics

29%

... reported crimes in 2014 were unsolved

Macpherson report 1978

Concluded that police are institutionally racist and favour MC

Hall et al

Black youths have been used as scapegoats to distract social issues caused by capitalism

Drop cases

CPS are more likely to ... because there is no evidence as the arrest was based on racist stereotypes

54000

The police recorded ... racist incidents in England and Wales in 2015

master status

where a label of crime is not easily removed by society and becomes an individuals...

Braithewaite

dis integrative labelling causes social exclusion, where as re integrative labelling only labels the crime and not the person as deviant, so they can return to society

Young

Drug uses in Notting Hill developed a deviant self concept that become master status. They received a negative response from society leading them to take more drugs

deviance amplification

when society tries to control deviance, it can lead to it actually increasing

Marxism

agree with Functionalists that social control is needed to keep society stable. However, they believe that social control only benefits capitalism as it prevents rebellion and revolution

Gramsci

hegemony is used to maintain social control through things such as the legal system

Chambliss and Mankoff

laws are the reflection of ruling class ideology, such as property law of which keeps the WC away from property owned by the rich

Pearce

laws which supposedly protect the WC (e.g. health and safety), actually benefit the RC as it keeps healthy and stable workers

Gordon

selective enforcement and reporting in the media paints criminals as the WC

Marxism

ruling class ideology makes burglers appear as folk devils, and cooperate lawbreakers are treated more leniently due to more money

there are low crime rates in capitalist societies

criticism of marxism

Lea and young

Relative deprivation leads to crime as people create subcultures with people who also feel deprived, and their criminal actions is caused by consumer culture

Left realists

Social inequality will be reduced by the marginalised fighting against their deprived position

Hughes

Criticises left realists that there would be more crime if relative deprivation was the main cause

Wilson and herrnstein

People make rational decisions about crime by weighing up the rewards and risks

Wilson

Right realist who argues that people commit crime when the gains are larger than the chances of being caught, where by zero tolerance policies would be effective

Zero tolerance

Policy in America that tries to tackle crime by sorting out issues straight away

Wilson and kelling

One broken window idea, where you fix damage straight away by sending the message that you can't get away with crime

Led to rise in US prison population

Criticism of zero tolerance

Zero tolerance and policing consensus

2 explanations for how policing strategies can reduce crime

Young

Media allows WC to see how many possessions others have, which increases relative deprivation

WB miller

WC are more likely to commit crime due to them confirming to the focal concerns of their culture such as macho toughness

Bordua

Criticises Miller as the WC are not isolated in society

Sutherland

White collar crimes are treated more leniently, victimless crimes, often under reported or covered up

Taylor

globalisation has made it easier for coorperations to move funds without tax / media advertises materialistic goals leading to individuals turning to crime

Glocal

crime is locally based but has global connections

sex trafficking and drugs trade

examples of global crime

Beck

a global risk consciousness has developed, where the media creates a moral panic and exaggerates the dangers we face

global risk consciousness

the government tightening border controls and immigration e.g. UK fine airlines for undocumented passengers

Castell

global criminal network is worth 1 trillion

green crime

crimes against the environment, due to the planet being an interconnected ecosystem, and often carried out by powerful groups

Beck

threats to the ecosystem are manufactured risks, where high demand has negative effects e.g. greenhouse gas emissions

White

green crime should be defined as any action that harms the environment or anything in it-criminal law cannot do this

anthropocentric

belief that humans are the most important species in the world

south

primary crime: harm comes from destruction of earth's resources / secondary crime: harm comes from government breaking own rules

strength of green criminology

recognizes growing importance of environmental concerns

weakness of green criminology

green crime isn't a legally defined crime, so it is hard for the sociologists to know really what they are studying

Chambliss-domestic law

state crimes are committed by the state in order to benefit themselves

Criticism of domestic law

Ignores how states can make laws that help them to avoid criminalising their own actions

Hillyard et al

Replace study of crime with zeminology ( study of harm), as legal acts have the same harmful consequences as illegal acts

Labelling theory

An act is defined as a state crime if audiences themselves define it as a crime / varies in interpretation, place and culture as it is socially constructed

Criticism of labelling theory

Unclear who is the relevant audience who is defining state crime

Eval of social harms and zeminology

We do not know how harm is defined and what level of crime has to occur before it is defined as a state crime

Schwendinger

any actions that breach human rights should be classified as state crimes

Jewkes

new forms of the media such as the internet, has made crimes more accessible, and also led to a new crime called cyberbullying

International law

Global agreement between states of what state crime is

Criticism of human rights

There are different definitions of human rights throughout the world

Authoratarian personality

Willingness to obey superiority of others without question e.g nazis were socialised in this way