Sociology - Crime + deviance

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Agencies of social control

Families, schools or the police that control people's behaviour.

Alienation

People feel they lack power & control over their lives and feel separated from wider society.

Anomie

The norms that usually control people's behaviour break down.

Anti-social behaviour

Behaviour that causes distress to other people.

Bedroom culture

The subculture created by girls who spend a lot of time in their bedrooms and so develop communication skills (McRobbie).

Boundary maintenance

Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting people against the person who committed the crime & reinforcing shared norms & values.

Chivalry thesis

The criminal justice system treats women offenders more softly because of their gender.

Collective conscience

The shared beliefs & values that bind communities together.

Consensus theory

Functionalist theory that sees society as based on agreement.

Control theory

People do not commit deviant acts because factors control them.

Corporate crime

Crime committed by businesses.

Crime

Behaviour that breaks the law.

Crime rate

Crimes recorded by the police.

Crime Survey for England & Wales

A large-scale victim survey by asking people about crimes they have experienced in the last year.

Criminal Justice System

The police, lawyers, courts, probation, prisons.

Cross-cultural deviance

Where crime & deviance vary from one culture to another due to different expectations, norms, values & laws.

Custodial sentence

A punishment that involves prison or some other closed institution (e.g. a psychiatric hospital).

Dark figure of crime

The unknown amount of criminal activity that is not reported to or recorded by the police.

Delinquency

Minor crimes committed by young people.

Deviance

Behaviour that does not conform to social norms.

Deviancy amplification

The exaggeration of a particular social issue as a consequence of media coverage.

Deviant career

A young person who is labelled as a 'trouble maker' & who then goes on to do more serious forms of criminal behaviour.

Discrimination

An action based on prejudice - e.g. racial discrimination.

Edgework

Behaviour at the edge of what is legal; bouncer in a night club who uses violence

Folk devil

A person or group of people who are portrayed (e.g. by the media) as outsiders & deviant, who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems.

Scapegoat

An individual or group that is blamed unfairly for a negative event

Formal social control

Behaviour controlled through organisations that exist to enforce order - e.g. the police

Glass ceiling

An informal/invisible barrier that prevents women from achieving senior positions

Hate crime

Crime based on prejudice towards another because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender

Home Office

Government department responsible for immigration, security & law and order

Indictable offence

An offence where the defendant has the right to trial by jury-e.g. murder

Institutional racism

Organisational procedures & practices that either intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against ethnic minorities

Labelling theory

A sociological theory that, in relation to crime, tries to explain why only some people & some acts are defined as deviant or criminal, while others, carrying out similar acts, are not

Master status

When a label becomes a person's main identity e.g. the label 'thief'

Ministry of Justice

Government department responsible for courts, prisons & probation services

Moral panic

Exaggerated public concern created by media coverage of an event

News value

The importance given to a particular event by newspaper editors or television producers

Official crime statistics

Government statistics on crime based on official sources, e.g. police records

Prison system

British prisons vary from open institutions for low-level offenders to high security institutions for offenders who are convicted of serious offences

Probation

The suspension of a prison sentence

Recorded crime

Crime that is reported to & recorded by the police

Rehabilitation

The re-integration of a criminal back into society with support so they do not reoffend

Relative deprivation

When an individual lacks the resources that are widely available to the majority of people in the society in which they live

Reported crime

Crime that is reported to the police

Self-report study

A survey that asks respondents to identify crimes they have committed

Serious Fraud Office

Prosecutes serious or complex fraud & corruption cases

Social cohesion

A shared sense of belonging to the wider society

Social construct

Created by society

Social control

The process by which the members of a society are persuaded to conform to the rules of that society

Status frustration

A sense of frustration felt by individuals because they feel inferior or at a disadvantage in society

Stereotype

An unfavourable simplistic image of a group or individual based on assumptions

Strain theory

Robert Merton suggests that crime & deviance are evidence of pressure between the goals of society & the means of achieving them

Subculture

A group with a distinctive set of values & behaviours

Victim survey

A survey that asks respondents about their experience of crime

Victimless crimes

An act that is illegal but has no direct victim

Violent crimes

'violence against the person', which covers more than 30 offences including grievous bodily harm (GBH), assault, kidnap, child abduction, harassment & threats to kill

White collar crime

Criminal acts committed by members of the middle class & linked to their employment-e.g. fraud

Youth crime

Crimes committed by individuals who are too young to be sent to an adult prison;in Britain, children aged 10 & above can be held responsible for their actions

Becker

What year?

Perspective

Views (3)

Critisms

1963

Interactionalist

• an act only becomes deviant when others define it as such

• the label of deviancy depends on:

-who commts the act

-when + wear it was committed

-who observes the act

-the negotions that take place betwen the actors (indiviuals) involved in the interaction

• agents of social control ca make a label stick - causing a self fulfilling prophecy, leding to a deviant career/master status

EXAMPLE in booklet

Critismsms:

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Carlen

What year?

Perspective

Research

Views (5)

Critisms

1998

feminist perspective - control theory

• in depth nstructured interviews on a group of mostly working classwomen (aged 15-46) some where in prison/youth custody - these had been convictedof at least one crime

• looks at WHY women commit crime

• arues that human beings are not naturally good or bad but will make rational dcsion to turn to crime if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages

• working class women have been controlled by promise of rewards (e.g ge a good job=money/be a good mum= happy home)

• they make a class deal which offers respectable working class women consuer goods in return for their wage

• they make a gender deal that in return for their love and domestic labour they get psychological and material rewards from a male breadwinner

• when rewards are not available or illusory/one brakes, they may turn to crim as an alternative

• INTERSECTIONITY = hw different social characteristics overlap to create layers f priviledge or injustice (e.g Carlen looks at geder AND class)

• small sample but supports view hat wen social control breakdwn criminal behaviour is more likely

• doesnt compare to other genders or classes - not very REPRESENTATIVE

• ppl may not want to talk about it that much as it's a sensitive topic or want to look better and lie (social desirability)

• No statistics = no analysis. All qualitative data

• Time consuming , so won't be able to interview many people