Classical theories final

Emile Durkheim

Influenctial modern structural theorist and sociologist known for his work on social cohesion, collective consciousness, and the study of suicide

What was Durkehims opinion on crime

Crime is normal and necessary

Mechanical societies

Simplistic societies with identical daily routines, strong collective conscience

Organic societies

Complex societies with specialized labour distribution, climate of antisocial behaviour and weak collective conscious

Collective conscience

Shared beliefs and values among individuals

Mechanical solidarity

Strong social cohesion in simple societies

Organic solidarity

Social cohesion based on interdependence

Anomie

State of nomlessness in society

Structural functionalism

Theory viewing crime as a societal function, belief: no violation leads to society to change law to make violators

How does modern societies differ from mechanical?

Highly specialized division labour, no collective laws focused on gov, class interactions instead of defining norms

Do human beings notive when needs and desires are satisfied

No. no internal mechanism, selfish desires, people are greedy

What happens when society undergoes rapid change?

self, greed, unrestrained anomie occurs, atmosphere for crime

Merton’s main cause of crime

Lack of achievable means to obtain goals

Merton’s strain theory

Theory explaining crime through societal pressures that create strain when individuals cannot achieve culturally approved goals leading to deviance and criminal behavior.

5 adaptions of strain

Conformity, ritualism, innovation, retreatism, rebellion, individuals can be more than one adaption

Egoistic suicide

Result of low social integration where individuals feel disconnected from society

Alturistic suicide

Result of excessively strong social ties leading to self-sacrifice for the group

Anomic suicide

Result of insufficient societal regulation leading to feelings of purposelessness and normlessness

Fatalistic suicide

Result of excessive regulation and control over an individual, leading to feelings of hopelessness

Social disorganization theory

First distinct sociological theory

Frustration as a casual factor

Strain theories emphasize frustration leading to crime

Adaptions to strain

Responses to societal strain influencing behaviour

Conformity

Acceptance of societal goals and means

Ritualism

Acceptance of means, rejection of goals

Innovation

Acceptance of goals, rejection of means

Retreatism

Rejection of both societal goals and means

Rebellion

Rejection of existing goals, proposing new ones

Cohen’s theory

Focus on lower class frustration and gang formation

What were the main principles of Cohen’s Lower Class Frustration and Gang Formation

lower class males disavantaged in school, lack interaction, lack socialization = causes them to be unprepared to confoming to middle class values and goals

What did Cohen state about strain?

Strain = status frustration

How did cohen explain boys change the system value?

skipping school, destruction of property, turns middle class upside down

What did Cohen state about the cause of gangs and delinquency?

Birds of a feather flock together *not all lower class kids

Middle class measuring rod

Standards for motivation and responsibility in youth

Durkheims crime hypothesis

Crime is a normal part of society

Social change impact

Durkheim believed change causes anomie

American dream

Cultural belief in success through hard work

Strain from economic structure

Merton linked crime to economic pressures

Status frustration

Cohen’s term for strain from unmet expectations

Reaction formation

Opposition to middle class values by youth

Peer respect

Valued social recognition among youth

College boy

Youth striving to succeed academically - conformity

Corner boy

Youth who passively accepts their social status - ritualism

Delinquent boy

Closest to rebellion in Merton’s adaptions - rebellion

Cloward and Ohlin’s theory of differential opportunity

Theory on access to crime. Crime = illegal and legal opportunity. lower class neighbourhoods stable and accepted - adult gang members mentor youth. Criminals: blockage - legal opportunity, significant - illegal opportunity

Criminal gangs

Stable groups in lower class neighborhoods, mostly engage in property/economic crime. Goal = profit

Conflict gangs

Unstable groups in lower class neighborhoods, little or no origination, state of flux, disorganized. Goal = violence

Retreatist gangs

Groups failing in school and gangs, often using drugs, no profit. Goal = drug use

Strain theories

Theories explaining crime from blocked opportunities

Micro sociological theories

Focus on individual-level interactions and behaviour, all social process theories

Sutherland’s differential association

Theory that crime is learned through social interaction. crime = associating with wrong people, not their fault, behaviour is learned

Criminal Behaviour

Learned through communications in intimate groups

When crime is learned it includes

Techniques, specific direction of motives, drives, rationalization/attitudes

Learning of criminal behaviour involves

All mechanisms of any kind of learning

Definitions favourable to law

Beliefs that justify criminal behaviour

During Sutherland’s time crime was

The assumption that something is wrong with offendersW

Who was Sutherland?

Positivist, choice of crime = free will/rational decision making

Critique of Sutherland

The 9 principles were flawed and misinterpreted, no description of what attitudes/behaviours were, if criminality is learned - who commited the first crime?

Tabula rasa

Concept of individuals as blank states

Neutralization theory

Techniques used by criminals to justify actions

Denial of responsibility

Blaming external factors for one’s actions

Denial of injury

Claiming no harm was done in an offence

Denial of the victim

Justifying actions by blaming the victim

Social learning

Behaviour learned through interaction with others

Empirical support

Evidence backing theories of learned behaviour

Critiques of Neutralization theory

N/A to white collar crime, difficult to measure, techniques used after crime not before

Deterministic theory

Theory suggesting behaviour is determined by social factors

Cultural transmission

Process of passing down criminal values

Radical departure

Significant shift from previous criminological theories

Social control

Mechanisms that regulate individual behaviour

Condemnation of condemners

Hypocritical behaviour of those who condemn others

Appeal to higher loyalties

Priotizing group beliefs over societal rules

Aker’s social learning theory

Criminal behaviour learned through social interactions - extenstion/reformulation of Sutherland’s theory

Differential association

Exposure to normative definitions influences behaviour

Differential association

Exposure to normative definitions influences behaviour

What are definitions

Personal meanings attached to behaviours, good or bad

Differential reinforcement

Balance of anticipated rewards and consequences

Negative reinforcement

removal of aversive events increases behaviour likelihood

Imitation

Learning behaviours by observing others

Differential social organization

Variation in social structures affecting behaviour

Reiss’ control theory

Delinquency results from weak ego and superego

Nye’s control theory

Family plays crucial role in controlling deviance

U-shaped curve of parental controls

Extreme control predict higher delinquency rates

Basis of control theories

Committing crime is natural, why don’t people commit crime?

Robert Merton’s clip about American Drem and Hirschi’s social bond theory

AD: Contributes to high rates of deviance but its not due to economic reasons

SBT: Social systems provide reward/punishment that leads to conformiy to occur, official stats are misleading due to distribution of delinquency

Albert Cohen’s clip about crime and the theories that try to explain it

Distribution of crime in the system = product of system but is different in some societies. Poverty does not equal crime. Harvard concerns are on social structures and the people for a class not a description of a persons criminality

What did Frank Tannenbaum state about labeling theory?

Crime was linked to educational process vs individual differences, delinquency status was held up, dramatization of evil, crime = tagging of crimes cause the traits they complain of

Fix crime by limiting the dramatizing of evil

What did Lemert state about labeling theory?

Label = crime through a shift in development of two stages of deviance

Primary:
individual/situational reasons
not violent
don't view themselves as criminal
deviant = not part of identity

Secondary:
no dissociation from deviation
identity = Internalized deviancy
Offending more frequently
violent

Shift from primary to secondary:
caught = labeled
"I am a offender"
Associates with offenders

No label = no crime

Critiques :
how did the first crime occur?

Aker’s social learning theory

Social structure has indirect effect on a person’s conduct

What are critical theories?

They assess inequality, power relations, social justice movements, equalities
State crime = not value free

Reckless’ containment theory

Focus on inner and outer containment factors - 5 factors (internal containment, external containment, social presure and pulls, organic and psychological push)

Push and pull of delinquency

Social environments push/pull individuals toward/away from delinquency

Matza’s drift theory

Offending occurs when social controls weaken

Subterranean values

Contradictory values accepted in certain contexts

Hirschi’s social bonding theory

Stronger bonds reduce likelihood of criminal acts

Four elements of bonding

Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief influence crime

Attachment

Most crucial bond influencing criminal behaviour

Commitment

Investment in concentional society deters crime

Involvement

Engagement in activities limits time for crime

Belief

Value placed on societal rules and laws

Age-crime relationship

Balance between free will determinism in crime