Unit 2 Sociological Approaches

Functionalist - Durkheim

Crime is inevitable and has 3 positive functions

1. Boundary maintenance – reaffirms what is right and wrong by making an example of those who break the law through eg: court appearances, media attention, public hangings (in the past).

2. Social Change – For society to progress, existing norms and values must be challenged. This occurs via functional rebels that act in deviant ways to encourage changes in laws etc eg: Fathers4Justice.

3. Social cohesion – After any horrific crime often society pulls together as a community which reinforces the sense of belonging and social cohesion.

Interactionism

It is not the act that is deviant, but society’s reaction to the act

Agents of social control (police, judges) label certain acts as deviant/criminal. Crime is a social construct.

Lemert – Primary deviance (acts that have not been labelled as deviant) and secondary deviance (results from labelling – once someone has been labelled deviant further deviance is likely).

Once an individual is labelled as a criminal, they internalise the label and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy – they live up to this label. When the label affects all aspects of their life it has become their master status.

Media contribute by demonising labelled groups – moral panic, deviancy amplification and stereotypes.

Subcultural: Merton

Merton suggests everyone is encouraged to strive towards the American Dream of a big house, lots of money and fast cars etc.

Not everyone has an equal chance of achieving success legitimately because society is unequal. Opportunities of w/c people are often blocked by poverty and inadequate schools.

This creates a strain between what society encourages people to achieve and the lack of legitimate means to do so.

People respond in one of 5 ways:

• Conformity

• Innovation

• Ritualism

• Rebellion

• Retreatism

Those who innovate find other illegitimate (criminal) ways to achieve the American Dream.

Realist theories

crime is a real problem not a social construction.

Right Realism – 3 causes of crime RIB

Rational Choice – deciding to commit a crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of the consequences. Do the costs of committing the crime outweigh the benefits or not?

Inadequate socialisation – Effective socialisation reduces the chances of engaging in crime. Murray – welfare dependent, lone parents fail to adequately socialise their children and increase the risk of them offending. Biological differences – personality differences eg: anger and low IQ lead to offending.

Left Realism – causes of crime MRS

Marginalisation – people on the margins of society are not supported or represented and therefore more likely to engage in crime. Relative deprivation –people recognise that they are less well off in comparison to others and may turn to crime to close the deprivation gap.

Subcultures – those who cannot achieve in mainstream society will turn to a subculture. However, this is not always a deviant subculture, it might be a religious subculture that provides an explanation for their deprivation.

Subcultural: Cohen

Deviance results from the lower classes’ failure to achieve in mainstream society by legitimate means.

Subcultures offer a solution in the form of an alternative status hierarchy where they get recognition and status from their peers for engaging in deviant acts.

Subcultural: Cloward & Ohlin

Different neighbourhoods give rise to different deviant subcultures: Criminal subculture, conflict subculture, retreatist subculture.

Marxism

There are two classes in society that are

in conflict. The rich, upper class – Bourgeoisie

and the working class – proletariat.

Capitalism causes crime – capitalism encourages us to value material goods, those that cannot afford these consumer goods turn to crime to obtain them.

The proletariat are kept on low wages by the Bourgeoisie causing some to have to commit crime to survive.

Capitalism promotes greed – explains white collar/corporate crime. Proletariat feel alienated and frustrated with their position in society and turn to non utilitarian crime to act out their frustrations – eg: vandalism and violence.

Laws are made by the bourgeoisie and therefore protect the bourgeoisie.

Laws are enforced differently, with penalties being more lenient for working class crime compared with white collar crime. This gives the impression that crime is a working-class problem.

Some laws exist to give the false impression that capitalist society cares. eg: H&S laws to protect workers suggest they are cared for however, H&S breaches are rarely prosecuted.