A level Aqa Sociology - Crime & Deviance

What is Crime?

Any action or behaviour that violates a society’s laws.

What is Deviance?

Refers to abnormal that may not necessarily go against the law, but is frowned upon by most in society.

What is Socially Constructed?

Crime & Deviance are socially constructed, which means they are defined by the society in which they are found & depend on factors such as history, context, culture or age, rather than naturally occurring.

How is Crime temporal?

Crime is temporal based on how definitions & perceptions of crime change over time

How is Crime Spatial?

Spatial variations in crime refer to how crime differs across locations such as different countries, regions or even neighbourhoods.Certain areas have higher crime rates due to factors like poverty, policing, urbanisation or cultural norms.

What is Societal deviance? (Plummer 1979)

Refers to forms of deviance that most members of a society regard as deviant, as they share similar norms & values e.g murder, rape, child abuse.

What is Situational deviance? (Plummer 1979)

Refers to the way in which an act being seen as deviant or not depends on the context or location in which it takes place e.g walking barefoot at home vs in public.

What is Formal Social Control?

The enforcement of socially acceptable behaviour by agents of the criminal justice system e.g police, courts & parliament.

What is Informal Social Control?

The enforcement of socially acceptable behaviour by family, friends or teachers.

What are Positive sanctions?

Actions that reward good behaviour e.g praise or bonus.

What is Negative sanctions?

Actions that punish the bad behaviour e.g booing or fines.

What is the Psychological explanation of crime?

Bowlby’s Maternal deprivation suggests that prolonged separation from a primary caregiver in early childhood can lead to negative emotional and intellectual consequences, including delinquency. The theory argues that a “warm, intimate & continuous relationship with a mother (figure)” is necessary for healthy psychological/ emotional development.

The Tripartite Personality is a fundamental concept in Freud’s psychodynamic approach, describing the three-part structure of the human personality. The id is based in the unconscious part of the mind & is known as the ‘pleasure principle’, driven by sexual and aggressive instincts. The ego is based in the conscious part of the mind & is known as the ‘reality principle’, which uses defence mechanisms to control anxiety, like repression and denial. The Superego is known as the ‘morality principle’ and strives for perfection, always considering whether actions are right or wrong.

What is the Biological explanation of crime?

Lombros’s conducted postmortem examinations on criminals & found they are biologically different to non criminals, because of their atavistic features, such as prolonged jaw, high cheekbones & large ears. Inspired by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, Lombroso proposed that criminals were a primitive subspecies of human beings, also known as ‘genetic throwbacks’.

Phineas Gage, an American railway worker, survived the explosion of a metre long metal rod entering his brain. This case provides a significant example of how a brain abnormality in the frontal lobe; specifically pre-frontal cortex can lead to severe personality deficits (aggression).

Jacobs XYY theory, also known as super male syndrome, suggests that criminal behaviour could be linked to a chromosomal abnormality, such as an extra Y chromosome, in males. This was speculatively linked to increased testosterone levels and heightened aggression.

Fuctionalism

What does Emile Durkheim believe about Crime?

Durkheim believes crime is inevitable because not every member of society can be equally committed to the value consensus. This is a result of inadequate socialisation, where individuals turn to crime and deviance. When individuals no longer feel connects to the shared norms & values, anomie (a sense of normlessness or breakdown in social order) arises in society.

What are the positive functions of crime?

Durkheim’s Boundary Maintenance is the concept that crime is functional in society when there is the right amount. Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members against the wrongdoers & therefore reinforcing the shared norms & values.

Some crime can be functional for society because it allows Social adaptation and change. Individuals with new ideas, values & ways of living must not be suppressed, otherwise society will stagnate. E.g Suffragette movement.

Functionalist Davis proposes that Crime and deviance can act as a Safety valve. Victimless crime allows men to let off steam, which prevents them from committing serious crime. E.g Davis argues that prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men’s sexual frustrations, without threatening the nuclear family.

Cohen suggests Crime & deviance provides a warning sign that an institution is not functioning properly. E.g UK displaying flags in protest to reclaim the country.

What are the weaknesses of Functionalism?

- Outdated theory, as Durkheim wrote this in the early 1900s where laws were not set like they are now with new ones being written everyday.

- Is all crime beneficial? Isn’t functional for the poor because the Government doesn’t look at those suffering from crime like domestic abuse.

- Crime doesn’t always promote solidarity, but rather lead to ostracisation & isolation to those who don’t fit the standard values.

- Only beneficial to the powerful because they are less likely to be targeted as criminals.

What is Robert Merton’s Strain theory?

Merton’s strain theory suggests that crime is caused by the failure to achieve the American dream, the key principle that everyone can obtain the main goals of wealth & power through legitimate means of hard work & determination. However, the reality is different, as many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately, & become frustrated, & in turn this creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means. When society fails to provide fair opportunities, it creates "strain", which can lead to a state of anomie (normlessness), where individuals feel a lack of moral standards and regulation.

What are the 5 responses to strain?

Conformity - Conformists accept the goals & legitimate means to achieve them.

Innovation - Innovators accept the goals of the American dream, but find illegitimate ways to achieve them. E.g Criminal activity like dealing drugs or theft.

Ritualism - Ritualists reject the goals, but conform to the means. E.g Office workers stuck in ‘dead end’ routine jobs.

Retreatism - Retreatists reject both the goals & the means. E.g Outcasts, vagrants, tramps & drug addicts.

Rebellion - Rebels reject the existing society’s goals & means, but replace them with new ones in desire to bring about revolutionary change & create a new society. E.g Poltical radicals like Greenpeace

What are the strengths of Strain theory?

+ Merton’s strain theory is an important contribution to the study of crime and deviance – in the 1940s it helped to explain why crime continued to exist in countries, such as America, which were experiencing increasing economic growth and wealth.

+ Explains how different individuals of different positions in the social structure resort to different adaptations.

What are the weaknesses of Strain theory?

- Deterministic, as it suggests that experiencing strain inevitably leads to deviant behaviour, but ignores free will.

- Merton’s reliance on Official statistics means he over estimates w/c crime and underestimates m/c crime like white collar & corporate crime which are committed by the wealthy and powerful who already have access to legitimate opportunities

- Cannot explain non-utilitarian crime such as violence, sexual assault.

- Assumes that everyone shares the same materialistic goals, like the American dream (value consenus), therefore it overlooks the fact that many individuals have diverse goals

What are Subcultural theories?

See deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values of those from mainstream society. They see the subcultures as providing an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve by legitimate means

What is Albert Cohen’s Status Frustration Theory?

Cohen researched w/c boys and how they face strain in the mainstream m/c culture of the education system. Those who fail to succeed in m/c environments suffer status frustration because they are angry with their position in society, as a result turn to subcultures, in order to gain status within peer groups, who have similar values.

What is Cloward & Ohlin’s Subculture theory?

Cloward and Ohlin develop Cohen’s subcultural theory, suggesting that the ‘illegitimate opportunity structure’ affects what type of subculture emerges in response to status frustration.

Criminal - Exist in more stable w/c areas where there is an established pattern of crime. Provide youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime such as theft & achieve financial rewards.

Conflict - Arise in socially disorganised areas where there is a high rate of population turnover. As both legitimate & illegitimate goals are blocked violence, gang warfare & mugging provides a release for young men’s frustrations.

Retreatist - Emerge among those w/c youth who are ‘double failures’ – they have failed to succeed in both mainstream society and in the crime and gang cultures. These individuals will retreat into a drug addiction and alcoholism, paid for by petty theft, shoplifting and prostitution.

What is Travis Hirschi (1969) Bond theory?

Argued that criminal activity occurs when an individual’s attachment to society is weakened. This attachment depends on the strength of social bonds that hold people to society.

Attachment - How attached we are to the opinions of others about us.

Commitment - The more commitments we have, such as relationships, possessions & hobbies, the less likely we are to commit crime.

Belief - Refers to the individuals devotion to the norms & values of society, which can determine their criminality.

Involvement - The more involved & busier we are, through clubs, the less time & want we will feel to engage in crime.

Marxism

What is Marxism?

A conflict theory that believes that capitalist society is based on inequalities between the bourgeoisie (ruling capitalist class) and the proletariat (working class). The theory sees power being held by the Bourgeoisie and that the Legal system (lawyers, judges and the courts) and the police all serve the interests of the Bourgeoisie.

How is Crime Crimogenic?

A social and economic system in which the pursuit of profit leads to crime and criminal behaviour. The Capitalist system can be said to be crimogenic in three major ways:

Marxist Sociologist David Gordon says that Capitalist societies are ‘dog eat dog societies’, that encourages individuals to pursue self-interest rather than public duty. The pressure to succeed financially in a competitive system, can make breaking the law seem insignificant, compared to the drive to win. Therefore, crime is a realistic rational choice, especially for w/c who are in poverty. Capitalism, through advertising, encourages individuals to be materialistic consumers, making us aspire to an unrealistic and often unattainable lifestyle. This can generate feelings of frustration among those who lack the means to achieve, leading to utilitarian crime such as theft or vandalism. Companies such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s spend billions of dollars every year on advertising, morphing their products into fantastical images that in no way resemble the grim reality of the products.                                            Capitalism produces massive inequality and poverty, causing alienation and lack of control, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence and vandalism.                             

What does Lauren Snider suggest about Selective Law Making?

Argues that Capitalist states are reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns & which might threaten their interests & profitability. E.g BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.Having tried so hard to attract investment the last thing the state wants to do is alienate the large corporations. Therefore, explaining why the Government is reluctant to pass laws against things such as pollution, worker health & safety. She argues that corporate & white collar crime costs more in terms of money & lives than street crime

What are the Ideological functions of crime?

Masks crimingenic nature

Maintains social inequaity.

Demonstrates selective law enforcement.

Creates false consciousness. 

What does William Chambliss suggest about Selective Law making?

Chambliss claims that the criminal justice system disproportionately focuses on the actions of the proletariat, while working in the interests of the m/c, in order to control their actions. Laws in our society aim to protect private property over people. In capitalist societies the private property has an important economic function

What does Box suggest about Selective Law Making?

Capitalism has spread the ideology that corporate crimes are less widespread or harmful than w/c crime, this is effective due to the Capitalist control of the state meaning it is able to avoid making or enforcing laws that conflict with its interests. While some corporate crime is prosecuted, this is only ever a small amount. The concept Mystification refers to false consciousness and white collar/corporate crime. By this Box means that the myth is spread that these crimes are less serious or widespread.

What is Selective Law enforcement?

Marxists argue that the r/c holds the power to block or weaken laws that threaten their interests, shaping the legal system to serve their own needs. This results in selective enforcement as they are not in favour to enforce laws that penalise m/c whereas powerless groups, like the w/c are likely to be criminalised. Reiman (2009) supports this view by highlighting how, typically associated with disadvantaged groups, face unreasonably high prosecution rates, whereas offences like tax evasion committed by elites are often overlooked.

How do laws create false consciousness, according to Pearce?

Argues that when laws are passed in the workplace e.g Health & safety acts, it gives capitalism a ‘caring face’, creating false consciousness by keeping the workers (w/c) happy

What are the Strengths of the Marxist perspective on crime?

+ Dog eat dog system explains both w/c & elite crime.

+ Marxists identify the link between the strength of the welfare state & crime. Countries with secure welfare state have less crime.

What are the weaknesses of the Marxist perspective on crime?

- It ignores non-class base inequalities such as gender & ethnicity.

- Its deterministic, assuming that all those who are w/c commit crime.

- Not all capitalist societies have high crime rate e.g murder rate is 5 times higher in the US compared to Japan.

- Ignores the victims of crime.

- Reductionist