sociology gcse - crime + deviance

Give the functionalist view of crime

Functionalists such as Durkheim view crime as inevitable and universal as people are socialised differently, some more effective than others

Give the functionalist positive functions of crime

Boundary Maintenance; reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforce social solidarity Adaptation and Change; must be some scope for people to challenge and change existing norms and values otherwise society will stagnate

Give two other functions of crime

Safety Valve; Davie 1961 - prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men's sexual frustrations without jeopardizing the nuclear family + Polsky 1967 argues pornography does the same thing Erikson 1966; society is organised to promote deviance, control agencies are there to sustain level of crime not get rid of it

Give three criticisms of Functionalism

• Offers no explanation for the right amount of crime

• Doesn't explain why crime exists in the first place

• Ignores how it may affect different groups or individuals within society

Explain Merton's Strain Theory 1938

Deviance is the result of the goals a culture encourages individuals to achieve and what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately Denied opportunities to achieve legitimately result in strain American Dream as example Deviant adaptations to strain: conformity, innovation, ritualism, rebellion, retreatism

Give 3 criticisms of Merton

• Takes official statistics at face value which over represent working class crime

• Marxists argue it ignores the power of the ruling class

• Only accounts for utilitarian crime

Explain Cohen's Stats=us Frustration 1955

Focused on working class boys within school They suffered from cultural deprivation and unable to achieve thus unable to achieve status through legitimate means (school) and suffer status frustration, they resolve frustration by rejecting mainstream middle class values and turn to others boys in the same position and create a delinquent subculture, gain status through committing delinquent acts > offers an alternative status hierarchy

Explain Cloward and Ohlin's three subcultures

Found that different subcultures respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities; criminal subcultures - criminal career ladder conflict subcultures - loosley organised gangs - violence - earn status by winning 'turf' retreatist subcultures - double failures - illegal drug use - ex bf example

Give 3 criticisms of Cloward and Ohlin

• Ignore crimes of wealthy

• They draw boundaries too sharply between subcultures, South (2004) found that drug trade is a mixture of organised and disorganised crime

• Matza (1964) not all delinquents are dedicated to their subculture, they drift in and out

Explain the Institutional Anomie Theory

Messner and Rosenfield 2001 Mertons strain theory on steroids focuses on american dream - winner takes all mentality exert pressures towards crime by encouraging an anomic cultural enviroment

Becker 1963 on the social construction of crime

a deviant is simply someone to whom the label has been successfully applied and deviant behaviour is behaviour people label moral entrepreneurs - people who lead a moral crusade to change the law argues law has two effects: creation of a new group of outsiders + the creation or expansion of a social control agency to enforce the rule and impose labels

What factors contribute to whether someone is labelled by control agencies

their interactions with the social control agents their appearance, background, personal biography the situation or circumstances of the offence

Piliavin and Briar 1964

found that police decisions to arrest a youth were mainly based on physical cues such as manner and dress from which they made judgements about the youths character

Cicourel: the negotiation of justice 1968

• found officers typifications led them to concentrate on certain types, this resulted in the law enforcement showing a class bias in that the working class areas and people fitted the typifications more closely > led to more police control and more arrests confirming their stereotypes

• mc able to negotiate that their child is good

Lemert 1951 Primary and Secondary Deviance

Primary deviance: deviant acts that have not been publicly labelled - pointless to seek the causes due it being so widespread - unlikely to have one cause Secondary deviance: result of societal reaction (labelling) - stigmatizing leads to person believe the stigma is their master status, self-fufilling prophecy and promotes a deviant career

Young 1971

uses secondary deviance in his study of hippie marijuana users - drug use was primary deviance however due to hostile societal reaction it became a central activity - secondary deviance

Downes and Rock 2003

we cannot predict if someone will deviant due to their label as they are always free not to deviant further

Deviant Amplification Spiral

Cohen 1972 Folk Devils and Moral Panics; study on mods and rockers disturbances involving groups of youths at seaside resorts - press exaggeration began moral panic - moral entreprebeurs called for crack down - police responded by arresting more youths - caused upward spiral of deviance amplification

Triplett 2000

notes an increasing tendency to see young offenders as evil and to be less tolerant of minor deviance - criminal justice system as relabelled status offences like truancy as more serious offences = harsher sentences = increase in offending rather than decrease

Braithwaite 1989

Disintergrative shaming: both the crime and criminal are shamed Reintergrative shaming: only the crime is shamed not the criminal - avoids stigmatising - argues crime rates are lower in societies with this type

Douglas 1967

interactionist approach to suicide - distrust of official statistics as they are socially constructed argues we must use qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews or analysis of suicide note to find cause

Atkinson 1978

agrees official statistics are merely a record of the labels coroners attach to deaths taken-for-granted focus - found typical suicide important - hangings, pills etc

Lemert 1962

study of paranoia primary deviance; people view him as odd and start to exclude him negative response to the beginning of primary d results in secondary d which gives more reason to exclude him, people begin to discuss best way to deal with him which confirms his suspicions and he may get the label mental patient which is their master status

Rosenhan 1973

pseudo patient experiment, researchers admitted themselves into hospital claiming to be hearing voices thus diagnosed with schizophrenia - kept note of their experiences which was viewed as a symptom of mental illness

Give three criticisms of the labelling theory

• too deterministic implying that once someone is labelled they will have a deviant career

• Realist sociologists argue it ignores the real victims of crime by its emphasis on the negative effects on labelling

• Marxists: fail to recognise the source of power of the ruling class who dictate the rules and laws for what is crime/deviance

Miller (Functionalism)

argues lower class has developed n independent subculture with its own distinctive norms and values that clash with those of the mainstream culture, and this explains why the lower class have a higher crime rate. Conforming to subcultural norms such as toughness and pursuit of excitement can lead to conflict with the law

Strain theory view on class differences in crime

working class more likely to be denied legitimate opportunities to achieve success so they are more likely to seek illegitimate ways of achieving it Merton calls this innovation In Mertons view this explains why the working class has a higher rate of utilitarian crime than the mc

Subcultural theories view on class differences in crime

Cohen: lower and working c culturally deprived; not been socialised into mainstream middle c culture Cloward and Ohlin: criminal, conflict, retreatist subcultures

Labelling theory view on class differences in crime

• focus on discovering why the working and lower class commit more crime ; blocked opportunities or lack of socialisation

Marxist view of crime

• criminogenic capitalism

• the state and law making

• ideological functions of crime and law

Criminogenic capitalism

capitalism causes crime through

• poverty; only way to survive

• capitalist advertising; crime may be the only way people can obtain consumer goods that capitalism advertises resulting in utilitarian crime such as theft

• alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and anger resulting in non utilitarian crimes like violence

Gordon 1976

argues crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and hence it is found in all social classes

State and Law Making

see state and law enforcements as only serving the interests of capitalism Chambliss 1975 argues that laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy > intro of english law into britains east african colonies - local economy wasnt a money economy so introduced tax that had to be paid in cash so the african colonies would work

Snider 1993

argues that capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of business or threaten their profitability

Ideological functions

laws are occasionally passed that seem to benefit the working class such as work place health and safety laws Pearce 1976 - benefits capitalism by putting on a caring face Jenabi 2014 - despite new law against corporate homicide in 2007 in its first 8 years there was only one successful prosecution of a UK company - despite large numbers of employee deaths estimated due to neglect

Give 3 criticisms of marxism

• largely ignores the relationship between crime and non-class inequalities such as ethnicity and gender

• too deterministic; over predicts amount of crime in the wc

• Left realists argue they ignore intra-class crime such as burglary and mugging which cause great harm to victims

Critical criminology Neo Marxism

Tayor et al - agree with Marxists on capitalist society based on exploitation, state makes and enforces laws to benefit them and should be replaced by classless society Believe that marxism is too deterministic, they take a voluntaristic view; see crime as a meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor - argue crime has political motive

A fully social theory of deviance

Taylor et al aim to create a fully social theory of deviance; it needs to unite 6 aspects

• wider origins of the deviance act

• the immediate origins of the deviance acts

• the act itself

• the immediate origins of societal reaction

• the wider origins of societal reaction

• the effects of labelling interrelated

Give 3 criticisms of the Neomarxist view of crime

• feminists criticize for being gender blind; focus on male criminality

• Left realists; romanticises working class criminals + dont take crime as seriously and ignore effects on wc victims

• Burke 2005; too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime

Reiman and Leighton 2012

'The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison' shows that the more likely a crime is committed by higher class people, the less likely it is regarded as an offence

Sutherland 1949

White collar crime; 'a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation'

Define Occupational and Corporate crime

Occupational; committed by employees against the organisation Corporate; committed by the employees for their organisation in pursuit of their goals

Pearce and Tombs 2003

define corporate as an illegal act that is the result of deliberate decisions or culpable negligence by a legitimate business organisation and that is intended to benefit the business

Tombs 2013

argues that the difference between these types of offence is more about who has the power to define an act as crime than about how harmful the act is; powerful corporations can influence the law so they are not criminalised

Tombs 2013

notes that corporate crime has enormous costs; physical and economic, believes crime is 'widespread, routine and pervasive'

Give examples of corporate crime

financial crime; tax evasion, bribery crimes against consumers; false labelling, selling unfit goods - 2011 French Government breast implants - filled with dangerous industrial silicone crimes against employees; Palmer 2008 estimates that occupational diseases cause 50,000 deaths a year is the UK crimes against the environment state-corporate crime - US have been accused of involvement in torture of detainees in the American occupation of Iraq

Carrabine et al 2014

notes we entrust people of higher power with our finances, health, security and personal info - position gives them opportunity to abuse this trust

Examples of abused trust

• KPMG admitted in the USA to criminal wrong doing and paid a 456 million fine for its role in tax fraud

• GP Shipman 2000 was convivted of murder of 15 patients but over the course of 23 years he was predicted to have killed more than 200 - in 1976 he had suspcions of him due to him having enough morphine to kill 300 people however he just got warning

• Sexual abuse in hospitals

Give reasons for invisibility of corporate crime

• the media

• lack of political will

• crimes often complex

• de labelling

• under reporting

Give reasons for partial visibility of corporate crime

since financial crisis of 2008 a range of different people have made corporate crime more visible - more campaigns against coporate crime such as Occupy and UK Uncut

Strain theory explanation for corporate crime

Box 1983 argues that if a company cannot achieve its legitmate goals of maximising profit by legal means it may employ illegal ones instead thus when business conditions become more difficult and profitability is low companies may be tempted to break law Clinard and Yeager 1980 found law violations by large companies increased as their financial performance deteriorated suggesting a willingness to commit illegal acts

Geis 1967 differential association

found that individuals joining companies where illegal price fixing was practised became involved in it as a part of their socialisation

Differentail association links

deviant subcultures - culture of business may promote competitive aggressive personality types who are willing to commit crime to achieve success techniques of neutralisation - Sykes and Matza 1957 argue individuals can deviate more easily if they can produce justification to neutralise moral objections to their misbehaviour - blame victim

Labelling theory view on corporate crime

Cicourel 1968 - mc negotiable for misbehaviour Nelken 2012 - delabelling - they can afford expensive lawyers and accountants to help them avoid activities they are involved in

Marxist view on corporate crime

corporate crime a result of normal functioning capitalism Box 1983 - mystification - spread an ideology that corporate crime is less widespread or harmful than wc crime - sees crime as a criminogenic because if they find legitimate opportunities are blocked they will resort to illegal techniques Pearce 1976 - sustains illusion that corporate crime is an exception rather than the norm and thus avoids causing a crisis of legitimacy for capitalism

Evaluation of theories on corporate crime

• Nelken 2012 unrealistic to assume all businesses would offend were it not for the risk of punishment

• doesnt explain non profit making state agencies such as police law abiding may be more profitable = Braithwaite 1984 found US pharmaceutical companies that complied with Federal Drug Administrator regulations to obtain licenses for products in Ameriac were then able to access lucrative markets in poorer countries

Right Realism; Biological differences in cause of crime

Wilson and Herrnstein 1985; put forward biosocial theory - crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors, argue main cause of crime is low intelligence - biologiaclly determined personality traits such as aggressiveness and low impulse control = greater risk of offending

Right Realism; Socialisation differences in causes of crime

effective socialisation reduces risk - best agency of socialisation is the nuclear family Murray 1990 - argues that the crime reate is increasing because of growing underclass or new rabbled who are defined by their deviant behaviour and who fail to socialise their children properly - generous generation - welfare dependency - men no longer need to work - lone mothers are ineffective socialisation agents

Rational Choice Theory

Clarke 1980 argues that the decision to commit crime is a choice based on a rational calculation of its consequences Right realists argue the perceived costs of crime are low which is why crime rates have increased

Felson 2002

Routine activity theory - argues that for a crime to occur there must be a motivated offender, a suitable target and the absence of a capable guardian - offenders are assumed to act rationally so that the presence of a guardian is likely to deter men

Give 3 criticisms of the right realist explanations of the causes of crime

• ignores wider structural causes such as poverty

• overstates offenders rationality and how far they make cost benefit calculations before committing a crime

• over emphasises biological factors; Lily et al 2002 found IQ differences account for less than 3% in differences of offending

Right Realists Tackling Crime

• Target hardening - greater use of prisons and ensuring punishments follow soon after offence

• Zero tolerance Wilson and Kelling 1982 Broken Windows - worse a neighbourhood gets the more it promotes crime

Young 2011

Believes that Zero torelance in its success was a myth peddled by politicians and police keen to take the credit for falling crime - Criem had been falling in New York since 1985 - he argues police need arrests to justify their existence > shortage of crime led police to deviance up

Give 3 criticisms of zero policing

• its preoccupied with petty street crime and ignores corporate crime

• gives police rein to discriminate against minorities, youth, the homeless etc

• over emphasises the control of disorder rather than tackling the causes of neighbourhood decline such as lack of investment

Left Realists; Lea and Young 1984

identify three relates causes of crime; relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation

Left Realists causes of crime; relative deprivation

• poverty was rife in 1930's yet crime rates were low but since 1950's living standards have gone up and crime rates have increased _ paradox in todays society which is more prosperous and more crime ridden - more aware of relative deprivation due to media

• Young 1999: 'the lethal combination is relative deprivation and individualism' - increasing individualism had led to disintegration of families and communities by values of mutual support and selflessness on which they are based

Left Realists causes of crime; subculture

subculture is a groups collective response solution to the problem of relative deprivation - some may turn to crime to close the deprivation gap - Young 2002 notes theres Ghettos in the USA where there is full immersion in the American Dream; a culture hooked on Gucci, Nike etc. - goals are legitimately blocked so crime is the option

Left Realists causes of crime; marginalisation

marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests Unemployed youth are marginalised as they have no origanisation to represent them and no clear goals just resentment. Being powerless to use their political means to improve their situation they express their frustration through crimes such as violence and rioting

Young 2002 Golden Age

refers to 1950's and 1960's representing a golden age of modern capitalist society > period of stability security and social inclusion > since 1970 insecurity and exclusion have increased Greater inequality between rich and poor and spread of free market values encouragining individualism have increased sense of relative deprivation Notes there is a growing contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion as a source of relative deprivation: media saturated society promotes cultural inclusion, greater emphasis on leisure and immediate gratification, despite ideology of meritocracy the poor still have blocked opportunities

Young 2011 second aetiological crisis

since the mid 1990's the crime rate has fallen substantially - problem as suggests crime is no longer a real threat - however because crime is a social construction it may still be seen as a problem - Crime Survey for England + Wales 2014 found 61% thought crime had risen not fallen

Rising anti social behaviour rate

ASBOs in 1998 + IPNA s in 2015 measures have key features:

• blur the boundaries of crime

• subjective definition

• flexibility

Left Realists tackling crime: policing and control

• Kinsey Lea and Young 1986 - police clear up rates too low to act as a detterent

• Public no longer value police however that is where police get 90% of their info from thus people are relying on military policing such as stop + searches etc which can cause resentment

• policing must be made accountable to local communities and local concerns

• also needs multi agency approach

Left Realists; tackling structural causes

believe we need to deal with inequality of opportunity and the unfairness of rewards, tackle discrimination, provide decent jobs for everyone, improve housing and community facilities, become more tolerant of diversity

Left Realism; government policy

Influence on new Labour's firmer approach to hate crimes, sexual assaults, domestic violence etc + New Deal for unemployed youths and their anti traunting policies attempted to reverse the exclusion of young people at risk of offending Young argues these are doomed attempts to recreate Golden Age

Give 3 criticisms of Left Realism

• Henry and Milovanovic 1996 argue it accepts the authorities definition of crime being street crime

• Interactionists argue they cant explain offenders motive due to using quantitative data

• Its focus on high crime inner city areas gives unrepresentative view and makes crime appear a greater problem than it is

Give two statistics showing the difference in gender in crime

• 4 out of 5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are male

• By the age of 40 9% of females have a criminal conviction compared to 32% of males

Give two reasons why females are less represented in official statistics

• typically female crimes are less likely to be reported

• women are less likely to be reported

Chivalry Thesis

Pollak 1950 argues men have a protective attitude towards women thus the criminal justice system is more lenient - therefore this gives an invalid picture in statistics which exaggerates the extent of gender differences

Give evidence supporting the chivalry thesis: self reported studies

Graham and Bowling 1995 research sample on 1,721 14-25 year olds found that although males were more likely to offend the difference was smaller than those recorded in official statistics

• Males 2.33 times more likely to admit to committing crime whereas OF show males 4 times more likely to offend

Give evidence supporting the chivalry thesis: official statistics

• females more likely than males to be released on bail rather than remanded in custody

• females are more likely than males to receive a fine or community sentence and less likely to be sent to prison - women on average have shorter sentences

• only 1 in 9 female offenders receive a prison sentence for shop lifting compared to 1 in 5 males

Give evidence against the chivalry thesis

Farrington and Morris 1983 - study of sentencing 408 offences of theft in a magistrates court found that women were not sentenced more leniently for comparable offences

Buckle and Farrington 1984 - observational study of a shoplifting in a department store witnessed twice as many males shoplifting as females - suggests women shoplifters may be more likely to be prosecuted than their male counter parts

Give evidence against the chivalry thesis: self report studies

provides evidence that males commit more offences - young males are more likely than females to report binge drinking, taking illegal drugs or engaging in disorderly conduct

Halls et al 2009 found that they were significantly more likely o have been offenders in all major offence categories

Give evidence against the chivalry thesis: under reporting of male crimes against women

CT ignores the fact that many male crimes don't get reported - in 2012 only 8% of females who had been victims of a serious sexual assault had reported it Yearnshire 1997 found that a woman typically suffers 35 assaults before reporting domestic violence

Heidensohn 1996 Bias against women

argues the courts treat females more harshly than males when they deviate from the gender norms

Bias against women in two forms

Double standards - courts punish girls but not boys for promiscuous sexual activity - Sharpe 2009 found from her analysis of 55 youth worker records that 7 out of 11 girls were referred for support bc they were sexually active but none out of 44 boys

Women who dont conform to accepted standards of monogamous heterosexuality and motherhood are punished more harshly - Stewart 2006 found magistrates perceptions of female defendants characters were based on stereotypical gender roles

Carlen 1997 bias against women

argues when women are jailed, it is less for the seriousness of their crime and more according to the courts assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters - girls whose parents believe them to be beyond control are more likely to receive a custodial sentences than girls who live more conventional lives - found that scottish judges were much more likely to jail women whose children were in care than women who they saw as good mothers

Functionalist Sex Role Theory

Difference in socialisation - boys tough - girls nurturing Parsons - expressive and instrumental role based on biological differences Girls able to access adult role model- boys reject feminine models of behaviour - they distance themselves from such models by engaging in compensatory compulsory masculinity through aggression - delinquency Cohen - lack of a male role model - subculture

Criticism of the functionalist sex role theory

Walklate 2003 criticises sex role theory for its biological assumptions

Heidensohn Patriarchal Control 1966

Patriarchal society imposes control Control at home: domestic role - if reject face fear of domestic violence - Dobash + Dobash 1979 found many violent attacks result from mans dissatisfaction of the performance of wives domestic duties - girls less likely to be allowed to go out when and where they please - develops bedroom culture

Control in public: Islington Crime Survey found 54% of women avoided going out after dark due to fear compared to 14% of men - sensationalist media reporting of rapes - fear of not being respectable - Lees 1993 in schools boys maintain control through sexualised verbal abuse

Control at work: womens behaviour controlled by male supervisors and managers - sexual harrassment wide spread - subordinate role prevents breaking glass ceiling to white collar crimes

Carlen 1988 Class Deal

Class deal: women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunities Women had failed to find a legitimate way of earning a decent living and this left them feeling powerless and oppressed and the victims of injustice: 32 out of 39 had always been in poverty some found that qualifications gained in jail had been no help in gaining work upon release Many had experienced embarrassments and humiliations in trying to claim benefits Thus used crime as a way to escape poverty - nothing to lose

Carlen 1988 Gender Deal

patriarchal ideology promises women material and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to the norms of a conventional domestic gender role most women had either not had the opportunity to make the deal or saw few rewards and many disadvantages to family life some had been abused physically and sexually by family over half spent time in care and lost touch with family those leaving or running away from care found themselves homeless or poor

Criticisms of Heidensohn and Carlen

both can be accused of seeing womens behaviour as determined by external forces such as patriarchal control or class and gender deals - underplays the importance of free will and choice in offending

Liberation thesis Alder 1975

argues that as women become more liberated from patriarchy their crimes will become as frequent and as serious as mens - new type of female criminal and rise in female crime rate

Evidence to support the liberation thesis

the overall rate of female offending and female share of offences have rose during the second half of the 20th century - between 1950-1990s female crime rose from 1 in 7 to 1 in 6

alder argues the pattern of crime has shifted - women do more male crimes

media talk on the growth of girl gangs - Denscombe 2001 females adopting male stances

Criticisms of the liberation thesis

female crime began rising in the 1950's - long before womens liberation movement which started late 1960s

most female criminals working class - Chesney-Lind 1997 in the USA poor and marginalised women are more likely than liberated women to commit crime

little evidence that the illegitimate opportunity structure of professional crime has opened up to women: Laidler and Hunt 2001 found that female gang members in the USA were expected to conform to conventional gender roles in the same way as non deviant girls