Sociology -GOD

POV u were being foolish againand you had 2 days to revise but instead gave yourself?

Functionalism

See society based on value consensus & social solidarity.

And in order to achieve this social solidarity is through:

-Socialisarion = members internalise same norms & values

-Social control = positive/negative sanctions to reinforce norms & discourage deviance.

Outline Cohen

-Cohens status frustration (1955)

This theory focused on wc boys in shcools.He suggested they fail to succeed in middle class environments and in turn form delinquent subcultures tht go gaainst middle class norms and values. Subsequently, wc boys try to succeed within delinquent subvculutres by try in to rise in heirachy, which they bhave more chance of succceding in (gang member roles).

-This explains why people commit non-utilitarian crimes. These are crimes not commited for personal gain/ material reward but to express anger/frustrratuon (eg:vandalism, assault & hate crimes)

Outline Cloward & Ohlin

These 2 supproted Cohens ideas and developed Cohens staus frustration theory by introducing the types of these subcultures. He suggested there were 3 types of these subcultures:

-Criminal subcultures = provide ‘apprenticeshios’ for utilitarian crime (fraud & embezzlement, scams, robbery). Arise in neighbourhood with strong lasting stavle criminal subcultures with heirachies of professional criminals). Can select those with the right aptitudes & abilities for the jobs. (eg: professional drug dealers)

-Conflict subcultures = exist in areas of high population where there is high levels of social disorganization. More rival gangs due to population and due to constant conflict and high population gangs created are loosely organised gangs (eg: turf (territory) wars)

-Retreatust subcultures = Are formed with people who fail in both legitimate & illegitimate means ( not all who aims to be professional gang member actually succeeds & nkit everyone in legitimate opportunity structure succeded ingetting well paid jobs. These ‘double failures’ turn to illegal drug use (eg: junkies)

There is a lot of overlap as many criminal subcultures (professional drug dealers) are using drugs (junkies). This causes confusion.

Outline Durkheim

He believes that…

-Crime is inevitable = Argues that it is caused by poor socialisation meaning not everyone is taught the same norms & values and as a result there is an absence (anomie/ normlessness)

Through this inevitability, He believes..

-Crime is positive for society (good) because it allows for..

-Boundary maintenance = This is a concept that unites its members in condemnation of wrong doer and by punishing broken rules society remphaizes what is considered acceptable and not.This reaffirms acceptable norms & values & reinforces commitment to it.(eg: In the courtroom where they dramatise & publicly shame wrong doers)

-Allows adaption and social change (eg: homosexuals being punished, after a while led to rules being made & new age of society beginning ). All change starts with an act of deviance and is necessary for society to evolve.

However too much/ too little crime threatens society as this is a s signal of a malfunctioning system.

-Too much crime threatens to tear bonds of society

-Too little means society is repressing & controlling members too much, stifling individual freedom.

Outline Davis

He supportsDurkheis idea that crime is positive for siciety in a slughtly differnt way.

-Davis (1937) argues that prostitution acts a safety valve (releases built up pressure). This relieves men's sexual frustration without threatening the nuclear family.

-Polskey (1967) supports this saying porn channels sexual desires away from adultery

Outline Mertons strain theory

Robert K Merton (1938) argued that people engage in deviant behaviour ewhen they are unable to achieve socially approve goals through legitimate means. Some socially approved goals are The American Dream’

These large goals of money & success achieve through self discipline and efforts. It tells people that society is meritocratic and these dreams are achievable. Robert K Merton (1938) suggest that there were 5 responses to the American Dream

-Conformism = accept the goals (money, success) & legitimate means to achieve them (mc)

-Innovation = subscribe to the goals (money,success) but use illegitimate means to achieve them (theft/fraud- wc)

-Ritualism = reject the goals (cant do it) but have intenralised the means & follow rules for their own sake (lower mc office worker in dead end job)

-Retreatism = reject both goals (runs away) and legitimate means and subscribes to illegitimate means (drop outs, psychotics ,tramps)

-Rebellion = replace the goals & means with their own (aims to bring out revolutionary change w a new kind of society -political radicals & hippies)

Outline Interactionism

They focus on thesocial construction of crime, whereby an act only becomes deviant when labelled as such, through societal reaction. It is not the act that is inherentlydeviant butsocietals reaction to it.

They also argue that not every deviant act is labelled as cfriminal & some is selectively enforced against soe groups.

Outline Becker

-Becker (1963) argues that a deviant is someone who the label has successfully been applied. And deviant behaviour is simply behaviour that people label as devianrt. Thise who are labelled are labelled based in gender, class & ethnicity.

Outline Aaron Cicourel

Cicourel (1968) argued that officers decisions to arrest are influenced by their typifications (sterotypes) about offenders. This means their commonsense theories of what the typical delinquent is like led them to concentrate on certain ‘types’. (eg: patrolling in wc areas)

Outline John Braithewaite

John Braithewaite (1989) distinguishes between 2 types of shaming (negative labelling):

-Reintegrative shaming = punishes them in a way tht strenghtens bonds with society (eg: rehab -drugs are wrong, heres how to get away froom tht). It avoids stigmatising the criminal and tries separating the offender from the offence allowing them to more easier integrate back into mainstream society. Braithewaite argues tht crime rates tend to be lower as it doesnt force them into secondary devince.

-Disintegrative shaming = punishes them in a way where not only the crime, but also the criminal is labelled as bad. Thereby it isolates the indivudal and excludes them from society. This causes secondary deviance as they may feel like im already excluded might asw continue (eg: life sentence prisoner less likely to adhere to prison rules bc they their never coming out & it nvr gets worse than this). Furthermore in Georgia, USA woman convicted of burglary, was ordered to stand outside courthouse wearing the ‘I AM A THIEF.’ sign

Outline Douglas

Jack Douglas, takes an interactionist approach to suicide and rejects the use of official statistics when examining it. He states that official statistics are socially constructed & they tell us more abt the ppl who construct rhem (police in crime, coroner , in case of suicide) than the actual suicide.

He argued that whether a death is labelled as a suicide depends on the social actors (family, friends,doctors, coroner) negotiations between them . Eg: relatives may feel guilty abt failing to prevent the death so rather than suicicde, they may press for a verdict of misadventure. Or family with strong religious views that suicide is a sin may label it as a homicide/ accident instead. These false labels & inaccuracy Douglas states tells us nothing about an individuals decisions to commit suice and is therefore wrong and shoudln’t ebused.

Insteadhe proposed qualitative methods (analysis of suicide notes, unstructured interviews with deceased friends/fsmilies) or survivors of suicde attempt. This would allows us t ‘get behind’ the labels coronersattach to deaths & discover their true meaning.

Outline Lemert (1951)

Lemert (1951) distinguishes between the 2 types of deviance.

-Primary deviance = these refer to deviance acts that havent been publiclly labelled as deviant (eg: jay walking is a violation of traffic regulations so deviant- but is so widespread tht it often goes uncaught & fare dodging)

-Secondary deviance = these refer to deviance acts that are caught & labelled as deviant. This often leads to stigmatization, shame & humiliation that creates a master status. This is a persons controlling identity that overrides all others (eg: Jimmy savile, being labelled as a pedophile went from being a Tv presenter to his master status as being that). This may lead to a deviant career (further in drug dealing) as they struggle to find employment.

Outline Marxism -Class, Power & Crime

They believe crime is inevitable in a capitalist society bc the capitalist society encourages poverty,competition & greed which leads to ppl commiting crimes.

They argue that although all classes commit crimes, the working class are largely criminalised for their actions bc the ruling class control the state & can selectively enforce laws based on their own interests. (eg: white collar crimes being ignored).

Outline 3 main views capitalism causing crime.

-Crimogenic capitalism

-The state and law making

-Slective enforcement

-Ideological functions of crime & law

Outline Crimogenic capitalism

-Crimogenic capitalism =They state that crime is inevitable bc capitalism is crimogenic (this means by its very nature it causes crime). It is based on exploitation of wc, using them asa means ton an end (profit). This means factors like..

-Poverty means crime is the only way wc can survive

-Crime is the only way they can obtain consumer goods encouraged by capitalisric advertising (causes utilitarian crimes -money like theft/ fraud0

-Alienation & lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration & aggression resulting in non-utilitarian crimes like violence & vandalism.

Outline The state & law making

Marxists believe the state & law making only refelcts interests of the bourgeoise. For example,

Chambliss (1975) argues tht laws to protect provate property are the cornerstone ofthe capitalist economy. As rhis keeps capitalistic money only for the weathy. Furthermore Chamblis (1975) argued tht introducing English Laws into British East African colonies (tax)that were a punishable criminal offence, made the colonyhave to work on planatation as it was the onlu way they cld earn money.

Snider (1993) argues tht capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws tht regualte activities of businesses/ threaten their profitability. By not passing these laws tht wld threaten their interests, the unequal distrubtion of wealh continues.

Outline selective enforcement

-Marxists believe tht althougb all classes commit crime, when it comes to the application of the law byy the crininal justice system ,there is selective enforcement. While powerless groups like wc & ehtnic minorities are criminalised, the police & court tend to ignore the crimes of the powerful.

Outline the ideological functions of crime & law

Marxists believe tht the law, crime & criminals also perform an ideological function for capitalism by occasionally passing down laws tht appear to benefit the wc (eg: workplace health & safety laws)

Pearce (1976) argues tht this gives capitalism a ‘caring face’ & create a false consciousness among workers. If they believe tht the state is for them, anything passed by the state (laws tht criminalise criminals -often wc) they will support. This divides them as they believe tht anyone who commits crime is at fsult as the state is doig eht it can to help us all, so stigmatise criminls rather cspitslim.

Pearce (1976) also argues tht such laws ofren benefitruling class rtoo by keeping wc fit for work.

And finally Jenabi (2014) argues such laws arent rigorously enfoced (eg: a new law against corporate homicide being passed in 2007, in its first 8 yrs there ws only one succssful prosecutoon despire large no of work dearh estimated to be csused employers negligence.

Taylor et al, a neo-marxist criticises this and says Maerxism is too determinsirc as not all workers ar driven to commit crime due to economic necessity. They argue that it is more voluntaristic and see crime as a meaningful action & conscious choice by actor. They aim to redistribute wealth from rich to poor & arent j passive puppets but are deliberately stivinng to change societiy.

Outline White collar & corporate crimes

Reiman argued tht the more likely a crime is to be committed by high class ppl , the less likely it is be to treated as an offence in their book ‘The rich get richer and the poor get prison’ . There is a much higher rate of prosecutions for the typical ‘street crimes’ tht poor ppl commit (burglary & assault). Crimes committed by the higher class (tax evasions) are more likely to get a mor eforgiving view.

Tombs notes that this is even with the factor of the enormous costs (deaths, illnesses, environmental pollutionetc..) that corporate crime costs.

Box also argues that if a company cannot achieve its goal of maximising profit thru legal means, it may employ illegal ones instead.

Outline occupational and corporate crime

-Occupational criome = commmited by emplees AGAINST organisation for personal gail

-Corporate crime = commited by employeees FOR organisation in pursiuits of its goals

Outline Edwin Sutherland (1949)

Edwin Sutherland (1949) coined the term ‘white collar crime’ with the aim to challnege the sterotype tht crime is a purely lower class phenomenon.

Edwin Sutherland (1949) explains white collar & corporate crime thru DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIALTION

Outline explanations fo white collar & corporate crime

-Differential association:

Sutherland (1949) sees crime as behaviour learned from others in social context. The less we associate with people who hold attitudes favourable to the law & more we associate with ppl w criminal attitudes, the more likely we are to become deviant ourselves.

Thus if a company’s culture justifies committing crimes to achieve corporate foals, employees will be socialised into this criminality.

-Labelling theory:

Cicourel (1968) argued tht the wc are more likely to ahve their actions labelled as criminal. The mc however are more avle to negotiate non criminal labels for misbehaviour. Thisis supported by De-labelling sociologists who believe the mc can afford expensive experts like laweres & accountants to helpthem avoid activities they are involved (tax avoidance) or get charge seriousness reduced.

Outline the invisibility of the corporate crime

There are several reasons why corporate crimes arent seen as real crimes at all:

1.The media = gives very limited coverage to these crimes, thus reinforcing the stereotype tht crime is a wc phenomenon (eg: embezzlement becomes accounting irregularities)

2.Lack of political will to tackle corportate crime = politicians dont want to go against themselves so focus on street crime

3.Crimes are complex- law enforcers are often understaffed, under-resourced & lack technical expertise

4.Delabelling = corporate crime is consisistently filtered out from the process of criminalisation (penalties often fines instead of jail - the Trump organisation convicted of tax fraud and fine 1.6 million)

-Under-reported= indiviudals may be unaware they have been victimies (false cosnciousnrss)

Outline right realism

They see crime as a real problem to be tackled & not j a social onstruction suggested by other theories.

They argue tht other theories dont offer realistic solutions to the problem of crie & they propose practical policies to reducdeit. This led to a shift in researching causes of crim to practical crime control measures

They think there are 3 factors causing crime:

-Biological differences = Wilson (1985) puts forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour saying some ppl are innately more strongly predisposed to committing crimes than others. Eg: personalitytraits like aggressiveness, risk taking, extroversion etcc

Murray agreed with this and stated that the main cause of crime is low intelligence.

-Poor socialisation & underclass = Murray, a right realist (1990)argies that crime rate is increasing bc of growing underclass & wc parents who fsil to socialisde kids properly

-Rational choice theory = Clarke states that its a rational choice taken by individual based on consequences.

They believe it isnt fruitful to try dewal with causes as biological factors cant beeasily changed. Instead they suggest practical emasures like policies.

Zero tolerance policing

James Wilson, the main theorist for right realism was a special adviser for crime for a president. This provided justification for policies like the ‘zero toleranc epolicy’ of street crime and disorder to occur.

A zero tolerance policy is a tough crack down on undesirable behaviour. Things like prostitiutoon, begging & drunkenness are completely not allowed. To fulfil this police wld patrol the streets and take a ‘short,sharp,shoclk’ approach & carry out on stop & search on suspicious characters. It was introduced in 1994 & was widely applauded for reducing crime rates.

Jock Young (2011) argued that its a myth peddled by [police & politicians that are leen to take credit for falling rates of crime. In fact the crime rates in US have been falling 9 yrs before the zero tolerance policy.

Outline the Wilsons broken window theory

This theory was proposed by Wilson and they argued that it was essential to maintain orderly characteristics of neighbourhoods. This meant they had to reduce any signs of crime immediately so potential criminals didnt get the social supporting idea & think noone cared due to the broken window still remaining. ‘If they did it too, then i wont be the only one and they probably wont eevn care cos its still here. Therefore any sign of detioration (vandalism, graffiti) must be health w immediately

Outline Target hardening

This is a concept tht posits if you make it harder to commit crime (eg: locking doors) this will reduce the rewards & act as a deterrent.

Outline left realism

Left realists believe tht crime is also a real problem, and one that particularly affects disadvantaged groups as its main victims. They criticises other theories for not taking crime seriously saying neo Marxists romanticise wc as later day robin hoods. The=y argue that taking crime seriously involves recognoising who is most affected by crime.

Young, a left realist outline 3 causes of crime:

-Relative deprivation = This refers to how deprived one feels in comparison to others. In the 1930s there was deprivation but the crime lates were low as there living standards have risen instead of it to get better, it has gotten worse. So instead usingRunciman they suggested that although ppl are better off they commit crime bc they r more aware of what they lack due to media & advertising

-Subcultures = a left realist defines this as a groups collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation. Some may turn to crime to close the ‘deprivation gap’ while more religious subcultures may encourage conformity as the Pentecostals seen in Bristol.

-Marginalisation= unemployed youth are marginaised & have none to to represent them & have no clear goals.this creates a sense pf resentment & frustration since they r powerless to use political means to improve situation instead turn to crime (rioting & violence).

Outline left realists solution to crime

They suggest:

-Policing & control = police must be made accountable to local communities & deal w lcoal concerns. They must improve their relationship w community by spending more time investigating crime & changing priorities (instead overpolicing minor drug crime, they shld crack down on police racist attacks & domestic violence).Community shld also be involved in making policing policy.

-Tackling structural causes of crime= Improved policing isn’t main solution, instead they need to crack done on underlying unequal structure of society. Majore structural changes are going to have to be made (eg: tackle discrimination, provide jobs for a;, improve housing & community facilities, become more tolerant to diversity & cease stereotyping whole groups as criminal).

Outline Gender & Crime and Justice

Official statistics show men commit more crime tha women, however sociologists disagree on the reasons why. Some socologists argue female offending rates go unnoticed & unpunished bc the criminal justice system treats women more lenieiently (Pollak’s chivalry thesis). And other socuologists believe its due to gender differences in socialisation, meaning they have less opportunity/ desire to commit crime. While other sociologists sa women do commit crime just different types, and men merely commit more due to the ;idea of amsculinity’.

Outline gender patterns of crime

-4 out of 5 convicted offenders in England & Wales are male

-Men are 15 times more likely to be convicted of a homicide

-By the age of 40, 9% of females have a criminal conviction, as opposed ot 32% of males.

Outline why men commit more crime than women:

-The concept of ‘masculinity’ = James M. argues tht masculity is a social construct & accomplishment tht men constantly work at constructing & presenting to others. This hegemonic masculinity is a dminant & pregistious form men wish to accomplish. However there are other masulinities tht co-exist, these are subordinated masulinities. These are gay men =, who have no desire to acomplish hegemonic masulitnity.

-Globalisation= Winlow argues tht globalisation has led to a decline in traditional manual jobs in which wc males cld express their masculinity through. Since this is declining, there ahs been an increase in night-time leisure conomy (eg: Boucners) which has provided a combination pof legal employment & criminal opportunities to express masculinity (more access to drug dealers at clubs/bars)

Outline why women are commiting crime

-Pollack’s Chilvary thesis (1950) = Pollack argues tht men have a protective attitude towards women & thus are moerw lwniwnt, so their crimes are less liekly to end up in offical statistics. Eg: Women are more liekly to be ‘let off’ for crimes such as speeding .

This almost a century ago, so times could change

- Adler’s Liberation thesis (1975)= Adler believes tht women are now becoming much more equal in society with men, so therefore can commit crime. Previously, the patriarchal society has had control over women to stop them frordeviating (housewive). Since their control has reduced, women now have more opportunities to commit crime ( higher positions in jobs- more likely to commit white collar crimes)

-Carlen’s Class and Gender Deals = Carlen suggests that women have 2 deals; trhe class deal and the gender deal. The class deal is that if they work hard they will be financially rewarded in life. The gender deal i tht iof they are a good mother & wife, they will be treated well. Carlen believes tht when both deals are broken down, women turn to crime.

Outline why women commit less crime than men

-Patriarchal control theory = Frances H. argues tht women have at least one male figure in their life, who dont want them to commit crime.

They also may have control at home because of housewife role.Housewives and child care imposes several restructions on their rime & movement by confining them in house for long periods. Women who try to reject their domestic roles have the pearteners seeking to impose it by force. Dobash & Dobash (179) found many violent attacks were due to mens dissatisfaction with performance on domestic duties.

Even daughters are subject to this by not being allowde to stay out late. They evpolve a ‘bedroom culture’ socialisigng at home w friends rathr than public spaces so dont have the opportunity outsie on the streets.

-Functionalist Sex role theory = Parsons (1955) argues tht due to their biology & the way tht they are socialised, women are nurturing by nature & thereforeare incabale of/do not want to xommit crime. Women are too preoccupied being a mother. Even through socialisation boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive or risk taking ‘boys will be boys’ more likely to be more criminal thru violence.

Since women are always at home socialising, boys may see this as feminine and reject it so engage in ‘compensatory compulsory maculinity’ thru aggresion. Cohen (1955) also suggested bc dads not home lack of male role model means boys r more likely to turn to all male street gangs.

Outline Ethnicity & Crime

Official statistics highlight tht black people are more likely to be stopped, arrested & improsoned. Some sociologists argue tht this is bc they are more likely to offend, due to poor educational achievement, dysfuntional family structure & racist stereotypes potrayed in the media. However, other sociologists say they merely appear more criminal due to discrimination in wider society.

Eg: Black ppl make up 3.7% of Uk population, but have 12% of convictions in prison.

White ppl are under represented at all stages of tge criminal justice proess

Black people r 7times morelikely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts

Outlien2 other important sources of statistics

-Victim surveys = ask ppl to say wht crimes they have been a victim of usually during the last 12 months & the ethinicity of perpetrators (shock horror, black ppl r more likely to be overrepresented here too :D)

-Slef-report studies = ask ppl to disclose theur own dishonest & violent behaviours

Outline why Black ppl are more criminal

-Education = Merton ‘s strain theory says Black carribean pupils statistically perfrom poorly in education & therefore may find it hard to find a legitimate & sufficently well-paid job. In turn, they may either turnto illegal means of employment (drug trade) or trurn to crime due to relative deprivation (feeling like ur worse off than others even tho ur not in absolute poverty)

-Family = Functionalists & Charles Murray say the growing rate of lone parent family sturcture within the black community leads to inadequate socialistion, therefore children atrent taught the correct norms & values of society. In this instance, they are not taughtcrime is immortal.

-Media = media representations reinforce the sterotype tht black ppl are more criminal (folk devils). This may lead to a self fulfilling prophwcy & black will in turn commit more crime.

Outline why black ppl appear more criminal

Lea and Young (left realists) = They suggest that the difference in statistics are the result of black ppl being discriminated iin wider society. Utilitarian crime (IF IT GETS YOU PAID ITS UTILITATIAN MADE) - theft/fraud, is due to material deprivation (poverty). If its non-utilitarian (vandalism, assault), its due to their frustration towards society. They believe police racism isnt the mmain cause of this bc 90% of crimes are reported by public.

Gilroy = In his theory of ‘The myth of Black criminality’ They suggests tht BAME do not commite more crime than others. It is the result of racist policing who axct on sterotypes. Also, BAME, parents and themselves, also come from former colonies where it was normal to resist oppression. In Britiain when resisting racism, their criminalised.

Hall et al = In the 1970s, there ewas moral panic abt black ppl & mugging. This is bc capitalism was in crisis & they usded this story to cover it up. Thus, black ppl werentmore cirminal but a mere victim of capitalism. However this made black ppl more unlikely to get jobs & then turn to crime

Outline racist victimisation

This is when an individual is selected as atarget bc of threir race,e thnicity or religion (brought into light by Stephen Lawrence in 1993

Outline the Media & Crime

The media guves an overly distorted image of crime- for instance, by over representing violent crimes. This is bc the news is a social construction based on news values tht explain the medias interest in crime. Some sociologists see media as a cause of crime thru imitation & the deviance amplification of moral panics.

Dickinson found tht 30 % of he British news space is to crime

Outline the Media as a cause of crime

1.Imitation = media provides deviant role models, which results in copying their behaviour (Banduras Bobo doll/ Murder of james bulger poentially being inspired by Child’s play 3- chucky0

2.Arousal = viewing violent/ sexual imagery

3.Desensitisation = repeated viewing of violence

4.Transmission of knowledge of criminal techniques

5.Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods (eg; thru advertisining)

6.Glamourising offending (eg: Robin Hood)

Outline the distorted image of crime

Surette:

-Overrepresentation of sexual & violent crime

-Exaggerates police success (Brooklyn 99)

-Exaggerates the risk of victimization

-Overplay extraordinary crimes (serial killers)

Outline the fictional representation of crime

Surette:

-Fictional representation of crime follow the ‘law of opposites’. This means they r oppositite to offical statistics & strikingly simiar to news coverage

-Property crime is underrepresented =, while violence, sex & drug crimes are overrepresented.

-Fictional sex crimes are caused by psychopathatic strangers, whereas most sex crimes are committed byacquantiances

-Fictional villains are higher statu, midde aged, white males

-Fictional police usally catch criminals (reinforcing trust in justice system)

In around 40 years, over 10 billion crime thrillers were sold worldwide

Outline Moral panics- Cohens study on Mods & rockers

Cohen (1960s) studied these 2 youth subcuktures/ groups built off of wc teens.

Cohen revealed tht although this disorder was relatively minor , the media amplified & exaggerated this, producing a ‘Deviance amplification spiral’.

This resulted from:

-Exaggeration & distortion = exaggerated the numbers involved, the extent of violence & damage (potentially claiming acid attacks that most likely nvr occurred

-Precition- assumed & predicted further conflict that wld get out of hand

-Symbolisarion = the symbols of the mods & rockers defined the ( eg: clothes, bikes, hairstyles were seen as deviant)

-The media caused moral panics nowadays w issues such as acid attacks & terorrism.

Outline Lea and Young News values

News is a social construction and even more so there are certain news values tht some information need to meeet to prove its newsworthiness before being presented …

-Immediacy = ‘breaking news’

-Dramatisatrion =action & excitement

-Personalisation = human interest of storeis abt indivduals (James Bulger)

-Higher status = celebrities

-Simplification = eleminating shades of grey

-Risk - victim centres stories abt vulenerability & fear

-Violence

Outline Lea and young -The Media, relative deprivation & crime

The media present everyone with the image of a materialitic ‘good life’ , which is the norm in which everuyone shld conform. Hpwever, this stimulates the sense of relative deperrivation (feeling of being worse off than others) & marginalization felt by groups who cant afford these goods. (big gafs). Merton argues pressure to conform to these norms can cause deviant behaviour when the opportunity to achieve leg==by legitimate means is blocked. in this instance , the media is instrumental in setting the norm and thus promoting crime.

Lastly new media such as the internet have crested new opportunities both for cyber crime & for surveillance & population control

Outline Globalisation, Green crime & State crime

Globalisation has allowed transnational organised crime to flourish. For instance, the trafficiking of arms, drugs & humans. We now live in a global risk society, where human-made threats include environmental damage. Green criminology adopts an ecocentric view based on harm rather than the law, and identified both primary & secondary green crimes. The state also contributes to green crime, thru the exploitatin of health &b safety laws. For example..

Outline globalisation & crime

Castells (1998) argues tht there is now a global criinal economyworthover £1trillion per annum,.

This is to traffic arms, omen,children, body part, culterarrteefcats, nuclear materials, endangers species, sex tourism (sometimes involving minors) etcc..

In Columbia 20% of the population depends on cocaine production forn their livelihood

Taylor argues that globalisation has created crimes t both ends of the specturem; it has allowed transnational corporations to switch manufacturing to low wage countries. This means high wageocountires have lack of jobs, producing job inseucirety, unemployment & poverty. Globalisation has also created inequality, leading to the increase in crime due to resentment & material deprivation.

Glenny’s theory on McMafia (2008) = the organisations the temegred in Russia following the fall of communism =. Glenny traces the origins of transnational organised crime to the break up of the society union, which coincided with the deregulation of global markerts

Their thoughts on MCMafia was deliberate to compare global organsied crime to Mc Donalds, so wherever u go u’ll find a mc donalds & a mafia drug dealer.

Outline White’s Green Crime

-White distinguishes between types of criminology

-Traditional criminology = its subject matter is defined by criminal law & therefore not concerned with grween criminology

-Green criminology = this is any action tht harms the physical environment, and humans or non-humans within it.

They distinguish between the types of harm (tht cld be caused to the environment):

-Anthropocentric = a human -centeed approach tht says, humans have the righbtb to use the worlds resources & dominate nature and puts economic groeyth before environmen.

-Ecocentric= humans & nature are interdependednt (work together) so tht environemntal ahrm ca also harm humans too

Outline types of green crimes:

South suggests there are 2type s of green crime:

-Primary green crimes =these are crimes that result directly from the destruction & degradation of the earths resources (air/water pollution, deforreaation, species decline , animal abuse)

-Secondary green crime = environmental crimes that occurs when rules that are meant to protect the environemtare broken. These ceimws often involve gov ignoring / covering up their environmental damee. Eg: company illegally dumping toxic waste onto river.

Outline state crimes

These are crimes carried out by a government or its agents

McLaughin:

Distinguishes betweent he types of state crime

-Political crimes (eg: corruption & censorship)

-Crimes by security & police forces (eg: genocide -Genocide in rwands, toruthre & disappearance of dissidence)

-Economic crimes (eg: violation of healh & safety laws)

-Social & cultural crime (institutional racism)

Control, Punishment & Victims

-Sociologists believe that the ability to control criminal behaviour takes several different measures - namely situational crime prevetion, environemntal crim eorevention. Surveillance is another methods used to control & punish criminals. Sociokogust also focus onvictimisation, which postive victimology focuses on victim proness or precipitation, whilst cfritical victimology e,phasises, structuralfacots such as poverty.

Outline Surveillance

Surveillance is the montitoring of public behaviour for the purpose of crime control. In todays society, surveillance is carried out by the use of CCTV cameras, biometric scanning, information databases etx..

Outline Foucaults 2 types of power:

-Sovereign power (before 19th century)= the monarch had absolut power over ppl & their bodies. Contreol was as=sserted by inflicitng visible punishment on the body. This was a brutal & emotuioanl spectacle,such a sa public execution .

-Disciplinary power = this became dominant from the 19th century, and involves a new sytem of sicipline tht seeks togovern the mind, the soyl& the body. iT DOE S THIS THRU SURVEILLANCE.

He studied the Panopticon. This is where each prisoners cell is visibke to guards from central watch tower but the guards aarent visible to prioners. So the dk when their being watched. As a result they behve at all i=times as if tey were being watched. Surveillance turns into self -surveillance & becomes self -disci-pline

Outline punishment

One justificaition of punishment is tht it prevents future crime.

It does thisthrough reduction;

Crime can be reduced ins eval ways through..

-Deterrence = punisshing an indivudiual discourages hthem from future offedning. Thatchers conservative gov ‘short, sharp, shock’ regime in young offednders institutions

-Rehabilitation = punishment can be used to reform/ change offenders so they no longer offend. Thiscan be done thru providing education & anger management courses.

-Retribution = based on the idea that offenders deserve to punished & society is entitles to take revenge on the offender

-Incapacitation = punishment to remove offenders capacity to offend again (improsonmne t, exe3ctuioon , cutting off hands)

Outline victimology

Victimology is the study of victims.

The UN defines victims as those whove sufferened harm that violated the laws of the state.

Christie (1986) argues tht the notion of victim is socially constructed . The stereotype of the ‘ideal victim’ being a child/ old woman ‘ -weak innovcent blameless indivual.

Therw are 2 types persepctives on victomology:

-Postivist victimology (Miers) = They argue tht there are certain factors tht lead to some individuals / groups being a ore likely victom of crime. eg: homeless ppl are statistically the most vulnerabke victims of cirms, due to their lack of resources &powrr.

Miers agues tht there r some victims tht provoke behavoiour tht lead to their own victimiation. Thos can be applied to both ends of the spectrum . Mc victims of crime have contributed to their own victimisition by pretentiously showing off their wealth leadig to crimes ;ile theft. The wc are more liklely to prob[voke threats, leading to violent crimes against them.

-Critical victimology (Mawby) = based on conflict theories and suggests that victimisation is a form of structural powerlessness, thereby structural factors like patriarchy & poverty place powerless groups- women & the poor at greater risk of victimisation.

-Tombs also believes that a ‘victim ‘ is a social construct. They believe that the criminal justice system applies the label of a victim to some but withholds it from others. This means that the powerless victims (ldeath to ow paid workers) don’t get the label of victims but as smth like accident prone workers. Therefore by concealing the tru extent of victimisation & its real causes, it used the crimes of the powerful to be concealed and not axcknoweldeged by the state.

Outline situational crime preventu=ion

-Situational crime prevention:

Ron Clarke describes situational crime prevention as a pre-emptive approach, focused on reduceing opportunites to commiti crime, rather improving siociet / its n=instututions. He argues its better to focus on immediate crim situation as his is where the possibilities r the greatest

Some ways to reudce opportunities:

Target hardenig - locking doors to increase burglars efforts

-Increased surveillance - CCTVs / security guards in shops means less sboplifters.

Displavement = SPC isnt reducing crime its, since criminals think rationally abt costs/ benefits , they j love to an easier target

This can occur

-Spatial (moving elsewhere to commit crim)

-Temporal (committing itat a diff time)

-Target (choosing a diff victim -kids whos not w parents)

-Taxtical = using diff method -gun /brick)

-Functional (committing a diff type of crime esp if its violent crime -rape instead of adssault)

Environmental crime prevention

Based on James Wilsons Broken windows thesis, ewhich argeius all signs of disorderly neghbourhood shld be removed to send out signal tht ppl do care

iNTROCUING ZERO TOLERANCE POLICING = crack down on any crime / any disorder

Outline social & community crime prevetion

The aim of this is to remove conditions tht predisposes person to crime in the first place. So potential offenders are helo.

The Perry preschool project =attepted to do this w a group of young disadvantaged black kids who were offered a 2 yr intellectual enrichment programme tht aimed to reduce criminality in the futre. The longitudinal study showed significant differences , w a control grouyp who hadnt undergone an enrichment programme . By 40, they had fewer lifetime arrests for crimes & most were in a form ofpaid employment.

Theory & Methoods

Quantitative research methods - favoured by positvists -Objective, lab experiments, field experimenrs,offical stats

Field exp (rosenthal- measured IQ after self fulfilling prophecy on kids )

Unaware so no hawkhtonre effet , act norally

Cons:

W/o informed consent

-less control over evs

-can only eb applied to certian social situations

Examples:

-Questionnares (census survery abt population)

-Structured intervies(Young & willmot - interviewd men on amount odf hosuework for symmetrical family)

-Offical stats 9brith rates, PRO: Can compare trednds over tiime census data- done evey 10 yrs )

-Historical docs (Cohen used aold newspapers to study Mods and rockers)f

-Unstructured interview (Dobash & Dobash -domestic violence interview w women to tell experiences)

Peronal documents (instragram posts during cl==lockdown , anne franks dfiary)

Kalo popper -black swan analogy (1 black swan disproving all white swan exist’ ‘flase class consciousness’

Outline positivism & intepreivsm

Positivists argue socioogy sint a science, Inteprivists dont

Auguste Comte devloped the theoretical perspective of positivism . Their belief ws tht society cls be explained w scientitific principles based on objectivity relatbiaaltiy & geneerakisation.

Emile Durkheim, functionalist was influnced by Comte & applied it to his sociological study on suicde. He used inductio, this is the process where a researcher gathers a large sample of statistics with the aim of finding trednds & patterns thtillustrate the impact of particular social fxts in soceity.

Durkheim used official statistics & the hypothetico deductive model. This is when a researcher starts w a hypothesis they wish to prove correct

Inteprivists = they believe that the study of human behaviour cant be scientific as our nature iscompletely unreliable & our actions can have a variety of complex meanings

Intepreivists suggested that in order to get a valid understanding of the experiences of an individual, the research must try to understand them

thru abandoning the principles of objectivity, by putting themselves in the place of the other- known as ‘Verstehen’.

Inteprivists r critical of science as a discipline bc it says science lacks validity as a subject ara & therefore sociology shld distance itself from the sisipline.

Can sociology be value free?

Postitivists believe society cld be improved thru obkecitve scoentificknoweldge, fee from values of the researcher (vaslue free). Inteprivists argue its impossiv bc research is subjwctibe & influcnd in all aspects.

Intwprevtivist- socio cant be value free because it is subjective

Sociologists values are influencd ;

-The choice of research topic

-chpoce of method

-funding body

MYRDAL AND GOULDER:

Argues sociology cant ever be value free bc we all hold ‘domain assumptions’ (views that we all have abvt the world) prior. Therefore its impossible to detatavh orseleve from what we know abt world

THE FUNDING OF RESEARCH:

sOCIOLOGY CANT EVER BE VALUE FREE BC OF THT BC ORGANISATIONS FUNDING RESEARCH WILL HAVE interests that they will want to provide to society.

Gouldner believes that all research is inevitably influenced by values whether its values of sociologist or those of funding body that pays researches

GOMM argues sociology is a social action carried out by real ppl in the real world and the real world is characterised by conflicts of interests between social groups, whom some are powerful thanothers (fem against patriarchy)

Sociologists shld only identify their values but opening take sides empousing (supporting) interest of actual groups. It is undesirable to be value -neutral

Sociology -can be value free

Durkheim wants it to be value free, so it can be mmoe objective & can relate to other science

Weber says we cannot be free from values in the research process but can be free from values when collecting=ing data

Values need to be explicitly stated

Data collection & hypothesis testing must be objective as possiblee when collecting social facts (no leasing questions)

Mertin says that manifest functions ae the intneded & obviuour outcxomes of social action/ ntstutition.

Latent dunctions are th e==e unintended, hidden or less obvious effect

Liberal fem- Oakley cha,]llenges parsons intrumental/ expressisve

Radical fem -Greer-functionalism ignores patriarchal power atrucutrues & society cant be equal & f functional is men oppress women

Postmodernism = Lyotard says th socity is too fragmented for functionalists idea of consensu sto be vaid

Weber sa

Gramsci

2 says ruling class maintains dominance

-Coersion = army, policing priosons

-Consent = pedrsuade wc th tsubordinate class is legitimate

He believes thwe onyl way a revolution cld oxxur is thru a counter- hegemonic bloc wrre wc adopts this and tries ovetrhwoing them

Criticism:

Davis & Moore - iequality is eneeded to ensure the most taneted fill importance roles(role allocation) (funcxtionlwloet)

Firestone, a feinist says tht gender not clas si prinary souve of oppressiin

Lyotard -marxism is a meta narrativef

Weber (social action theorist) voicied emphasi on the imporance on individual

trad marx - usually positividt

Barret (marx fem) - wp,en cheap labour, reserve army labouour , absrob anger . Als o brainwashes them tht sexual dicision of labpir i is nautural & norma

Butler (Difference fem)- dont see women ans non homogenous dievrse georup - a postmodrnists

Goffmans (social acion) dramaturgical model were we consturct ousrsvlves thru ,manipulating ppls impression of us

Typifications, SCHUTZ says er eed these sterotyoes to coo[erate & communicate or social orderwont be possible

Giddens says late modrnitu has ecouraged glbalisation in 2 ways:

-Relexivity - tradition & cysin no kinger serve as guides on how we shld act

-Disembedding - lifitn g out of social relations from locsl contextx

Bauman supports Giddens by porposing ‘Liquisd modernity’ tsaying late modernity not only adds constanct choice but creats anxiet & insecurity not j flexibility

Functionalists -most liklely to obe positivists