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in this flashcard set, I'm currently covering the entire spec for crime and deviance - it is also still being written!! included: - theorists -white collar -media
what is crime
an act that breaks the legal law
what is deviance?
an act that breaks the norms and values of society.
which sociologist looked at the social construction of crime?
Newburn
What did newburn argue about crime?
no act is criminal unitl it is labelled as such. Crime is a label placed on an act the state deems illegal and is a punishable offence. There may be some changes to social attitudes which may lead to changes in laws which may also vary from country to country.
which sociologist looked at the social construction of deviance?
Plummer
what did plummer argue about deviance?
its a social construct. Many people commit deviant acts but many people may not see it as such. There are 4 key features that can determine whether an act is labelled as deviant as such:
time
place
social group
culture
what are the 6 functionalist/ subcultural sociologists (generally)?
Durkheim
Merton
Cohen
Cloward and Ohlin
Miller
Matza
Durkheim
crime is inevitable and required- caused by issues such as inadequate socialisation and norms and values. he highlights how there is egoism within society and that everyone’s collective conscience is too weak which has led to selfish desires. Crime is also good as it teaches boundary maintenance, chnages in laws (adaptaiton) and social cohesion. He also did a study about suicide.
criticisms of durkhiem
marxists argue that he ignores the power fo the ruling class who creates the laws.
he doesnt mention how much of the crime committed is benficial to society.
crime doesnt always lead to social cohesion.
Merton
he looked at strain theory/anomie. Crime is caused due to a strain between individual goals and the approach they use to achieve them. He then identified 5 different methods people will follow in order to achieve such goals:
conformity- follows the rules
innovation - fins alternative ways of achieving success via crime
ritualism - acceptance that they will never succeed so they live with where they’re currently at.
rebellion - Dont accept societys goals and choose their own
retreatism - they give up and drop out of society.
criticisms of merton
exaggerates the importance of success via money
ignores crimes committed by those who have achieved success
doesnt explain why groups commit crime.
doesnt explain non-utilitarian crime
cohen
he looked at subcultures created by w/c boys due to the lack of job opportunities and anomie they faced within the education system. thewy fail to accept the low status given by society as a result they rejcet the values of mainstream society and form deviant deviant subcultures where they then partake in deviant activities in order to gain status within their peer groups. (gangs)
cohen weaknesses
He assumes all w/c boys turn to crime and deviant subcultures when they face strain
feminists argue he ignores female offenders.
He only speaks about why youth may commit crime
Cloward and Ohlin
Exaplains why w/c youth boys commit crime due to strain, because of this they then use illegitimate ways in order to achieve said goals. They highlighted 3 types of subcultures as a result of this:
Criminal - they commit crime that benfits themselves
Conflict - due to high movement of gangs, and lack of shared values, there is high levels of conflict and violent crimes in order to gain respect from their peers.
Retreatist - those who failed within society and crime so they turn to drugs and alcohol. (Double failures)
Cloward and Ohlin criticisms
The 3 subcultures overlap each other
Ignores female offending
Miller
He argues that w/c boys were socialised into deviant subcultures due to different norms and values. These included: smartness, trouble, toughness, excitement, autonomy and fate.
Miller criticisms
David Downes applied this to w/c in east London and found limited evidence that supports his theory.
Matza
Beleives that youth drift in and out of crime and deviance and are less able to supress values that encourage crime and then try to justify their actions. via techniques of neutralisation
What are the 5 techniques to neutralisation?
Denial of responsibility
Denial of the victim
Denial of injury
condeming the condemers - usually picking on them
appealing to higher loyalties - ignoring rules as they have higher loyalties (family)
criticisms of Matza
only explains crime in youth
only explains crime by the w/c
what is social construction?
an idea created by society which individuals are expected to live by i.e. walking on the left-hand side saying please and thank you etc.
what is social order?
the way society is ordered to minimise disruption so it can run smoothly.
what are the two types of sactions?
positive - rewarded
negative - punished
what is boundary maintenance?
where criminal acts reminds people of the laws and rules
what is social cohesion?
where communities are drawn closer together.
what is egoism
putting ones selfish desires above others
what is conformity?
where one follows the rules of society
what is innovation?
where an individual accepts societys goals but rejects the format in order to achieve it. i.e turns to crimesociety’s
what is ritualism?
accepts the lifestyle but not the goals meaning they never progress or improve
what is rebellion?
they reject the goal and the means of acheiving it.
what is retreatism?
withdrawing from society and their goals so they turn to alcohol and drugs.
what is status frustration?
failure to accept the status given by society
what are focal conerns?
the shared values between the working class which leads to crime.
what are subterranean values?
Deviant values everyone shares but young people may struggle to repress.
what is the seduction of crime?
where individuals may commit crime in the persuit of the thrill.
what is techniques of neutralisation?
an act done by youth in order to justify their criminal actions.
what marxists/ neo- marxists speak about crime (generally)?
Box
Chambliss
what do marxists beleive about capitalism
that it is criminogenic as it encourages self-interest, materialism, inequality and poverty.
Box
They argue that the rules are written by the ruling class and only benefit their interests and what they class as a major crime i.e they would argue poverty crime is a major crime compared to environmental damage by buisnesses.
box criticisms
ignores the fact that not all all laws are amde by the ruling class and infact there are laws that beneift the working class in the workplace i.e minimum wage, work health and safety laws.benefit
Chambliss
The aim of the CJS is to control the actions of the proletariat and make them obedient to the ruling class. This is done through selective law creation and selective law enforcement.
Chambliss criticisms
feminists argue he ignores the idea of selective law enforcement through gender and ethnicity.
not every capitalist country has high crime rates such as Sweden.
marxism criticisms of crime:
over predicts w/c crime
ignores the fact that some whitecollar crime is prosecuted.
assumes that most w/c crime is in protest towards capitalism or as the result of it.
what is profit motive?
where buisnesses break laws in order to make the ebst profit i.e. primark with environmental laws.
what is selective law enforcement?
where the police pick and choose who to arrest or punish upon a multitude of factors.
what is selective law creation?
where the laws a created to benefit a specific group of people i.e ruling class.
what is the right realist perspective on crime?
There should be a zero tollerance to crime. There are 3 explanantions to crime:
biosocial - wilson and herrnstien
socialisation and the underclass
rational choice theory
what is the biosocial theory on crime?
By Wilson and Herrnstien. They highlight certain factors such as extroversion and high agression levels or low intelligence may lead to criminal activity.
socialisation and the underclass
by Charles Murray. If the nuclear family is reinforced, it will help prevent crime. And that crime is caused by the underclass, and that single parents cannot adequately socialise their children and rely on support from the state and can make boys turn to crime.
rational choice theory
by Cohen and Felson. Criminals make a cost-benefit analysis before committing a crime
why do right realists believe crime happens?
motivated offenders
suitable target
absence of a guardian i.e police officer. neighbourhood watch etc.
based upon rational choice
how do right realists believe they can prevent environmental crime?:
create a zero-tolerance approach
put in authoritative measures to prevent crime in controlled areas i.e. bus stations etc
make sure there is no resemblance to the broken windows theory
what is the broken windows theory?
a theory that places looking abandoned unkept, dirty, and broken, may encourage crime within that area.
criticisms of new right perspective on crime:
marxists argue there is an overemphasis on control and they ignore issues such as poverty.
They assume all offenders act upon rationale.
interactionsists argue that they ignore the idea of free will.
strengths on the new right perspective on crime:
encouraged New York to clean its subways
reduced homicide by 50%
the increased use of imprisonment has led to a deterrent in crime.
what is the left realist perspective on crime?
left wing politics
prefer to look at the deeper structural causes of crime
ieves that dealing with the risk factors may reduce crime in the future.bel
what left realist sociologists are there?
Lea and young
Young (same person from Lea and young he also speaks about something else).
Lea and young
There are 3 causes for crime:
Relative deprivation - individuals face inequality or are deprived in any form
marginalisation - those who feel excluded from society i.e. the unemployed or ethnic minorities etc.
subcultures - relative deprivation and marginalisation then work together to create subcultures so groups can then fell like they have some form of group or status within society which can often lead to criminal activity.
young
He argues there is also another cause for crime and this is late modernity and exclusion. capitalism has shifted and so has society from working together to social exclusion and further privatisation which has led to individualism and being deprived of the prize of climbing the capitalist ladder an thus people are turning to crime to combat all this as it’s all about self-preservation and self-worth.
criticisms of lea and young / young
feminists argue that they cannot explain crime against women.
Marxists argue they ignore the power of the ruling class.
it over-predicts crime from those who face relative deprivation
who are the interactionist sociologists
Becker
Cicourel
Lemert
Wilkins
becker
No act is criminal or deviant until it is labelled as such and narratives surrounding such are a social construct. The mass media and police can create and enforce laws and rules and create their own definitions (moral entrepreneurs). He then furthers this by speaking about how these agencies will then pick and choose what rules they want to enforce (selective law enforcement). With society labelling those as deviant it may turn into aspects such as self-fulfilling prophecy and master statuses.
becker weaknesses:
left realists argue that Becker ignores the victims and the impacts on them
it is too deterministic as he ignores the free will
Marxists argue that he ignores the structural inequalities in law making
Cicourel
arrests are based on stereotypes and typifications which they would then reinforce. They believed that juvenile delinquency was based on the common sense theory that they are likely to come from broken homes, poverty or poor parenting. In californa this method was used by policeman and found that the middle class youths were more likely to be released without charged or were councelled as they didnt meet the stereotypes of typifications.
cicourel weaknesses
how they negotiate justice can be questioned as sometimes individuals from wealthier backgrounds are treated worse
Lemert
How someone being labelled, may encourage someone to become more deviant/criminal. He identified 2 types of deviance: Primary and Secondary deviance. primary deviance is acts that are committed by many individuals that do not affect their status or concepts. Secondary deviance is acts that cause societal reactions such as labelling which can lead to exclusion and stigma. This can then lead to self-fulfilling prophecy and someone’s master status.
lemert criticisms
He assumes that those who are labelled as deviant will always develop a deviant career.
wilkins
he speaks about the deviant amplification spiral:
a few people commit a deviant act
media find out and report the story where a problem group is identified/created.
the media continue to sensationalise this to interest readers
the original Deviant is oversimplified Act for an easy explanation
that group is then labelled as folk devils
more deviance is identified as others become more aware of it.
moral panic develops
the agents of social control respond to this where they may change laws
the folk devils then respond to this all by committing more deviant acts.
wilkins weakness
the idea of moral panic is outdated as many individuals no longer agree with moral entrepreneurs.
what is labelling?
attaching a name to an individual or group
what is a social construct?
an idea created by society.
what is a master status?
a label that overrides all other titles i.e criminals only see themselves as criminals.
what is a deviant career?
where a criminal lives their life by committing crimes.
what is typification?
Stereotypes created by the FBI On certain criminal acts i.e. rapists and murders.
what is moral panic?
media over sensationalising a topic to where it becomes a fear within society.
what is a moral entrepeneur
someone with power and influence who controls what information the media puts out in society.
what is folk devil?
the group that the moral panic is placed upon i.e. mods and rockers
Statistics surrounding class and crime:
42% of prisoners were expelled from school.
15% of new sentenced prisoners, were homeless with 9% sleeping rough.
What is White Collar crime?
It is a criminal act that is financially motivated which commits a crime for personal reasons or buisness gains i.e. fraud, tax evasion.
What is Corporate crime?
Crimes committed by companies to improve profits such as health and safety laws, not paying minimum wage etc.
What is street crime?
These are crimes such as theft, assault, vandalism, and shoplifting.
What functionalists/ subculturalists look at class and crime?
merton
cohen
cloward and ohlin
miller
how does the labelling theory explain working class crime?
Statistics are socail constucts aswell as the idea that the w/c are Problem makers.
What are the 4 types of corporate crime?
Financial
crimes against consumers
crimes against employees
crimes against the environment
The invisibility of corporate/ white collar crime:
it is often invisible so it becomes a part of the dark figure of crime.
the media often underreports white-collar/ corporate crime.
lack of political agenda as politicians are against reporting crimes of the powerful (as they are usually friends/acquaintances)
why is white collar and corperate crime under reported?
victims often don’t even realise they are victims of the crime as it’s difficult to identify as well as the lack of law enforcement especially those who can specialise in the technical expertise for investigating these crimes.
which sociologists spoke about white collar crime?
sutherland
snider
tombs
pearce
Sutherland White collar crime:
He provides 2 explanations for white-collar crime: These are crimes done by the employees against their employer which may include things such as embezzlement or acts committed by executives on behalf of the company.
snider White Collar Crime:
The elites being in control of laws leads to selective law enforcement, so laws that go against the rich are not often enforced or created, such as white-collar crime, as it may affect their lifestyle or business. These acts of corporate crime actually do more damage than street crime but due to it not being investigated enough these damages cannot be seen how bad they are.
tombs white collar crime:
He looks at the impact of white-collar crime and that corporate crime and white-collar crime do more damage to society than petty crimes such as burglary. These have enormous costs on society such as physical, environmental, and economic. Corporate crime is widespread and routine and is not the act of a few individuals.
pearce white collar crime
they spoke about how there is selective law enforcement because they are crimes of the powerful and because of this, there is only a small number of prosecutions which reinforces the idea that corporate crime and white collar crime is minimal.
tombs and pearce white collar crime
They expand on Sutherlands definition of white collar crime by saying that it is
What is the hypodermic needle model?
Users of media are injected with messages
Note
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