6 - SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES - structural and cultural foundations

What is Strain Theory?

It is based on the idea that individuals typically comply with social norms, and any deviation occurs because they are experiencing some form of strain or external pressure.

What is control theory?

It is assumed that infraction is actually

normal and naturally occurs when there is an absence of social control.

What is neutralisation theory?

• argues that although most people accept society’s norms and values, some individuals learn techniques that allow them to justify their wrongdoing

• which weakens the norms’ influence on their behaviour.

• the theory focuses on how a person’s family environment and role-learning shape these justifications.

Who is Emile Durkeheim?

• Along with Marx and Weber he is regarded as one of the three father figures of modern sociology.

• First professor of sociology anywhere in the world.

What three things in Criminology is Durkheim famous for?

1. the notion that crime is normal;

2. the legacy of anomie theory;

3. the argument that in conditions of advanced division of labour the basis of moral obligation and social solidarity will become increasingly problematic.

Why did Durkheim describe crime as “normal”?.

• Because crime exists in all societies and serves the functional purpose of marking boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

• It reinforces collective values and promotes social cohesion. 

What is Durkheim’s concept of anomie?

• A state of normlessness or breakdown of social regulation, occurring when societal norms fail to regulate individuals’ desires.

• It can arise from under-regulation (too much freedom) or over-regulation (too much constraint).

What is the fundamental difference between physical and social needs according to Durkheim?

Physical needs have natural limits and can be fulfilled naturally, while social needs (like wealth, power, and prestige) have no natural limits and are regulated externally by society.

What did the Anomie theory lead to? 

• Robert Merton’s 1938 essay, usually referred to as the most famous essay in the history of sociology. 

• work on subcultural theory, gang studies and theories that highlighted a different set of lower-class values to the mainstream middle class.

What happens when social needs are not regulated according to Durkheim? 

Freed from regulation, social desires become limitless, causing meaninglessness and anomie.

Can over-regulation also cause anomie?

Yes, excessive social regulation can also lead to anomie.

What balance does Durkheim emphasise in social life?

Social life requires a balance between under-regulation and over-regulation, integration and isolation, and socially provided identity and individuality.

What dual nature does anomie have for Durkheim?

Under-regulation: desires become limitless → instability.

Over-regulation: excessive constraint → frustration and meaninglessness.

How does Durkheim link the division of labour to social solidarity?

Advanced division of labour weakens traditional solidarity and makes the foundation of moral obligation more problematic.

How does Walter Miller describe lower-class culture?

As a distinct, centuries-old tradition with its own structure.

Which writers are associated with sub-cultural theory in criminology?

Albert Cohen, Cloward & Ohlin, and Walter Miller.

How does Walter Miller describe lower-class culture?

As a distinct, centuries-old tradition with its own structure.

What are Miller’s six “focal concerns” of lower-class culture?

1. Trouble – preoccupation with fighting, drinking, sexual conquests
2. Toughness – macho image, fearlessness, physical skill
3. Smartness – ability to outsmart others
4. Excitement – seeking thrills due to fluctuating work cycles
5. Fate – fatalistic outlook, accepting violence/prison
6. Autonomy – ambivalent desire for independence

What does socialisation theory focus on in relation to delinquency?

Whether faulty upbringing or inadequate supervision contributes to delinquency.

How do broken homes relate to delinquency?

Forced separation from a parent or one-parent families may influence delinquency, depending on social context.

According to Gottfredson & Hirschi, what family factors influence a child’s self-control?

Parental attachment, supervision, recognition of deviance, punishment of deviance, and parental involvement in crime.

Why is the development of self-control important in socialisation theory?

It has a lasting effect on the likelihood of delinquency.

What other factors, besides family, affect a young person’s risk of delinquency?

Social, economic, and personal capital.

What is Matza’s critique of determinist criminology?

It predicts too much delinquency and assumes offenders are committed to deviant values; instead, most delinquency is intermittent, petty, and often temporary.

How did Matza propose criminology should approach crime?

By starting with the notion of crime as an infraction and considering its empirical features, rather than assuming permanent or pervasive deviance.

What is the difference between ‘correction’ and ‘appreciation’ in Matza’s work?

Correction aims to eliminate deviance; appreciation seeks to understand deviance from the subject’s perspective.

What does an appreciative perspective demand from the analyst?

To render the phenomenon faithfully, understand the subject’s view, and interpret the world as it appears to them without necessarily agreeing.

What did Matza mean by replacing “hard determinism” with “soft determinism”?

• He argued that individuals are not compelled to commit crime

• instead they drift between conformity and deviance based on loose, situational factors.

According to Matza what is an “infraction”

• An act going against the moral code someone has been socialised into

• Typically transient, intermittent and lacking deep commitment.

Why did Matza argue that criminological theories over-predict delinquency?

Because most youths who share “delinquent” conditions do not become persistent criminals.

What key problems were Sykes & Matza trying to explain?

Why individuals who accept conventional moral values still commit rule-breaking behaviour.

What are the five techniques of neutralisation?

(1) Denial of responsibility,

(2) Denial of injury,

(3) Denial of the victim,

(4) Appeal to higher loyalties,

(5) Condemnation of the condemners.

What is ‘denial of responsibility’?

The offender claims their actions were due to external forces (e.g. upbringing, peer pressure) and not their free choice.

Give an example of ‘denial of injury’

Calling vandalism “just mischief” or claiming theft is merely “borrowing.”

What is ‘appeal to higher loyalties’?

Offenders justify behaviour as necessary to support a smaller in-group (e.g. gang, family, army unit).

What is ‘condemnation of the condemners’?

Offenders shift blame onto those judging them, calling them hypocrites or corrupt.

What is the core idea of drift theory?

Delinquents are not fully committed to deviance; they drift between conformity and deviance depending on weakened social controls.

According to Matza, who are “drifters”?

Those whose social controls are loosened but who lack the position or inclination to be agents on their own behalf.

What two processes enable drift to occur?

1. Preparation (learning an infraction is possible & manageable) and

2. desperation (a fatalistic feeling prompting rule-breaking to reassert individuality).

Merton – Social Structure and Anomie

How did Merton reinterpret Durkheim’s concept of anomie?

Durkheim focused on lack of regulation of goals; Merton focused on the mismatch between cultural goals and access to legitimate means.

What cultural value does Merton claim is dominant in American society?

The pursuit of material/economic success.

What causes strain, according to Merton?

When society emphasises success goals but social structure blocks access to legitimate means for achieving them.

What are Merton’s five modes of individual adaptation?

1. Conformity

2. Innovation

3. Ritualism

4. Retreatism

5. Rebellion.

What does “innovation” mean in Merton’s typology?

Acceptance of cultural goals but rejection of legitimate means (e.g. resorting to crime).

How does rebellion differ from other adaptations?

It involves rejecting and replacing both cultural goals and legitimate means with new ones.

Labelling Theory (Becker, Lemert, Tannenbaum)

What is the central claim of labelling theory?

• Deviance is not inherent in an act; it results from society applying rules and labels to certain individuals.

• Those in power create rules and define what constitutes deviance and who gets labelled as. an outsider or a criminal

• Labelling shapes public identity and self-concept.

What does Interactionism focus on?

• Argues crime is created through social interaction, not inherent behaviour

• Everyday social interactions between individuals and the meanings, labels.

• (labelling theory is an interactionist theory)

Why did labelling theory develop?

• In the 1960s as a critique of positivist, causal explanations of crime.

• Originiated in symbolic interactionism (Blumer Chicago school)

How does labelling theory shift focus?

• Shifts focus from causes of behaviour to social reactions and definitions

• Meaning of an act depends on social reaction rather than intrinsic qualities.

Who developed labelling theory?

• Becker in Outsiders (1963)

• New rules reflect moral, political or social interests of powerful groups

• Enforcement is selective

• Labelled people are treated as outsiders shaping identity.

What is the result of being labelled according to labelling theory?

• A deviant label can become a master status dominating other identities

• Stigma restricts legitimate opportunities reinforcing deviant pathways

• Labelling may push individuals toward subcultures where deviance is normalised.

• Shows the interaction between self-concept and external reactions.

Lemert Primary & Secondary Deviance?

1. Primary deviance is initial rule-breaking;

2. Secondary deviance arises from societal reactions and internalisation of the deviant label.

Stigma and exclusion accelerate movement into deviant careers.

How can labelling lead to deviant careers?

• Opportunity loss pushes individuals toward deviant groups

• Subcultural involvement reinforces identiy and behaviour

• Highlights cumulative effects of stigma.

Labelling theory Cicourel?

Analysed policing and juvenile justice decisions

Justice is not fixed but negotiated through interpretation

Class and background influence who is viewed as deviant.

What does Blumer say are the three basic premises of symbolic interactionism?

1) People act based on meanings,
(2) Meanings arise from interaction,
(3) Meanings are modified through interpretation.

Critique of labelling theory?

• It explains secondary deviance but not the causes of the initial deviant act.

• May understate structural factors like class and inequality.

What is moral panic?

Who developed it?

1. Cohen (1972)

2. A situation where a group or condition is defined as a societal threat and exaggerated through media and public reaction.

What are Folk Devils?

groups targeted during moral panics

• shows how labelling escalates deviance and shapes policy responses.

What are Goode & Ben-Yehuda’s five features of moral panics?

1. Concern

2. Hostility

3. Consensus

4. Disproportionality

5. Volatility.

What institutional processes typically accompany moral panics?

Moral denunciations, official inquiries, rapid legislation, and misallocation of resources.

What is “disproportionality” in a moral panic?

When societal reactions exceed the actual level of threat.

Critical Criminology & Radical Approaches

What shift did critical criminology bring in the 1960s–70s?

• From consensus views towards conflict perspectives emphasising power, inequality, and political processes in defining crime.

How do radical criminologists view the criminal law?

As an instrument of social control benefiting dominant groups.

What did Taylor, Walton & Young argue in The New Criminology?

That crime and deviance must be understood through a fully social theory integrating structure, meaning, and power relations.

What is “left idealism”?

What is the main criticism of left idealism?

• The claim that capitalism inherently creates crime and that socialism would eliminate the conditions producing deviance.

Crime is largely intra-class, not inter-class; the theory becomes unfalsifiable.

Left Realism & The Exclusive Society (Jock Young)

What social changes does Young argue characterised late modernity? (social economic and cultural period from the late 20th century to the present)

1. Rising insecurity

2. Precarious employment

3. Inequality

4. Weakening of informal social control

5. Fragmentation of communities.

Why is contemporary capitalism seen as criminogenic (causing or likely to cause criminal behaviour) in left realism?

It promotes individualistic market values but excludes many from legitimate success, increasing strain and weakening community control.

What does Young propose as a response to the exclusive society?

Rebuilding social solidarity, fostering inclusive communities, and addressing structural inequalities pragmatically.