Sex Role Theory

Talcott Parsons:

• Parsons applied his ideas of gendered roles in the family to criminal and deviant behaviours

• The instrumental role was taken on by the male in the family - providing discipline and finances

• The expressive role was taken on by a female - caring and nurturing the family

Socialisation:

• A further function of these roles was to socialise children into their future gender roles

• Socialisation is more complete for girls as they have more access to female role models

• With fathers working (or absent) this results in less adequate socialisation for boys

• Boys are also socialised into more aggressive pursuits and are given greater independence over time and space

• Girls are centred on home and socialised into traits that are less likely to lead to
  criminality

• Boys will look for male reinforcement by joining subcultures or gangs

• Socialised into behaviours linked to criminality

Influence of Sex Role Theory:

• Ideas of gender socialisation put forward by Parsons form the basis of many other approaches

• Cohen studied boys of lone-parent families in his studies of subcultures

• Ideas adopted by New Right theorists such as Murray and in the study of black criminality by Sewell

Evaluations:

• Based on outdated notions of gender socialisation - doesn't take into account changes in contemporary society

• Rising female criminality as socialisation into gender roles has changed

• Feminists suggest that lower female criminality results from excessive controls on women, including the process of socialisation