Unit 2 topic 4 evaluation the effectiveness of individualistic theories to explain crime

Question 1

a strength of individualistic theories?

Answer 1

Focuses primarily on individuals than categorising people in groups
Allows us to compare the way we act with others
Helps understand the social construction of crime

Question 2

a weakness within individualistic theories

Answer 2

can be reductionist

i.e ignore factors such as biology and sociology

Question 3

A strength of individualistic theories in its relation to the real world?

Answer 3

can be used to create real world behavioural techniques

i.e operant conditioning introduced positive reinforcement which created token economy

Question 4

a weakness of individualistic theories in terms of the crime it can explain?

Answer 4

individualistic theories can only explain why offenders commit specific types of crimes
i.e differential association can only explain why people commit crimes they witness not the ones they don’t