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Crime - sociological theories - Flashcards

1
Q

What is the functionalist view on crime? 2

A

Believe that crime is inevitable for 2 reasons:

  • Not everyone is equally socialised
  • Diversity of lifestyles and values (no shared norms and values)
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2
Q

What are Durkheim’s 4 functions of crime?

A

Functionalist
Neither high or low level if crime is desirable
Rise in crime means an institution is failing
- Boundary maintenance (reinforces commitment to shared norms and values through punishments)
- Adaptation and change (all change starts with act of deviance)
- Social cohesion (social solidarity)
- Safety valve (provides stress relief)
None of this would work without media

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3
Q

Evaluation of Durkheim?

A
  • Ignores the way power is a significant variable in relation to the way laws are created and maintained.
  • Does not explain why certain people are more likely to commit crimes.
  • Accepts and rationalises social inequalities e.g slavery, genocide.
  • Erikson (Wayward Puritans 1966)
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4
Q

What did Travis Hirschi say about crime?

A

Functionalist
Asked WHY don’t people commit crime? Criminal activity occurs when individuals attachment to society is weakened.
4 reasons why people don’t commit crime:
- Attachment (the extent to which we care about others opinions)
- Commitment (Personal investments that each of us make)
- Involvement (Persons level of activity)
- Belief (Persons conviction they should obey the rules of society)

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5
Q

Evaluation of Hirschi?

A
  • Does not explain all crime (e.g Involvement may not explain white collar crime)
  • Over simplistic solution to problems generated by delinquency (He suggested to provide youth with ping pong tables or public pools and crime will lower)
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6
Q

What is Mertons subcultural strain theory?

A

Functionalist
There is strain between the goals and society and the accepted means of achieving them.
5 different responses to strain:
- Conformity (accepts goals and means of achieving them)
- Ritualism (accepts means but scales down goals)
- Innovation (accepts goals but rejects means, most criminal group)
- Retreatism (rejects goals and means, withdraws from society)
- Rebellion (rejects goals and means but replaces with their own e.g terrorists)

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7
Q

What does is Cohen’s status frustration theory?

A 
Functionalist
In schools, lower class children invert m/c values. This way they succeed but in opposite ways.
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8
Q

What is Cloward and Ohlin’s ‘illegitimate opportunity structure’?

A

Functionalist

hierarchy within crimes (illegitimate e.g gangs, Mafia) and people can work their way up subcultures.

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9
Q

What are Millers focal concerns of w/c? 6

A

Functionalist

  • Excitement
  • Smartness
  • Trouble
  • Fatalism
  • Toughness
  • Autonomy
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10
Q

What did Stan Cohen study?

A

Interactionalist
Mods and Rockers - Folk Devils (shown as worse than it was through media)
Moral Panics

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11
Q

What did Jock Young study?

A

Interactionalist
Social reaction to drugs
Using drugs was part of hippies lifestyle (primary deviance)
Arrests lead to them feeling withdrawn and drug use became centralised activity (deviance amplification spiral)
Therefore what was thought about them became true (self - fulfilling prophecy)

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12
Q

Evaluation of Merton?

A
  • Takes official statistics at face value (appears w/c crime is higher when they don’t include white collar crime).
  • Ignores power structures
  • Not all w/c groups resort to crime (doesn’t explain how some feel strain and others don’t)
  • Assumes value consensus on goals and means
  • Only accounts for money crimes
  • Ignores group crimes.
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13
Q

Evaluation of Cohen?

A
  • Assumes all start with m/c values

- Assumes they know how to recognise and invert values.

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14
Q

What is Howard Beckers theory of crime?

A

Interactionalist
Labelling theory
Interested in how and why acts become deviant.
“A deviant is someone to which a label has been successfully applied”.
Says a ‘moral entrepreneurs’ lead a ‘moral crusade’ to change the law.
New law has 2 effects:
- Creation of a new group of ‘outsiders’
- Expansion of social control agencies.

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15
Q

What did Cicourel say about crime?

A

Interactionalist
Typifications (police have certain stereotype on who commits crime e.g ethnic minorities)
Police will target these typifications so they will get more arrests (self fulfilling prophecy)
Justice is negotiable, not fixed (m/c can negotiate way out of arrest) leads to social construction of crime statistics.

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16
Q

What is the dark figure of crime?

A

Interactionalist
Links to Circourel
Statistics do not give valid picture of crime as lots go unreported or unrecorded (as much as 40% of crime goes unreported)

17
Q

What is Edwin Lemert’s theory of crime?

A

Interactionalist
Primary (actual act) and secondary (social reaction) deviance
When a deviant is labelled, others only see label so this becomes their MASTER STATUS (outsider)
This provokes crisis in individuals self concept resulting in self fulfilling prophecy.
This can lead to DEVIANT CAREER.

18
Q

What is John Braithwaite’s types of shaming?

A

Interactionalist
Positive way of labelling
- Disintegrative shaming (both crime and person labelled bad)
- Reintegrative shaming (only crime is labelled as bad, not person)

19
Q

Evaluation of Internationalism?

A
  • Too deterministic
  • Ignores real victims of crime (sides with deviant)
  • Suggests that offenders are passive victims of labelling
  • Fails to explain why people commit crime in the first place
  • Some crime doesn’t need a label to know it is deviant (Harold Shipman)
  • Ignores white collar crime (as no label so not deviant?)
  • Untestable theory
  • Moral Panics outdated
20
Q

What do Marxist believe about crime? 2

A

Capitalism is criminogenic

Commodity fetishism

21
Q

What does William Chambliss say about crime?

A

Marxist
Studied crime in Seattle in 1960’s and found most organised crime was by small elite groups.
However police were focussing on visible minor public offences (SELECTIVE POLICING)

22
Q

What is David Gordon’s view on crime?

A

Marxist
Law and order fulfils functions for capitalism.
Argues if crime is associated with w/c then bourgeoisie can control it with strong police force so prison becomes justified.
Also distracts attention from misdeeds of ruling class.

23
Q

What was Lauren Snider say about crime?

A

Marxist
Argues that w/c crimes like burglary, doesn’t cause as much harm in society as corporate crimes like breaking health and safety laws.

24
Q

What does Steven Box say about crime?

A

Marxist
Crime and order is capitalist societies is applied in selective way (targets ethnic minorities, poor, young , uneducated males).
Argues process of MYSTIFICATION - by targeting certain groups, we are distracted of crimes of ruling class.
Laws protect bourgeoisie.

25
Q

What are Boxes 5 elements which weaken a persons commitment to capitalist society?

A

Marxist
Secrecy (more likely to commit crime if it won’t be noticed)
Skills (serious crimes need skills and knowledge)
Supply (need good equipment and support)
Symbolic support (needs justification)
Social support (needs to be around others who support)

26
Q

Evaluation of Marxist theories of crime?

A
  • Victims of crime are ignored (Snider)
  • Fact that w/c crime usually targets other w/c people is ignored.
  • Too simplistic
  • Not all laws are in interest of ruling classes only (traffic laws, cigarette package laws)
  • New media has shifted power.
27
Q

What is white collar crime?

A

A crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation (Sutherland)

28
Q

What are the 5 types of corporate crime?

A

Financial crimes (tax evasion, bribery)
Crimes against consumers (unfit good, false labelling)
Crimes against employees (discrimination, wage laws)
Crimes against environment (pollution)
State - corporate crimes (harms committed when government and businesses cooperate to pursue goals)

29
Q

What are the invisibilities of corporate crime? 5

A

The media (limited coverage and severity played down)
Lack of political will (home office does not do surveys on white collar crime)
Crimes are complex (hard to understand so less reported)
De - labelling (seen as civil not criminal)
Under reporting

Sociology (21 decks)

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