Functionalism: Durkheim.
Positives of crime: Boundary maintenance. Reaffirms existing values. Functional rebels (Nelson Mandela). Stronger community cohesion (riots).
Negatives of crime:
Anomie (weak/unclear collective conscious).
Egoism (collective conscious too weak to restrain selfish desires).
Functionalism: Merton.
Western culture values competition, wealth and success.
In order to achieve these goals, there are five responses:
Conformity (limited success)
Innovation (uses crime)
Ritualism (regulated by their job)
Retreatism (goals rejected, turn to drugs/alcohol)
Rebellion (other goals are substituted).
Functionalism: AK Cohen.
Two functions of deviance:
Acts as a safety valve.
Shows that an aspect of society is dysfunctional.
Functionalism: Evaluation.
Difficult to accept a single consensus.
Overemphasises collective conscious.
Does not explain all crimes.
Does not.explain why some are more prone to deviance.
Subcultural: AK Cohen.
Lower class boys suffer status frustration. They lack the same means to achieve goals and feel inadequate. In response, they form antischool subcultures.
Subcultural: Cloward and Ohlin.
Delinquency drift - in and out of subcultures.
Class of subcultures:
Criminal: role models, follow a hierarchy.
Conflict: gangs, gain respect through violence.
Retreatist: double failures, turn to drugs and alcohol.
Subcultural: Evaluation.
Does not explain utilitarian crime or female delinquency.
Difficult to nearly categorise crimes.
Assumes the different classes share the same goals.
Marxism: Overview.
Criminal law benefits the ruling class.
Legitimised use of violence through laws/police/army.
Capitalism emphasised by the criminal justice system and media.
Tax evaders are warned, benefit fraud is prosecuted.
Low prosecution of white collar crimes.
Marxism: Snider.
Laws threatening corporations are rarely passed or not enforced. Corporate crimes are more harmful than street crimes but less prosecuted. Easier to prosecute individuals.
Marxism: Chambliss.
Criminogenic capitalism. Crime is expected in capitalist societies.
Inadequate welfare provision encourages crimes.
Dog-eat-dog mentality.
Marxism: Taylor, Walton and Young.
Should consider wider aspects of crime. Crime is a conscious and deliberate choice.
Marxism: Evaluation.
Ignores non-class inequalities.
Overpredicts working class crime.
Japan and Switzerland are capitalist societies with low crime rates.
Corporations are prosecuted (Wolf of Wall Street).
Interactionist: Lemert.
Primary deviance - rule breaking.
Secondary deviance - consequence of the response of others.
Interactionist: Cohen.
Disintegrative shaming - removed from society.
Reintegrative shaming - emphasis on act over individual.
Demonisation of whole groups through the media leads to moral panics and formation of subcultures.
Interactionist: Cicourel.
Typification of a criminal: poor, single parent, working class, ethnic minority. Middle class parents can negotiate children out of trouble.
Interactionist: Evaluation.
Blames police/doctors as agents of inequality rather than the source (ruling class).
Right Realist: Overview.
Crime is caused by:
Biological predisposition.
Socialisation.
Rational choice.
Right Realist: Murray.
Working class lack male role models leading to a culture of dependency. Tougher sentencing needs punishment to outweigh the rewards.
Right Realist: Wilson.
Damaged architecture, leads working class to believe authority does not care.
Right Realist: Wilson and Kelling.
Broken windows theory: monitoring and maintenance. Zero tolerance policing.
Ignores areas which have lost social order.
Right Realist: Evaluation.
Development of ‘stop, question and frisk’. Zero tolerance policing reduced crime. Focuses on minor offences. Ignores causes. Increased prison population.
Left Realist: Lea and Young.
Inequality causes crime. Marketisation increases relative deprivation. High modernity leads to high cultural inclusion but social and economic exclusion.
Left Realist: Kinsey, Lea and Young.
Consensus policing - democratically elected police force.
Full investigations to increase crime detection.
Left Realist: Evaluation.
Development of tougher sentencing.
Hughes: if relative deprivation was the cause, there would be more crime.
Ethnicity: Bowling and Phillips.
Victimisation risk - 7.2% non white, 5% white.
Ethnic minorities live in higher victimisation areas.
More likely to be young, unemployed and spend their leisure time in public areas.
Black/Asian more likely to be stopped and searched.
More likely to remain silent, seek support and deny the offence.
Ethnicity: Hall.
Young black men were the scapegoats of the 1970s moral panic due to stereotyping.
Ethnicity: Gilroy.
Myth of black criminality - overrecorded due to police stereotypes and racist labelling. Black crimes are political.
Ethnicity: Evaluation.
Most black crimes are interracial and therefore cannot be political.
Social Class: Overview.
Most criminals are from a working class background. Of 2000 prisoners between 2006-2007, 42% had no qualifications. Middle class crimes are underrepresented.
Social Class: Reiner.
Crimes of the poor are more visible.
Social Class: Marx.
Lumpenproletariat - working class not in work, income is from begging, prostitution or utilitarian crime.
Social Class: Miller.
Working class - toughness, smartness, excellence. Leads to deviance.
Gender: Overview.
Males commit more violent crimes, women are more likely to shoplift.
Gender: Pollack.
Women are more skilled in deception because of menstruation. Chivalry thesis: women are treated more leniently because society is socialised into being protective. Women are more likely to be warned or let off prison.
Gender: Walklate.
Criminal justice system is tougher on women: rapists are not found guilty, domestic violence is not taken seriously. Caused embarrassment in court.
Gender: Heidensohn.
Double deviant - broken laws and social norms. Tougher sentences. Fewer opportunities to commit crimes.
Gender: Carlen.
Crimes of the powerless. Childless women more likely to be punished than women with children.
Globalisation: Overview.
Illicit drugs, weapons, human trafficking, corruption, violent/war crimes.
Globalisation: Held.
Globalisation leads to interconnectedness which leads to more cybercrime.
Globalisation: Castells.
Supply (3rd) and demand (Western) harms culture, politics and economy. Leads to preference of criminal careers.
Globalisation: Taylor.
State spending on welfare has declined.
Globalisation: Hobbs and Dunningham.
Loose-knit network, ‘glocal’ system. Working together instead of in permanent gangs.
Media: Overview.
Immediacy, dramatisation, personalisation, higher status, simplification, novelty, risk, violence.
Media is an ideological state apparatus.
Media: Cohen.
The media creates moral panics by exaggeration, distortion, prediction and symbolisation.
Media: Thornton.
The line between deviance and normality is blurred.
Media: McRobbie and Thornton.
Moral panics have less impact, used to shock.
Media: Jewkes.
New and old ways of committing crimes.
Media: Wall.
Cybertrespass, cyberdeception, cyberpornography, cyberviolence.
Green Crime: South.
Primary environmental crimes are legal or not enforced but cause damage. Zemiology - crimes should be dealt with in terms of the harm caused.
Nature is exploited for corporate profit.
Green Crime: Beck.
Risk society - lack of resource, overcome by science/technology.
Green Crime: Sutton.
Richer people can afford to live in least affected areas.
Green Crime: White.
Damage to environment = damage to humans.
Green Crime: Evaluation.
Raises awareness.
Crimes are subjective.
Human Rights: McLaughlin.
Political, police, economic, social, cultural crimes.
Human Rights: H and J Schwendinger.
Duty of sociology to support human rights and expose abuses.
Human Rights: Cohen.
Claims event did not happen, redefining event, abuses prevent greater harm.
Human Rights: Evaluation.
Unable to enforce universal human rights.
Crime Control: Felson.
Preventing situational crime - likely offender and a likely target with no guardian to discourage.
Crime is opportunistic.
Target hardening.
Designing out crime - Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Crime Control: Durkheim.
Mechanical solidarity and collective conscious. Prefers restorative justice.
Crime Control: Rusche and Kirchheimer.
Early middle ages - religious penance and fines.
Later middle ages - harsh punishments.
17th Century - prisoners as a subservient workforce.
Crime Control: Goffman.
Mortification of self - inmates degraded/humiliated. Prisoners made more criminal. Increased prison population, crime rate decreased.
Crime Control: Foucalt.
Surveillance manages behaviour.
Crime Control: Evaluation.
Ignores underlying causes and other types of crime.
Victimisation: Christie.
Victims are stereotyped as weak.
Victimisation: Miers.
Most likely victims are young men, alcoholics, minority ethnic groups, working class.
Victim precipitation causes victim blaming.
Victimisation: Mawby and Walklate.
Victims have rights which need honouring.
Victimisation: Tombs and Whytes.
Victims of corporate crimes, extent is observed.
Criminal Justice System: Foucalt.
Sovereign power is over disciplinary power.
Panoptic prisons, jailors can view from one place, self monitoring.
Criminal Justice System: Garland.
Penal welfarism - rehabilitation and reintegration. Adaptive response - intervene early, expressive strategy.
Crime is central to politics. Sovereign state strategy - control through sanctions.
Criminal Justice System: Cohen.
Use of other professions, wider use of state power.
Sociologists: Functionalism.
Durkheim, Merton, AK Cohen.
Sociologists: Subcultural.
AK Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin.
Sociologists: Marxism.
Snider, Chambliss, Taylor, Walton and Young.
Sociologists: Interactionist.
Lemert, Cohen, Cicourel.
Sociologists: Right Realist.
Murray, Wilson, Wilson and Kelling.
Sociologists: Left Realist.
Lea and Young, Kinsey, Lea and Young.
Sociologists: Ethnicity.
Bowling and Phillips, Hall, GIlroy.
Sociologists: Social Class.
Reiner, Marx, Miller.
Sociologists: Gender.
Pollack, Walklate, Heidensohn, Carlen.
Sociologists: Globalisation.
Held, Castells, Taylor, Hobbs and Dunningham.
Sociologists: Media.
Cohen, Thornton, McRobbie and Thornton, Jewkes, Wall.
Sociologists: Green Crime.
South, Beck, Sutton, White.
Sociologists: Human Rights.
McLaughlin, H and J Schwendinger, Cohen.
Sociologists: Crime Control.
Felson, Durkheim, Rusche and Kirchheimer, Goffman, Foucalt.
Sociologists: Victimisation.
Christie, Miers, Mawby and Walklate, Tombs and Whytes.
Sociologists: Criminal Justice System.
Foucalt, Garland, Cohen.
