Describe Sociological Theories of criminality (AC 2.3)

Question 1

What are the sociological theories of criminality?

Answer 1

Functionalist
Interactionist
Marxist
Left realism
Right realism

Question 2

Functionalist and subcultural theories

Answer 2

Focus on the structure of society and how it is organised, they see the structure of society as the underlining cause on crime

Question 3

Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Crime is inevitable

Answer 3

Crime is inevitable, in every society someone is likely to be inadequately socialised and likely to deviate. Society also contains many subcultures each with their own set of values- a shared set of rules becomes less defined. Durkheim called this Anomie

Question 4

Anomie

Answer 4

Normless- where shared norms become weakened

Question 5

Durkheim’s functionalist theory - Functions of crime

Answer 5

• Boundary maintenance
• Social change
• Safety valve
• Warning light

Question 6

Functions of Crime - Boundary maintenance

Answer 6

Crime produces a critical reaction in society, uniting people against the wrongdoer, reminding them the boundary between right and wrong

Question 7

Functions of Crime - Social change

Answer 7

For society to progress existing ideas and norms must be challenged and this will at first be seen as deviance

Question 8

Functions of Crime - Safety value

Answer 8

For example, Davis argues that prostitution helps men release sexual frustrations without threatening the family

Question 9

Functions of Crime - Warning light

Answer 9

High deviancy indicates that an institution isn’t working properly

Question 10

Merton’s strain theory

Answer 10

Society is sold the idea of the “American dream”( wealth ) and tells people to achieve this legitimately, through hard work and education. However, some may find their opportunities have been ‘blocked’ and experience strain, committing crime is their way of achieving success

Question 11

4 possible deviant ways of reacting to strain

Answer 11

• Innovation
• Ritualism
• Retreatism
• Rebellion

Question 12

Innovation

Answer 12

A way of reacting to strain by accepting the goal of wealth and committing utilitarian crimes (financial crimes) to achieve it

Question 13

Ritualism

Answer 13

A way of reacting to strain by giving up striving for success and accepting a dead end job

Question 14

Retreatism

Answer 14

A reaction to strain consisting of dropouts who reject both goal and means; vagrants, addicts etc…

Question 15

Rebellion

Answer 15

A reaction to strain whereby people reject the existing goals and replace them with new ones to try and change society

Question 16

Subcultural: Cohen - Status Frustration

Answer 16

Deviance results from working class boy’s inability to achieve goals via legitimate means, subcultures offer them an alternative way to gain status

Question 17

Subcultural theories of crime

Answer 17

Delinquent subcultures and ones whose norms and values are deviant, the key idea is that these subcultures allow members to gain status by illegitimate means

Question 18

Deviant subculture

Answer 18

A deviant subculture has an inverted hierarchy in which members gain status through delinquent actions that invert societies values e.g society values property, so they vandalise property

Question 19

Coward and Ohlin: three subcultures

Answer 19

Coward and Ohlin note that different neighbourhoods give rise to different types of subcultures
- Criminal subculture
- Conflict subculture
- Retreatist subculture

Question 20

Criminal subculture

Answer 20

Areas with a long standing criminal network, selecting youths as apprentices for their criminal organisations

Question 21

Conflict subculture

Answer 21

The only criminal opportunities are in gangs, providing a release for frustrations and social reward by winning over territory

Question 22

Retreatist subculture

Answer 22

Made of dropouts and illegitimate opportunity structures that are often based on illegal drugs

Question 23

Interactionism and labelling theory

Answer 23

Labelling theory states that no act is criminal or deviant itself until society labelling it as such or creates a list of rules to apply to others, therefore to understand criminality they focus on how actions/ people get labelled first

Question 24

Interactionism: differential enforcement of the law

Answer 24

Piliavin and Briar found police were using stereotypical ideas of a criminal to make arrests, social control agencies label certain groups resulting in the law being enforced differently

Question 25

Lemert: Labelling and Self-fulfilling prophecy

Answer 25

Lemert believed that by labelling people as criminal it encouraged them to become more criminal, through primary and secondary deviance

Question 26

Primary deviance

Answer 26

An act that hasn’t been publicly labelled, often something trivial and mostly goes uncaught with those committing the act not seeing it as criminal, e.g. Illegal downloading, etc

Question 27

Secondary deviance

Answer 27

Result of labelling, once found out, people will treat the offender solely in terms of their label- which is now a master status

Question 28

Master status

Answer 28

A status an individual is known by above all others, e.g. people will be seen as a criminal more than a father, son, brother or friend etc…

Question 29

The deviancy amplification spiral

Answer 29

When an attempt to control crime and deviance leads to increasing it in an escalating spiral rather than decreasing it

Question 30

What is an example of the concept Deviancy Amplification Spiral?

Answer 30

The mods and rockers (studied by Cohen) were seen as causing trouble and violence through media exaggeration growing the publics concern, people called for more arrests causing extra concern. This produced the negative label of Folk Devils, provoking reactions as they marginalised the two groups

Question 31

Folk Devils

Answer 31

A person or a groups viewed as being a threat to societies standards through exaggerated media and moral panic, e.g. the mods and rockers

Question 32

The Marxist Theory

Answer 32

Marxist believe that it is inequality between two social groups, the ruling class and the working, within a capitalist society that causes crime - Capitalism is Crimogenic

Question 33

4 Marxist arguments on how capitalism causes crime

Answer 33

1. Exploitation of the working class drives people into poverty, crime is the only way to survive
2. Capitalism pushes for people to buy consumer goods, resulting in utilitarian crimes
3. Inequality causes feelings of frustration and alienation, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes like vandalism
4. Capitalism making people do anything for success, encouraging the ruling class themselves to commit white collar crime

Question 34

What are the aims of laws according to Marxists?

Answer 34

Chambliss argues that the laws are made to protect the land of the rich, laws such as: squatting in empty homes, but no law against owning several homes. Very few laws challenging the unequal distribution of wealth

Question 35

Marxism: selective law enforcement

Answer 35

Marxists believe the law is used against the working class whilst the ruling doesn’t get punished harshly, making their crimes seem less serious and crime in general seem like a working class problem

Question 36

Examples of selective law enforcement

Answer 36

• Carson found only 3 out of 200 companies breaking safety laws were prosecuted
• Corporate crime is punished less severely (easily paid fines for the rich rather than jail time) even though they still cause harm

Question 37

Marxism: Ideological functions of crime and law

Answer 37

Marxists think the ideology of capitalism is to conceal the inequality of capitalist society so the working class continue to be oppresses while the ruling class preserve their wealth and power

Question 38

Examples of how selective law enforcement is serving ideological functions

Answer 38

• Crime is made to look like the working class’ fault, less blame on capitalism
• Attention is shifted away from white collar crimes
• Laws that do benefit the working class give capitalism a ‘caring face’, encouraging less revolt

Question 39

Right Realism

Answer 39

They see crime as a growing problem and are concerned with having practical solutions though control and punishment

Question 40

The three Right Realist ideas about the cause of crime

Answer 40

• Biological differences
• Inadequate socialisation
• Rational choice

Question 41

Right Realism: Biological differences

Answer 41

According to Wilson and Herrnstein biological differences make people more likely to commit crime, personality traits that link to criminality (low IQ, aggressiveness, etc) are innate

Question 42

Right Realism: Inadequate socialisation

Answer 42

By teaching someone self-control and the correct values it reduces their chances of offending, right realists see the nuclear family as the best agency to do so, if someone I inadequately socialised they are like to become criminal

Question 43

Right Realism: Rational choice

Answer 43

Choosing to commit a crime is based on a rational calculation of the consequences and the risk, using free will. If reward outweighs risk people are likely to offend

Question 44

Left Realism

Answer 44

They see inequality a capitalist society as a cause of crime, the main victims of which are disadvantaged groups such as the working class, minorities and women

Question 45

The three Left Realist ideas about the cause of crime

Answer 45

• Relative deprivation
• Subculture
• Marginalisation

Question 46

Left Realism: Relative deprivation

Answer 46

Relative deprivation is how deprived someone feels in relation to others, Lea and Young argue that both society becoming more unequal and the media urging people to but consumer goods is increasing causing people to turn to crime out of desperation

Question 47

Left Realism: Subculture

Answer 47

A subculture is a way for a group to solve relative deprivation, a criminal subculture shares societies materialistic goals but achieves them illegitimately

Question 48

Left Realism: Marginalisation

Answer 48

According to Lea and Young, marginalised groups lack organisations to represent them and their needs, interests and lack of goals. e.g Jobless youths don’t have a clear goal or an organisation to represent them, so they have a sense of resentment towards injustice and showcase this through violent crimes and riots

Question 49

Surveillance Theories

Answer 49

Surveillance involves monitoring people to control crime, today this can be carried out by technology such as: CCTV, tagging, databases

Question 50

What is a panopticon?

Answer 50

A prison design where all the cells are visible to the guards, from a central viewing point, but the prisoners can’t see the guards, not knowing if they are or are not being watched they would be forced to assume and behave as though they are, creating self-surveillance and self-discipline

Question 51

How does the panopticon apply to the rest of society?

Answer 51

Foucault argues that other institutions have followed the panopticon’s pattern and disciplinary power and self-surveillance are now apart of society, people know they’re possibly being watched, (CCTV) but aren’t sure where or when so behave as if they are just incase

Question 52

Synoptic Surveillance

Answer 52

Synoptic Surveillance is where everyone watches everyone
e.g. Dash cams allow road users to monitor each other