Indidualistic And Sociological Theories Continued Flashcards
(21 cards)
Describe eyesnecks personality theory
-He argues criminality is the result of a particular personality type.
-it is shaped by our activity and arousal of parts of our CNS.
-criminals score highly on extraverism,neurpctism,pyscotism-measured on a personality question are they require exitment to meet high arosal level.
Extravertism-under aroused CNS-attention seeking/risk takers.
-neutrostism- over arosed CNS-high levels of anxiety make it difficult to condition to society’s rules-don’t respond to punishments.overly anxious,obsessive.-voilence.
Psychotism-excessive dopamine-anti social,aggressive,uncaring.
Why are they difficlut to socialise and condition?-eyenseck
They don’t associate crime with being punishe.
-crime is exiting -REQUIRE EXITEMNT TO MEET HIGH AROSALLEVEL don’t consider feelings of others.
-Therfroe punishment and reinforcement is not effective at controlling their criminal behaviour.
Eyenseck-3 strengths
-evidence to support theory that criminality is caused
by high pen score-eysneck and gudjonsson -prison inmates had a high score on all 3.
-McGurk and McDougall-Used a personality questionnaire on 100 college delinquents and a control of non delinquents.Found a significant cluster of delinquents scored high on extroversion and neutralism and a sub group of delinquents scored high on all 3.The control group of non delqieunts had a significant percentage who scored low on extraversion and neurostim.
-Theory useful in describing how some measurable tendencies could increase risk of offending.
3 weaknesss of eyenseck.
-Farmington examined a range of studies-show how prisoners are neurotic and psychotic but not extraverted.challenges theory that to be a criminal u. Have to score highly on all 3 personality types.
-Theory relies heavily on self reporting may not be reliable and valid.
-evidence on prisoners shows a correlation between personality types and criminality-but doesn’t prove personality causes-could be other way round that being in prison could cause people to be neurotic.
Kolberg+congtive theories-moral development Part 1-Criminal personality theory (Yochelson and Samenows)
-Criminals moral development is stuck at a less mature level than everyone else.(pre conventional level)-leads to criminality.
-Criminals are likely to think in terms of whether their actions will solely lead to a reward or punishment rather than how it affects anymore else more likely to engage in crime.
-Crimials have thinking errors and cognitive biases.
-Thinking errors-Uniquenness,failure to understand others positions,,need for power and control,victim stance .Minismilation-attempt to downplay the seriousness of the offence.
-Hostibe attribution bias-Interpret other people beehaviours as threatening/agressive when it isn’t-Result in indifudals committing a violent action.
Outline right realism
Outline-The breakdown of the moral fabric within society causes crime.
-the basis of righ realism is a negative view of human nature-naturally selfish and greedy.The aspect of this human nature needs to be subject to social controls and sociologies into appropriate behaviour.
-Charles Murray argues a lack of social bonds causes crime.
-Deveoplmey of welfare results in the decline of traditional families so there are more single parent families children don’t receive adequate socialisation into norms and values-more likely to commit crime.
-Grwowing underclass-(included single parent families,unemployed,welfare dependant,fail to socialise their children) provide the oppurtunity to commit crime.
-Rational choice theory-assumes we are rational beings and have freeweill,criminals will engage in crime is the costs outweigh the benefits it is a deliberate and rational choice.
3 strengths of RR
-Flood page et al confined the link between single parent families and the increased liklhood of criminality.
-Feldman found people that made rational decisions-If the rewards were high and the costs were low,They said the crime was worth committing.
-Has shaped government research in understanding causes of crime and helping to shape preventive solutions to help reduce crime
-Explains some opportunistic petty crimes such as theft.
3 weaknesses of RR
-Ignores white collar crime and the cause of it.
-Fails to consider the growing divide in society between the rich and powerful.
-Does not take into account not all crimes are a result of rational decisions-violent crimes are often impulsive offenders under the influence of drugs may be unable to calculate the risks and rewards before offending.
-Fails to acknowledge the resentment buy circumstances of the increased void between the working and ruling class.
Functionislm-structural theory-Durkiem.-Outline
-Suggests crime performs different functions for society(positive and negative)
-Crime inevitable and is a reflection of changing norms and value in society-Too much crime causes social breakdown,too little crime causes society to stagnate.
Functioninlam Durkheim-Part 2-functions of crime(boundary maintenance and coal change)
-Boundary maintenance-crimes that go agaisnt social norms and values are condemned by large sections of society-
-people come together to punish offences to reinforce norms and values.
Social change-Some deviance was necessary to change views in society.As more people break the law +challenge society’s norms and values,society evolves and the new behaviours are no longer seen as deviant.
Functionalism durkiem-part 3(saftey valve and warning sign)
Saftey valve-To protect other instititions in society.-Davi’s argues prosition acts to release men’s sexual frustration without threatening the nuclear family
Warning sign-Crime also acts as a warning sign that social norms and values are declining.E.G high truancy rates could indicate problems with the education system.
Strengths of durkiem.
-First to Acknoledge crime serves beneficial functions for society as a whole and can be applied to reactions of crime.-E.G reinforcing boundaries between the right and wrong by uniting people agaisnt the wrongdoer.
- Provides as solution-Promotes value consensus to avoid the development of anomie.
Weaknesses of Durkheim
-Fails to explain how crime occurs in the first place as it largely focuses on the impacts of crime.
-Focuses on crime level in society as a whole rather than specific groups.
-Claims an amount of crime is needed for society to function but not specifically hw much.
Describ- left realism.
-Inequality in society is a significant factor in criminal behaviour.-Suggests social order will come from a more fairer and equal society.
-Inueqality-social exclusion-People feel they do not have stake in society.
-Explains crime in term of marginilaition,relative deprivation and subcultures.
-Relative deprivation-Feelig more deprived of those around you-includes material wealth.Feelings of deprivation result into solutions-crime.
-Marginislation-Process by which certain groups find themselves at the edge of society.-Econmic marginislation is transferred into crime.
Strengths of left realism
-Provides solutions to tackle causes of crime-such as developing community facilities and promoting greater social inclusion.
-It draws attention to the reality of street crime and its effects,especially on victims from deprived groups.
-Explains why working class and ethnic minorities are over represented in crime figures.
-Draws the importance of poverty,inequality and relative deprivation as the underlying structural causes of crime.
Weaknesses of left realism
-fails to explain crime such as white collar and corporate crime exist-ignores the harm done to to the poor by the crimes of the powerful.
-Its focus on high crime in the inner city gives an unrepresentative view and makes crime appear a greater problem than it really is.
—Determintsic-Assumes marginislation and deprivation will result in crime-many people who expereince these factors do not resort to crime.
Evaluate kolbergs cogntive theory-Strengths
-Succesful treatments such as CBT have been developed based on the idea criminals thought processes can be corrected with treatement.
-Studies show delinquents are more likely to have immature moral development .
-Thornton and Reid-Found the theory to be truer for crimes such as theft and robbery(which may involve reasoning rather than crimes of voilence(which may be impulsive)
Weaknesses of kolbergs contrive and theory
-Focuses on moral thinking rather than moral behaviour-Someone may be capable of thinking morally whilst acting immorally
Cogtive theories-Criminal personalit theory-Yochelson and samenow
Criminals are prone to faulty thinking patterns-More likely to commit crime
-Based long term study on 240 male offenders who had been sent to a pysicattic hospital.
-criminal have a range of thinking errors and biases in their thinking patterns
Weaknesses of labelling theory
-doesn’t explain the origins of the image of the typical deviant beyond micro level interactions
-focuses on the impacts of deviance at the expense of why deviant acts occur in the first place
Explain Broken windows theory-Link to Zero tolerance policy
Wilson and killing argued that unless incivilities are kept minimal then more serious crimes and wider anti social behaviour will follow.
-3 key factors that affect long term crime typical deviants,rational choice theory,iaqduate socialisation to norms and values
