Sociological Theories

Question 1

What is Durkheim’s functionalist theory?

social structure

Answer 1

Crime is inevitable and has positive functions

Durkheim believed society is a stable structure held together by shared norms and values, which most people conform to. However, some individuals are inadequately socialised and are more likely to deviate—crime is inevitable.

Question 2

What did Durkheim claim the functions of crime were?

Answer 2

Boundary maintenance – Unites society against wrongdoers.
Social change – Challenges outdated laws, norms, and values.
Safety valve – Provides a release to prevent more serious criminal behaviour.
Warning light – Indicates issues in institutions that need attention or reform.

Question 3

What are the strengths of durkheims functionalist theory?

Answer 3

✔️first to recognise that crime has positive functions

Question 4

What are the weaknesses of durkheims functionalist theory?

Answer 4

✖️claims society needs a certain amount of deviance but there is no way of knowing how much

✖️crime is not functional for the victims

Question 5

What is Merton’s strain theory?

social structure

Answer 5

believes the root cause of crime is the unequal structure of society

society values more success but not everyone has equal opportunities to achieve through legitimate means

Question 6

How do people responds to strain between goals and lack of legitimate means to achieve them?

Answer 6

conformity - accepts goals and legal means
innovation - accepts goals and uses crime to get them
ritualism - give up goals and follow rules anyway
retreatism - reject goals and means
rebelion - aim to change society’s goals and means

Question 7

What are the strengths of merton’s strain theory?

Answer 7

• explains why working class crime rates are higher

Question 8

What are the weaknesses of merton’s strain theory?

Answer 8

• ignores crime of the wealthy and overestimates the amount of working class crime

Question 9

What is the interactionalism theory?

Answer 9

labelling theory

Question 10

What are the social structure theories?

Answer 10

Marxism, strain, functionalism

Question 11

What are the realism theories?

Answer 11

left and right realism

Question 12

What is Marxism theory?

social structure

Answer 12

The Marxist theory believed that crime is linked to the structure of capitalist society which creates inequality that leads to crime and laws are made to protect the powerful and punish the poor

Question 13

What are the classes in Marxism theory?

Answer 13

The bourgeoisie (capitalist class) - owned the means of production, profit from the labour of the poor

The proletariat (working class) - sell their labour to the bourgeoisie in exchange for wages

Question 14

What did Marxism say the causes of crime were?

Answer 14

• capitalism
• biased law making and enforcement

Question 15

How did capitalism cause crime according to Marxism?

Answer 15

in capitalist society the gap between the rich and the poor creates an inequality that pushes the lower class to commit crimes in order to survive our out of frustration

Question 16

How did law making contribute to crime according to Marxism?

Answer 16

The law are made by those in power and are made to protect the wealthy and powerful, the law punishes the working class more severely and ignores crime committed by the rich

Question 17

What function do crime and law have according to Marxism?

Answer 17

crime and law serve to maintain the power of the rich by criminalising behaviours that challenge the system to control the poor

Question 18

What are the strengths of Marxism?

Answer 18

• shows how poverty and inequality can cause working class crime
• shows how the law is biased against working class and favours the powerful

Question 19

What are the weaknesses of Marxism?

Answer 19

• Focuses on class and ignores relationship between crime and other inequalities (e.g. gender and ethnicity)
• Over-predicts amount of working-class crime - not all poor people turn to crime
• Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates, eg Japans homicide rate is only ⅕ of that in the USA

Question 20

What is labelling theory?

interactionalism

Answer 20

Becker argues that crime is a social construct and no act is criminal or deviant until it is labelled as such.

Crime is caused when individuals are labelled as criminal.
They internalise this label, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy where they commit more crime. When the label influences all areas of their life, it becomes their master status.

Question 21

Who created labelling theory?

Answer 21

Becker

Question 22

What are the types of deviance according to Lamet?

Answer 22

primary deviance - acts that have not been labelled as deviant

secondary deviance - further deviance that result from people being labelled as criminal

Question 23

What does interactionalists say about law enforcement?

Answer 23

interactionalist argue that police label certain groups as criminal that results in differential enforcement

Piliavin and briar found that police decisions for arrests were based on stereotypes

interactionalist therefore disregard crime statistics as they say they are a measure of why police do rather than what criminals do

Question 24

What are the strengths of labelling theory?

Answer 24

• explains how police create crime through stereotypes which helps us to understand why certain groups are overrepresented in crime statistics

Question 25

What are the weaknesses of labelling theory?

Answer 25

- it is too deterministic, says once someone is labelled a criminal career is inevitable but not everyone accepts their labels - It fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place before they are labelled

Question 26

What is right realism? *realism theory*

Answer 26

right realists have a right wing conservative political out look and see crime as a growing problem that needs to be resolved through control and punishment.

Question 27

What do right realists believe crime is a product of?

Answer 27

- biological differences - inadequate socialisation - rational choice

Question 28

How do biological differences contribute to crime according to right realists?

Answer 28

Wilson and Herrnstein suggest that personality traits associated with crime are innate, such as aggressiveness and low IQ high makes us more likely to commit crimes

Question 29

How does inadequate socialisation contribute to crime according to right realists?

Answer 29

> Charles Murray he claims that effective socialisation reduced offended by teaching children values and self control, the ideal unit for socialisation is the nuclear family dependence on benefits creates an underclass who fail to socialise their children properly fathers are absent so boys lack discipline and an appropriate male role model so turn to delinquent role models who gain status through crime

Question 30

Rational choice theory - right realism

Answer 30

decision to commit crimes is a choice based on a rational calculation of the risks and benefits if benefits outweigh risks, offending is likely right realists argues crime rates are high as the risks of committing crime are low

Question 31

What are the strengths of right realism?

Answer 31

- Feldman found people made rational decisions if rewards were high and costs were low - Bennett and Wright interviewed convicted burglars who said they considered the potential rewards vs costs and risk was the most important factor influencing their decision - Right realism may explain some opportunistic crime such as theft

Question 32

What are the weaknesses of right realism?

Answer 32

- Rettig and Feldman’s studies were experiments - may not apply to real-life offenders - Not all crimes are the result of rational decisions - Violent crimes are impulsive and offenders under the influence of alcohol/drugs may not make rational choices

Question 33

What is left realism?

Answer 33

argues the root cause of crime is the inequality in capitalist society

Question 34

what are the three causes of criminality according to left realism?

Answer 34

> lea and young - relative deprivation - subculture - marginalisation

Question 35

What is relative deprivation and how does it contribute to crime according to left realists?

Answer 35

feeling financially deprived in relation to others, as a result of the unfairness they turn to crime to obtain what they believe is rightfully theirs

Question 36

What are subcultures and how do they contribute to crime according to left realists?

Answer 36

subcultures are group collective response to relative deprivation criminal subcultures resort to crime to achieve society's materialistic goals

Question 37

What is marginalisation and how does it contribute to crime according to left realists?

Answer 37

When marginalised groups lack the resources to take part in society and feel cut off, they develop feelings of resentment and powerlessness and turn to crime like violence ad riots to express their frustration.

Question 38

What are the strengths of left realism?

Answer 38

- draws attention to the importance of poverty and inequality as the underlying causes of crime

Question 39

What are the weaknesses of left realism?

Answer 39

- over represents working class crime, not everyone who experiences relative deprivation or marginalisation turn to crime - fails to explain crime committed by the wealthy like white collar crime