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Lecture notes Crime and Deviance - Week 7
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Week 7 - Crime and Deviance module
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Anomie and Cultural CriminologyUnderstanding deviance for assignment
‘Anomie denotes an absence of law or community standards. The concept was originally
theorized by Durkheim in relation both to that type of suicide generated by ‘the malady of
infinite aspirations’ unleashed by weak social bonds, and to a more prevalent malaise
associated with an absence of fit between aptitude and just reward. Merton adapted the
concept to fit what he saw as the exceptional character of American society and culture,
reversing much of Durkheim’s causal sequencing, notably by viewing the ‘strain to anomie’
as integral rather than episodic and as more prevalent in the lower rather than the upper
social strata. Sociologists later adapted the basic Mertonian schema to explain rising rates of
crime under conditions of growing prosperity by persistent inequality.’ Downs & Rock 2011
Durkheim’s Anomie: it [anomie] characterizes the pathological state of the economy, ‘this sphere
of collective life which is in large part freed from the moderating actions of [moral] regulation’,
where ‘latent or active, the state of war is necessarily chronic’ and ‘each individual finds himself in a
state of war with every other’. In ‘Suicide’, it is used to characterize the pathological mental state of
the individual who is insufficiently regulated by society and suffers from the ‘malady of infinite
aspiration’…It is accompanied by ‘weariness’, ‘disillusionment’, ‘disturbance, agitation and
discontent’, ‘anger’ and ’an irritated disgust with life’. In extreme cases this condition leads a man to
commit suicide and homicide.’
- Competition for economic status, to survive
- Labour perspective: work etc
- Internal frustration at structures operating
Merton’s Strain Theory: ‘…the social structure strains the cultural values, making action in accord
with them readily possible for those occupying certain statuses within the society and difficult or
impossible for others. The social acts as a barrier or as an open door to the acting out of cultural
mandates. When the cultural and the social structure are malintegrated, the first calling for behavior
and attitudes which the second precludes, there is a strain toward the breakdown of norms, toward
normlessness’.
- Based within American culture, concept of American Dream
- State of lack of law and community standards
Normlessness No collective values, increased deviance, anarchy (decentralisation of power),
breakdown of society, normlessness becoming the norm over time Eg Purge, Joker
Not in human nature to end up in normlessness, social collective.
Influencers aren’t proper work links to strain
Agnew’s General Strain Theory (1992): Strains are normal in every day life but some may lead to
criminal behaviour
‘Imagine that you are chatting with a group of acquaintances, and someone reacts to a remark you
make by stating “you don’t know what you’re talking about”. Now imagine the same situation, but
this time someone reacts to your remark by stating “you’re an asshole” and shoving you. Both of
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