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Crime and deviance 30 mark essay plans
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Aqa a level sociology crime and deviance 30 mark essay plans
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Crime and deviance 30-mark consolidationsFunctionalist/subculture 30 marks
Durkheim (functionalist) argues that crime and deviance can only be
explained by looking at the societies are socially organised – their social
structures – and that crime is cause by society rather than by the circumstances
of the individual. Functionalism is therefore a structuralist theory of crime.
Durkheim argued that traditional societies had little crime and deviance because
of the existence of strong social controls. He saw traditional societies, such as
British or Islamic societies, as underpinned by mechanical solidarity. Powerful
agencies such as the family and religion socialised members into a clear
consensus about right and wrong. Those who strayed beyond the consensus
faced severe and often public forms of punishment. Individuality was regarded as
deviant and was suppressed. Loyalty and duty to the group was paramount. He
saw modern societies as underpinned by organic solidarity. Agencies, like
family and religion, are less influential and members of society are exposed to
ideas that challenge tradition and authority. Consequently, there is no longer
clear agreement about what constitutes right and wrong behaviour. Formerly
deviant acts become socially acceptable. Punishments for crime and deviance
grow weaker and no longer deter due to a weakening of social controls, which
has undermined consensus and led to ‘anomie’ (instability resulting from moral
uncertainty about rules and values. He also argues that crime existed in all
societies. This universality suggests it has positive functions. These functions
include boundary maintenance (punishment by the courts for breaking a low
reaffirms value consensus and public faith in social controls, creating a clear
boundary discouraging offending) functional rebellion (some ‘deviance’ may
enable much-needed social change, such as the suffragettes) social cohesion
(horrific crimes such as terrorism may create public outrage and draw diverse
communities closer together) early warning system (deviance may act as a
warning that a social institution is not working properly, such as high number of
suicides in prison) and a safety valve (some functionalists argue that relatively
minor crimes may act as a safety valve because they prevent more serious
crimes, such as pornography preventing more serious sexual offences (Polsky)).
Eval (Davis, functionalist, prostitution) agrees with Durkheim in that crime
can be positive, but in a different way. He believes prostitution provides positive
functions because it allows men to express sexual frustration without threatening
the nuclear family. However, this ignores that women who were illegally sex
trafficked to fit the men’s needs.
Merton (functionalist, strain theory) aimed to explain why most crime was
committed by poorer sections of society in capitalist societies such as the USA.
He argued that in the USA, cultural institutions, such as the mass media and
education, socialise individuals to believe in the American Dream (prosperity
and upward mobility is available to all who work hard), achieve shared goals
(financial success, home and ownership), achieve these by approved means
(working hard to gain qualifications and well paid jobs). The institutional means
of achieving prosperity (education and jobs) are usually provided by the social
structure. However, Merton argued that these structural means were not fairly
distributed across all social groups. He concluded that a gap or strain existed
between the dominant cultural goal and the structural means of achieving that
,goal. Merton believed that this train led to poor experiencing a state of anomie
(a form of moral frustration and disenchantment). This potentially undermined
their commitment to consensus and order and they may respond by adopting
one of five types of behaviour: conformity (having a strong belief in cultural
goals and accept the structural means, is the majority response – most work hard
and take responsibility for failure), innovation (having a strong belief in cultural
goals but reject legitimate means as they see that the means to success are
blocked, such as gangsters (a minority) choosing criminality), ritualism (having
a weak belief in cultural goals and accept means but lack ambition, such as
someone in a low-level job who takes comfort in following their daily routine and
the avoidance of risk), retreatism (rejecting goals and means, someone who
gives up and drops out of society, such as a drug addict), rebellion (rejecting
goals and substitute alternative goals which aims to tear down and replace the
existing social means, such as violent revolutions (French revolution 1789) and
terrorism (Islamic revolution in Iran 1979). Merton believes that the behaviour of
criminals and non-criminals are shaped by the same material desires and goals.
Eval (Marxists) argue that he over-represents working class crime, so Merton
sees crime as mainly a WC phenomenon. They also argued that he ignores the
power of the ruling class to make and enforce the laws in ways that criminalise
the poor but not the rich.
Cohen (status frustration and subcultural) was influenced by Merton and
was interested in the fact that Merton had not addressed juvenile delinquency.
According to Cohen, juvenile delinquency is caused by a strain between cultural
goals and the institutional means of achieving them. He argues that young
people’s main cultural goal is the desire for status and respect. Middle-class boys
usually attain this through their parents and educational success. Working-class
boys are denied this by wider society – their parents don’t equip them with the
necessary skills and they are placed in bottom sets in school. Cohen’s theory
suggests that poor access to god education and job opportunities left working-
class juveniles frustrated with their inability to achieve status. They experienced
a form of anomie, which he called ‘status frustration’. They responded to their
frustration by developing delinquent subcultures of like-minded boys, who
revered the norms and values of the dominant culture and awarded one another
status on the basis of anti-school and delinquent behaviour.
Eval (Paul Willis) concludes that working-class youth do not share the same
definition of status as middle-class boys. Willis’ lads saw educational failure as
‘success’ because qualifications were necessary for the jobs they wanted.
Cloward and Ohlin (illegitimate opportunity structure) argued that if
young working-class people are denied legitimate opportunities, such as jobs,
they may turn to an illegitimate opportunity structure (IOS). However, their
access to these depends on the availability of deviant subcultures in the locality
in which they live. They identify three types of IOS, or deviant subcultures:
criminal subcultures (in some parts of the world, young people may be
recruited into organised types of criminal subcultures or networks. These often
resemble businesses in that skilled young people can be promoted upwards if
they impress. For example, the Kray gang dominated crime in South London in
the 1960s) conflict subcultures (some inner-city areas may be dominated by
territorial street gangs, which engage in highly masculine violence) retreatist
, subcultures (those who fail to gain access to either the criminal or conflict
subcultures may form retreatist subcultures, in which major activities are drug
use. For example, heroin ‘scenes’ in most British cities are high crime areas so
users can finance their habit).
Eval (Katz, postmodernist) argues that most delinquency is not committed as
part of a subculture. They argue that is often individualistic, opportunistic and
spontaneous. Most delinquent actions are fuelled by the excitement and
adrenalin that results from the risk of being caught.
Shaw and McKay (cultural transmission) examined the ecological
organisation of cities. They made three key observations. The first being that
most inner-city zones are characterised by a lack of community spirit and
social control and therefore by delinquent subcultures and high crime rates.
The second being that delinquent subcultures engage in cultural
transmission – they transmit criminal behaviour, skills and values from one
generation to the next. And the third being that the constant movement of
people in and out of inner-city areas prevents the formation of stable
communities and undermines existing social controls.
Eval (Sutherland, differential association) agrees with their observation and
put forward the concept of ‘differential association’ which suggests that it is
very difficult for young people living in urban areas to be law abiding because
their frequent association with people who make their living from crime is likely
to lead them into trouble with the law.
Interactionism/labelling 30-mark consolidation
Becker (interactionist, labelling theory), in his classic study Outsiders,
argues that there is no value consensus on normality or deviance – these
concepts mean different things to different people and groups. Interpretivists
argue that definitions of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviour differ according to the
following: social context (nudity is fine in private but may be interpreted as
criminal if carried out in public) historical period (homosexuality and suicide
were illegal activities until the 1960s) culture (drinking alcohol is illegal in Saudi
Arabia but is regarded as normal social activity in the UK) and subculture
(young people’s ideas about what constitutes ‘normal’ behaviour may differ from
those of adults). Becker argues that no act is inherently criminal or deviant in
itself, in all situations and at all times. Instead, it only becomes officially criminal
or deviant when it is interpreted as such by others – he calls this societal
reaction. Interpreting an act as deviant is usually the province of somebody with
more power than the person who committed the act. For example, parents judge
whether their children are behaving or misbehaving whilst teachers do the same
for their pupils. He also claims that deviance is a social construction. It requires
two groups – one powerless group acts in a particular way and another with more
power interprets the action as wrong and labels both the activity and the group
as deviant or criminal. Becker notes that powerful groups create rules or laws in
order to define what counts as crime and deviance. They then label those who
fail to conform to these social controls as criminals or outlaws (outsiders). For
example, employers define what counts as deviance in the workplace.
Eval (Platt, moral entrepreneurs) agrees with Becker about his theory on the
powerful creating social controls and put forward the concept of ‘moral
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