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Summary SOCIOLOGY A LEVEL CRIME NOTES (A*) CA$12.92   Add to cart

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Summary SOCIOLOGY A LEVEL CRIME NOTES (A*)

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crime notes, got me an A*. clear and concise so super easy to memorise

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introduction to crime
key definitions -

crime

 behaviour that breaks the formal, written laws of a given society
 punishment for crime is more likeley to be more serious than the punisment for
deviance
 different crimes and different laws are treated in various ways

deviance

 norm breaking behaviour
 more general than crime and often not controlled legally
 not always a negative action (like crime) - possible to deviate in a positive fashion
 Wickmann - 1991 - deviance is behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or
expectations of a group or society

types of deviance

 societal deviance - acts which are seen by most of society as deviant
 e.g. child abuse, swearing at an authority figure

situational deviance

 acts which can be defined as deviant or normal, depending on the circumstances
 e.g. being naked is ok in your own home, but not out in public; killing someone is ok
if youre a solidier at war killing enemy soldiers

the social construction of crime and deviance

 crime and deviance - culturally determined
 what is considered criminal varies less than what is considered deviant
 Foucault - definitions of criminal deviance, sexual deviance and madness have
changed throughout history
 e.g. 100 years ago in the UK it was deviant for women to wear trousers, but today its
acceptable
 deviance changes with time and place as norms and social expections change - it
relative
 Plummer - the same act can be seen as deviant or non deviant depending on the
situation - societal and situational deviance


functionalism and crime
Durkeim's functionalist theory

 sees society as based on a value consensus - creates social solidarity

,two key mechanisms

 socialistation
 social control - rewards for conformity, punishments for deviance

The inevatability of crime

 too much crime would destabilise society but crime is inevitable and universal
 a crime free society is a contradiction in terms

two reasons why crime and deviance is found in all societies

 not everyone is equally and effectively socialised into the same norms and values
 there is diversity of lifestyles and values - what members of the subculture regard as
normal, mainstream culture may see as deviant
 modern societies tend towards amomie - the rules governimg behaviour become
weaker and less clear cut - because of the complex division of labour (individuals
become increasingly different from one another)
 weakens the shared culture and results in higher levels of deviance

Positive functions of crime

Boundary maintenance

 crime produces a reaction from society - condemn the wrongdoer and reinforce their
commitment to the shared norms and values
 explains the function of punishment - rather than focusing on making the wrongdoer
suffer it is to act as a deterrent

Adaption and change

 change starts with an act of deciance
 individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must not be completely stifled
by the weight of social control
 with new ideas being suppressed, society will stagnate and be unable to make
necessary adaptive changes
 for Durkeim, neither a very high nor a very low level of crime is desirable - too much
thretenes to tear the bonds of society apart, too little means that society is repressing
and controlling its members too much

Durkeim - the Division of Labour in Society

traditional societies

 held together by a strong, religiously based collective conscience
 this impeded criminal behaviour - informal social control

industrial societies

 less easy to control

,  division of labour - more complex - people compete against eachother
 secularisation makes social solidarity more fragile
 more prone to egoism and anomie - more crime
 there is a need for tougher social control

other functions of crime (supporting evidence of Durkeim)

 Davis - argues that prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men's sexual
frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family - backed up by
Polsky
 Cohen - deviance acts as a warning that an institution is not functioning properly
 Erikson - if deviance performs positive social functions, then perhaps it means society
is actually organised so as to promote deviance - police may actually be to sustain a
certain level of crime rather than to rid society of it
 Societies sometimes also manage and regulate devaince rather than seeking to
eliminate it entierely e.g. the youth, carnivals

positive evaluation

 functionalism is useful in showing the ways that deviance is integral to society
 shows that deviance is not all bad for society

criticisms

 society requires a certain amount to function successfully - but offers no way of
knowing how much is the right amount
 doesnt explain why crime exists only the function that it serves
 doesnt look at how crime affects groups or individuals
 who is crime functional for?
 crime doesnt always promote solidarity - may make groups more isolated e.g. women
staying in doors for fear of attack

Merton's strain theory

 strain theories - argue that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable
to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
 Merton adapted Durkheims concept of anomie to explain deviance -

combined of two elements

 structural factors - society's unequal oppportunity structure
 cultural factors - the strong emphasis on success and the weaker emphasis on using
legitimate means to achieve them

deviance is the result of a strain between two things -

 the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
 what the institutional structure of society allows them to acheive legitimately

The American dream

,  expected to pursue this goal by legitimate means
 idelogy tells Americans that their society is a meritocratic one
 reality is different - many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunites to achieve
legitimately
 resulting strain between the cultural goal of money success and the lack of legitimate
opportunites to achieve it produces frustration - which creates a pressure to resort to
illegitimate means e.g. crime and deviance
 pressure to deviate is further increased as American culture puts more emphasis on
achieving success at any price than doing it by legitimate means
 the goal creates a desire to succeed and the lack of opportunity creates a pressure to
adopt illegitimate means
 disjunction between shared goals and means of achieving them - strain to anomie

Deviant adaptions to strain

 an individuals position in the social structure affects the way they adopt or respond to
the strain to anomie

Conformity

 individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them
legitimately - most likely among middle class individuals

Innovation

 individuals accept the goal of money success but use new illegitimate means such as
theft or fraud to achieve it - most common among those at the lower end of the class
structure

Ritualism

 individuals give up on trying to achieve goals but have internalised legitimate means
so they follow the rules for their own sake - typically lower middle class workers in
dead end, routine jobs

Retreatism

 individuals reject both the goals and legitimate means and become dropouts e.g.
homeless, drug addicts

Rebellion

 individuals reject the existing society's goals and means but replace them with new
ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change e.g. political radicals and counter
cultures

Supporting evidence

Hannon and Defronzo

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