A fully comprehensive essay critically considering 'Sociologists argue that ‘crime is a social construction’. Critically discuss whether this is a useful description to understanding who commits crime.' in 1,500 words with a complete bibliography.
Sociologists argue that ‘crime is a social construction’. Critically discuss whether this
is a useful description to understanding who commits crime.
The term ‘crime’ has many interpretations and can be used in several different
contexts among societies. However, it is generally understood that anything
categorised as a crime is morally “wrong” and therefore illegal, thus bringing with it
repercussions. In my opinion, crime is a form of social construction as it is an
everchanging element, evolving over time to teach a combined universal view of
what is moral, with cultural and ethnic views totally unique to each society included.
In this essay I will be exploring the conflicting beliefs of sociologists to discuss
whether who commits crime really can be understood as universally generic, or if it is
completely dependent upon the individualistic cultural and social construction of
each society.
The belief that it is “socially constructed” highlights society’s influence, as every
human act is moulded from society’s views and opinions, regarding whether it is
categorised as unlawful or acceptable. However, it can be argued that society lacks
democracy and operates in a way so that the few in powerful positions determine
what is deemed a crime and thus, what punishment is then imposed as a result.
This can be backed up from a Functionalist’s perspective; Durkheim argued that the
society creates and shapes each individual with laws and a collective conscience.
Thus, by regulating the unjust and immoral, we ultimately strengthen society’s social
cohesion. Furthermore, society itself is formed by an array of entangled elements,
which we as humans, cannot even fathom. It operates as a separate organism with
special functions, cells and structures to produce the social facts that we live under
today. To allow evolution to occur, we need crime; it is simply a social fact. Durkheim
uses the term ‘Social Fact’ to highlight elements which exist in order to enable, but
also constrict our behaviour, and ensure all act in a particular unison to maintain a
certain level of social harmony.
However, when analysing who commits crime, this becomes a topic of high debate
as Functionalists believe that society hasn’t evolved yet to the stage where all
minority groups are treated equally, despite living under the same codes of conduct
and laws. This is an ultimate fault in social construct and means that minority ethnic
groups in particular, are still experiencing racism when accused of crime in the 21 st
century. Many sources support this theory, such as the tragic Stephen Lawrence
case. This highlighted major problems within police protocol and after much
investigation, shocking statistics began emerging in articles and online 4 Gov.uk
(2019) such as that a black person is 47 times more likely to be arrested and then
26% more likely to remain in custody than a white person. Inevitably, this provoked
three major democratic changes in the social construction of British society. The
‘Crime and Disorder Act 1998’ was put into operation to address unjust police
protocol, the Macpherson Report changed the definition of a ‘racism incident’ and
created a definition for ‘institutional racism’ and finally, there is now a significant
emphasis placed on studying the view of the crime from the victim’s perspective.
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