Notes on all the sub-topics required for A Level Sociology Beliefs in Society and Crime and Deviance.
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- Law making and law enforcement reinforces ruling class ideology
- Chambliss states that laws protecting private properties exist as the cornerstone of economies
in capitalist society
- Capitalism is crimogenic
- Capitalism encourages crime as it exploits the working class
- Poverty forces the working class to turn to crime
- Utilitarian crime is necessary for working class people to acquire consumer goods
- Alienation - a lack of control over our daily lives can lead us to committing non-utilitarian
crime
- Gordon: crime is a rational response to competitive nature of capitalism, it is found in all social
classes but particularly within lower class
crime and deviance Page 1
,Selective enforcement
16 January 2023 18:17
- Selective law enforcement refers to the police and courts tending to ignore crimes committed
by the rich, wealthy and powerful and only enforce the law on working class or marginalised
minority groups.
- Reiner reiterates this by suggesting that the more likely crime is to be committed by the rich,
the less likely the law is to come into place
- People of marginalised groups commit street offences which are disproportionately
prosecuted
- On the contrary, the rich commit tax evasion, serious environmental offences, breaching
health and safety laws. These are less likely to be 'justified' by the criminal justice system
For instance, Facebook paid around £4,000 in corporation tax in 2014 despite reporting UK revenues
of 105m.
- Snider states that the law serves the interests of the capitalist state by being reluctant to
enforce the law in the context of businesses committing crime at the sake of losing profits
- Chambliss states that Britain's economic interests in Africa depended on agricultural
production, but the local economy was not driven by capitalism. Britain thus introduced a new
tax system where non-payment was treated as a criminal offence. The population were forced
to work merely to pay tax.
- Pearce said that capitalists use H&S to keep their workers safe and fit for work, giving
capitalism a caring face and thus creating a false class consciousness.
- It is worth noting that despite a corporate homicide law passed in 2007, there has been just
one prosecution of a UK company in eight years.
Evaluations of Marxist perspective on crime.
- Overlooks inequalities between other social factors such as gender, race, ethnicity
- Over-predicts working class crime in a deterministic manner
- Overlooks intra class crim
- Over emphasises relationship between crime and capitalist society, for example Japan is
capitalist with a low crime rate
crime and deviance Page 2
, Crime and consensus
16 January 2023 18:48
- Deviance is a label applied to people under certain social circumstances
- It is socially constructed and can either be positively or negatively sanctioned. It is known as
going against the norms and values of a particular social group
Durkheim's idea of crime and society:
1) Socialisation, where individuals are socialised into the norms and values of society and ensures
they internalise it in order to keep society functioning
2) Social control - negative sanctions for deviance, positive for conformity
The problem:
Too much crime can destabilise society and cause chaos, however, too little crime suggests that
social control is too effective and can strip individuals of their individual freedom, stifling social
change
- Durkheim also suggests that crime is normal and an integral part of a healthy society because:
1) Some individuals deviate as a result of ineffective socialisation
2) In organic societies, there is a diversity of lifestyles and values
Durkheim's theory of boundary maintenance and adaption:
Boundary maintenance:
Crime essentially unites society against the 'wrongdoer', it allows for creation of a set of collective
norms and values and iterates the importance that the community should place on following these
norms.
Punishment is also not concerned with the retribution or the rehabilitation of the offender (as
displayed by the prison system) rather it is about reinforcing society's norms and values.
Progression and adaption:
Durkheim says that if society does not have crime it would remain stagnant.
Critic:
Erikson suggests that if deviance and crime perform positive functions it is apparent that society is
built to encourage crime.
Not everything that is bad is bad for society, deviance is regulated when it supports society
(capitalism)
Davis says that prostitution acts as a safety valve for men to release sexual frustrations
Polsky says that things like pornography destabilise the family but are still legal
crime and deviance Page 3
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