Summary
Summary Sociology A-Level Crime and Deviance
- Module
- Crime and Deviance A level
- Institution
- AQA
Quick summary of all of the key crime and deviance sub topics within the AQA specification.
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Crime and Deviance1. Theories on crime (Marxist, functionalism, realist, strain, labelling)
2. Statistics and Patterns of crime
3. Gender on crime (feminism on crime)
4. Ethnicity on crime
5. Class on crime
6. Globalisation, green crime and state crime (post-modernism and modernists
on crime)
7. Media on crime
8. Treating criminals
In the exam (same as education but more content):
1x 4 marker ‘explain two ways…’
1x 6 marker ‘explain three ways….’ Rahim
1x 10 marker ‘analyse 2 ways (WITH ITEM)…’ Year 13
1X 30 marker ‘evaluate (WITH ITEM)…’ A-level
,Crime and Deviance (Y2-1) Crime Involves Evaluations of Durkheim’s view on crime Illegitimate opportunity struct
breaking the • Newburn- Crime is normal in society to some degree and • Cloward and Ohlin – Merto
Functionalism (1.1)
official written crime is linked to certain parts of society. there was an illegitimate cri
Factors affecting what is considered a crime or deviant: laws of society. • He paid too little attention to how the powerful can ppl look at crime for success
• Historical context (e.g., Victorians) Deviance is influence crime and whether it gets reported or not. opportunity structure had 3
• Cultural context (e.g., homosexuality in Islamic behaviour which • His theory was very influential on the strain theory on crime 1. Criminal- youngste
countries) doesn’t conform • Taylor, Walton and Young- crime isn’t functional for society up’ the gang ladde
• Time of the act (day, night) to the dominant as crime and public punishment helps to people uniting 2. Conflict- postcode
• Place (nudity at home vs public) norms of society 3. Retreatist – ‘doubl
• Social situation (context of which the act takes place) • There’s still organised crime in the UK alcohol
• There’s overlap between retreatists
Durkheim on crime (Functionalist view) – Organic analogy, secularisation. and criminal sub (heroin addicts)
He suggests that society has a shared collective conscience (a core set of dominant values) like a framework
Evaluating Merton:
which is backed up a law system which punishes criminals appropriately. He also highlighted that there are • It fails to explain why certain crimes don’t produce material rew
2 different sides of crime, which involve its positive and negative benefits. role of subcultures in crime.
• Valier – there’s a variety of goals a person aims to achieve at on
Durkheim’s 2 sides of crime family > financial success.
Positive aspects of crime Negative aspects of crime
Merton and Strain theory – deviancy was more common in WC wh
Durkheim highlighted that crime is essential for society and crime Durkheim also commented that crime also has negative lack of their achievement.
and clarify change which can initiate change. He also found that consequences, excessive crime has negative consequences • He didn’t always agree with functionalism
there are 3 key benefits of crime in society: • Society could become dysfunctional at some points
Anomie- This is when there is a period of social stress • Crime and deviance were evidence of a poor fit/strain between
1. Reaffirming boundaries: The news and the media reaffirms where the social conscience is unclear. The norms and goals of society (The ‘American Dream’) and the ‘socially approv
social boundaries by showing what happens if you break it, values of society are challenged and there is a period of them.
such as public executions in Islamic states or during Victorian uncertainty. • This strain led to deviance.
society.. Egoism- When collective conscience becomes too weak to • All societies set their members certain goals and socially accepte
2. Changing societal values: Some groups/people set to purposely restrain the selfish needs and desires of the induvial. This is (Work).
break societal values and break laws. These people are called mainly in industrialised societies where people aren’t • Those in higher social classes had more opportunities to succeed
functional rebels in which social change happens – e.g., Nelson sociailised enough to accept the values given by education couldn't achieve such goals dischanted (disassociated) with socie
Mandela’s anti-apartheid campaign. (an institution → them to put their selfish needs first -→ ways of succeeding (crime).
3. Social cohesion- when there is a crime which is bad, such as crime.
murder. The community has a shared outrage which happens. He found that there are 5 different forms of behaving:
This strengthens the community spirit. 1. Conformity – the person continue to strive for goals despite low
Extra sociologists to use when speaking about Durkheim 2. Innovation – the person accepts the same goals but uses differe
Davis- Crime can be used as a safety valve which allowed minor crimes/deviance to happen to not create bigger problems, such as 3. Ritualism – they immerse themselves In the rules and regulatio
prostitutes for married men. material success (promotions).
Cohen- Crime can boost employment and the economy through the create of jobs such as police, lawyers and judges. Crime is seen 4. Retreatism – the ‘dropouts’
as an early warning mechanism showing that institutions are wrong. 5. Rebellion – both social goals and means are rejected, and diffe
Merton- he reinforced this by saying that Durkheim view is too vague (subcultural theorist), implemented. E.g. activists.
, Status frustration and subcultural theory Marx
Ideological functions of crime
• Cohen – Crimes were non-utilitarian (no benefit to the offender) as offending behaviour wasn’t
Pearce found that crime’s role is to help maintain a false class Marxis
economically motivated.
consciousness in society, where there is occasional/rare due to
• Delinquency was a group behaviour/activity. Lower class boys emulated MC values and aspirations
prosecution of white collar/corporate criminals. The officials and is there
due to their upbringing which led to their failure at school.
governments are also passing laws which on the outside protect (causal
• The boys didn’t get status through exams and qualifications and got frustrated → commit crimes →
the WC but they benefit the bourgeoisie (MC/RC). However, it is
status frustration → they saw this as inadequate and rejected school values.
hard to tackle white collar crimes compared to the blue-collar
• Boys saw school as a key area for them to play out this drama by behaving badly and acting up in Gordo
crimes.
lessons → status from peers. They invert MC values and gain status from bad behaviour → gang utilita
crime was attractive. reacti
• Lyng – young men ‘flirt with danger’, Selective law making and enforcement Where
• Katz – crime is seductive. Men are drawn into crime because it is thrilling and not because of These are laws which reflect the interests of the ruling class. crime
rejection, Chambliss- the ruling class are a form of criminal syndicates frustra
• Box- it might only apply to a minority of offenders who accepted mainstream values at first then they (organised crime). assum
switched up and rejected such values. Snider – corporate crime (white collared crime) is far more passiv
• It undermines the role of relationships outside of school, they might influence the role of subcultures harmful than street crime, but they are much less regulated. crime
that cause crime. However, these law makers are elected officials and there may comm
be consensus on these laws that are passed. The laws may also and N
Labelling theory (1.2): Becker- there is a moral crusade for those that are willing to create a movement be passed to protect workers health and safety and keep the victim
towards new laws. There are also ‘moral entrepreneurs’ which are reflections of people who actively minimum wage low.
seek and enforce the laws in society and create laws which could benefit people or society itself. AO3 Application. For example, the Clapham train crash (1988) White
where 3 trains collided with each other due to a wiring failure in to be c
Becker- criminals would obtain a ‘master status’- once a label has been placed upon a person. The other
qualities become unimportant. This will inevitably lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy through the creation the signals. This led to an outcome of no new laws being passed profes
of criminal subcultures. and no prosecution happening of criminals. There was only emplo
Lemert- he distinguished between a ‘primary’ (rule breaking which has less of an importance in society) recommendations made around signalling. crime)
and ‘secondary’ deviant (consequences of the response of others). Also, capitalism causes crime due to selective law enforcement. crimes
For instance, powerless groups (WC/EM ppl) are marginalised comm
Cohen – a ‘moral panic’ created by the media which the authorities apply these labels on the groups in
question. and criminalised more, also there is the invisibility of white
Cicourel- It isn’t straight forward to label a young person as a criminal. The MC were more able to collar/corporate crimes through the cover up of actions through Utilita
‘negotiate the system’ better and this impacts the stereotypes in the justice system. Delinquents who bribery and the lack of media coverage.. is com
lived in ‘worse-off’ areas were more likely to be arrested than those who committed the same crimes but of obta
in a ‘better off’ area. MC parents were able to convince the system that their children were going Reiman- all crimes should be explained in terms of social benefi
through ‘tough times’ and not go jail while the WC faced jail conditions rather than individual motivations. He believes that fraud.
Braithwaite (two types of shaming) –reintegrative shaming: society should focus on reintegrating the social injustices (inequalities like income and food poverty) is Non-u
person back into society. Whereas disintegrative shaming is used to publicly label and shame and this the underlying cause of crime, this can be explained as there is crime
separates the offender from the rest of society. less opportunity of something not going wrong in industrial reason
• It assumes that all members of society labels delinquents the same way. society, but crime occurring is a structural feature of capitalism gain, li
• It doesn’t explain why the deviance was originally committed in the first place. (keep rich rich). Crime is also portrayed as largely being caused
• Digital audiences who are more educated as digital communications increased. by the poor people because of their laziness.
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