...Evaluate Marxist explanations of Crime and Deviance Labelling theory paved the way in understanding how deviance was something defined by social processes. In this way social agencies such as the police defined what was deviant. Marxists took this view even further by examining the power of certain social groups to define deviance and create the laws which secured social conformity. Marxists see crime and deviance as not coming from moral or biological defects but defects within social order. Crime is an inevitable part of capitalism as it stems from social inequalities. Working-class crime is caused by labour exploitation and material misery. Therefore theft is an expression of that exploitation and is a political act of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie. As anything the ruling class defines as being criminal because it’s in their interests to do so. The ruling class will violate laws with impunity while members of the subject classes will be punished. Crime is a reaction to the life conditions of a person’s social class. Crime diverts the working-class’s attention from the exploitation they experience; it contains their resistance. Crime changes from society to society depending on the political and economic structures of society. Crime will persist in capitalist societies because they promote inequality and class conflict, and penal law will expand relative to that inequality and exploitation. Chambliss argues that acts are defined as criminal only when it’s in the...
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...Crime and Deviance exam questions Crime questions – Qu. 1 & 2 – both worth 21 marks.You should spend 30 minutes on each question and each should have a traditional essay structure (include an introduction and a conclusion, at least two sides of the argument, two or more theories, relevant studies and as much evaluation as you can cram in!). You also need to show ‘conceptual confidence’ – this just means that you should make it clear to the examiner that you know and understand the important concepts, e.g. anomie, relative deprivation.Make sure you make reference to the item – both essay questions will have their own item. You can often use the information in the item as a springboard into the essay in the introduction. However, you will be penalised for ‘overuse of the item’, so don’t just copy it out. You can use short quotes or statistics from the item though. | Question: | What to include: | Assess the view that ethnic differences in crime rates are the result of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates. | This question is essentially about the presence (or not) of institutional racism in the police, courts and penal system. You will need to compare the importance of this as opposed to explanations that argue that ethnic minorities do commit more crime - either as a result of relative deprivation (left realism) or poor upbringing, absent fathers, etc (new right). * Try to include some stats, reference to patterns of offending, stop and search...
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...“A” Level Sociology A Resource-Based Learning Approach Deviance and Social Control Unit M4: Functionalism Introduction In these Teachers’ Notes we’re going to review a number of theories of crime and deviance from a Structural Functionalist perspective. In case this sociological perspective is not clear to you, the first part of these Notes is given over to a brief overview of this perspective. If you are familiar with this perspective, then this overview will serve as revision material... The second part of these Notes will provide an overview of some of the basic themes and theories put forward by writers working within this general perspective to explain crime. Functionalism: An Overview The Functionalist perspective is a form of Structuralist sociology and, as such, we can initially characterise it as a form of macro sociological theorising. In this respect, the main theoretical question addressed by sociologists working within the Functionalist perspective is that of: * How do social systems ("societies") hold together? In their attempts to provide an answer to this question, Functionalists have initially concentrated upon two ideas that are closely related to the above: 1. How is order maintained in any society? 2. What are the main sources of stability in any society? As you might imagine - given that the theoretical emphasis seems to be placed on rather grand questions...
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...Ari Denburger AJ-1 Mr. Lacasso 2/16/2014 Deviance related to crime Deviance is a title that insinuates the violation of social norms in society which has been defined through law. Deviance can be described as adjacent to criminal and improper behavior imposed by the people who break the social norms of a society, thus becoming subjective to a label of “deviant”. Deviants often have punishment bestowed upon them by law enforcement officers and their local court systems. The question asked by criminologist throughout time is, “what is the underlying cause of crime?” “Is crime a learned behavior forced by strain due to the depleting environment an individual inhabits?” “Are individuals with a genetic mutation destined to become deviant?” All of these may be a result of biological and social constructionist theories of deviance, this essay will define the opposing differences and the relation of the two in this essay. Both hold contributing factors to the construction of deviance in society, but are both highly conflicting theories. Before going into the theories of deviance, the definition of deviance must be further explained. The codification of deviance can vary widely between different cultures, a norm in one culture can be considered deviant in another. For example, the notion of cannibalism has been proved by anthropologists to be a spiritually divine form of ritualistic sacrifice in the ancient Aztec culture of Mexico. Yet in Western culture murder and...
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...Crime and Deviance “It is normal and a sign of a healthy society when crime exists.” States Heiner. It is evident that crime and deviance play an important role in society today and form the “out of ordinary” actions that take place as a subsequence. Crime is a well-known term to many and is believed to involve a breach of rules or laws implemented by attractions or behaviors that violate social norms, for example someone licking the ground is a type of deviance. He also states “There is no society that is not confronted with the problem of criminality. It also says that crime has everywhere increased. Next the book talks about crime aiding in societies by way of making progress and development. To make progress individual originality must be able to express itself. Socrates is a good example of a criminal who enabled change for the future to establish freedom of thought. In our society crime is one our biggest issues we try to fix and we spend a lot of money and time doing this, when honestly in my opinion crime hasn’t really changed too much. We put tons of criminals in jail and we spend a lot of money to keep them there. In society I believe we are scared as a society and that’s why we put everyone in jail even if it’s for a small crime. People with small crimes go to jail and a lot of people have a feeling that all jails are filled with dangerous people when all honesty there are bad and dangerous people in jail but also there are people who caught with some low...
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...CRIME AND DEIVIANCE – Table of Sociologists GENDER | Sociologist | What they said | Heidensohn | - Women’s behaviour is conformist- Control at home – housework and childcare impose severe restrictions on women’s time- Control in public – women fear the threat of male violence against them- Control at work – kept in place by male supervisors and managers- Females are treated more harshly than males when they deviate from gender norms e.g. double standards – courts punish girls for premature or promiscuous sexuality activity- 4/5 convicted offenders in England and Wales are male- By 40 9% of females had a conviction against 32% of males- Males are more likely to be reoffenders | Pollak | Men have a protective attitude towards women and so the criminal justice system is more lenient with women | Carlen | When women are jailed, it is less for ‘the seriousness of their crimes and more according to the court’s assessment of them as wives, mothers and daughters’- Women are lead to conformity:Class Deal –women who work will be offered material rewards with a decent standard of living and leisure opportunitiesGender Deal – patriarchal ideology promises women material gain and emotional rewards from family life by conforming to a domestic gender role | Parsons | Gender roles in the traditional nuclear family cause crime boys are encouraged to be tough, aggressive and risk taking so are more likely to take advantage of criminal opportunities when they arise | Dobash and...
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...Daniel Rojas Professor BlackLock Crime & Deviance Test 1 Domestic Deviance Is known as the root of the matter. Described as deviance that occurs within an intimate setting such as a home, between individuals that interact on a routine basis. The public normally doesn’t see this form of deviance thus making it unique. For example spousal abuse which occurs when conflicting parties have qualms with each other, and lack the social skills to express themselves. Secondly, there is child abuse where a parent might harm their kids mentally or physically. Granted, different cultures of people discipline their offspring in very distinct ways. African Americans are known for the plantation form discipline, while Caucasian individuals choose techniques like time out, and taking away privileges. Secondly, sexual deviance is sexual behavior that diverges from the norms of society. This complicated matter because first we must find out what makes these sexual acts so deviant. Sexual acts that might have been considered deviant years ago might be considered acceptable or normal today. People tend to commit acts that bring them satisfaction and pleasure even if its seen as taboo. As disturbing as it might sound often times this is true. Furthermore, sexual deviance can be influenced by one's environment and morals. For example a big contributor to sexual deviance is pornography and how easy it is today to access this kind of content. A person who has some erotic fantasy will go on...
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...Deviance The study of deviance is the basis for criminology in sociology—the study of crime and its effects on society. nDeviance refers to the socially disapproved violations of important norms and expectations of a society. nWho is deviant differs from one culture to another. nStigma is the mark of deviance (the Scarlet Letter). n 5/17/2002 1 Social control n n Social controls are sanctions which try to keep people from deviance. Internal social controls are behaviors and attitudes socialized into the individual to protect them from deviance. External controls are society’s mechanisms like the law and the police. Since everyone breaks social rules and norms, the sociology of deviance usually refers to those who do it big-time. 2 5/17/2002 Theories of deviance Who becomes deviant? Why do they do it? 5/17/2002 3 Labeling theory n Labeling theory: a person becomes deviant when they get labeled as such. Getting a deviant identity means distinguishing between primary and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is where most people do something deviant but it is not discovered; secondary deviance is where a person takes on the identity of a deviant and may be thrust into a “deviant career.” Labeling theory fails to explain when being labeled deviant can jolt someone out of becoming a career deviant. Deviants are seen here as helpless victims rather than bad guys 4 5/17/2002 Transmission theory n 5/17/2002 Cultural transmission theory...
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...CRIME AND DEVIANCE INTRODUCTION Sociology is a science that involves many norms. When those norms are not respected by at least an individual, then the behaviour of that person is said to be deviant. Most of the time, this type of behaviour is strongly different from a majority of society that is following the norms. The crime, as explained in today’s society, is an action or a behaviour that does not respects the laws set by governments. Criminology, also called criminal justice, is the science that is related to those behaviours. In some ways, laws are considered as norms in society. Then, it is obvious that crime can be fully considered as a deviance. Some examples of deviance through the crime would be being undressed in public places, stealing or having sex with a prostitute. Since laws and regulations have been set through different countries like the USA, smoking in public areas ‘such as transportations and workplaces’ is considered as deviant behaviour and criminal to be more precised (Giami; Herrera; Pechin – Reaserach Paper on smoking). Deviance is not a concrete subject; it is more an idea that differs from a group of individuals to another. In Muslim communities, for example, it is very common to belch at the end of the dinner, which means that the meal was delicious, and have been enjoyed, while belching is seen as a very impolite and deviant behaviour in occidental countries, with different cultures and religions. Concerning deviance and crime, several...
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...215 Corporate crime, also called white-collar crime or organised crime, refers to criminal offences that are committed by persons during the course of legitimate business activities. The crimes are often non-violent and involve such crimes as fraud, insider trading, and money laundering. Public documents such as company records or personal documents such as diaries may be used to investigate corporate crime, although there are strengths and weaknesses of using these types of documents as a research method for this particular crime. As stated in item A corporate crimes have low visibility which means that the people who undertake them leave very little trace of the crime committed. This poses a significant amount of problems. Public documents, which are mostly easy to get hold of, may help the investigation to show, for example, indications of anomalies in corporate figures which then may lead to how the particular corporate crime was carried out. Although it will still be hard to pinpoint the crime onto one individual. In this case using personal documents, such as a diary, as a means to investigate the crime may be favoured as this would help to narrow down an individual or multiple offenders who may have possibly noted down things to do with the crime committed. However personal documents are harder to get hold of and the investigator needs to ensure anonymity for the suspect. At the same time there tends to be less personal documents available for crimes from the people...
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...and asses the functionalist explanations of crime and deviance. Functionalist ignore deviance; they look at society as a whole and ignore individualism. Functionalism is a structuralist approach (also known as a consensus theory) they believe that individuals are shaped by society and social facts. A limitation of functionalist is that they ignore certain groups within society, such as women and people with disabilities. They also ignore factors such as ‘race’ and social class. They believe that society will maintain stability if the institutions still exists and the factors that may cause conflict – are ignored. I will assessing the functionalist contribution to explanations of crime, to how useful it is and if those explanations have been applied within modern day society. Also how useful the explanations are at reducing crime. Deviance is a normative approach, it is associated with behaviour that differs from the set norms and values set out by society. Deviance is linked to informal social control through sanctions (not by laws or government policy). In a Post Modern society – this definition of deviance would be problematic because it refers to societal norms (which would have disappeared; due to individualism making it hard to follow set norms and values). Deviance could collapse in a post-modern society. Durkheim (1895) is a positivist who proposed the concept of anomie; as an explanation as to why certain people commit crime. He believes that if individuals feel a sense...
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...Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories in explaining crime and deviance Marxists sociologists believe that we live in a capitalist society which is divided into classes. They argue that society is based on conflict over the inequality of wealth and power between the bourgeoisie; the ruling capitalist class who own the means of production and the proletariat; the working class who are exploited by the bourgeoisie in order for them to gain profit. This is known as capitalism. The Marxist view on crime is based on three main elements. The first element is criminogenic capitalism, this suggests that crime is inevitable due to the fact that capitalism breeds crime in society. This is the idea that the exploitation of the working class can cause a rise in crime rates. For example, people in poverty may resort to crime in order to survive as crime may be the only way they can obtain consumer goods by committing utilitarian crimes which are crimes concerning money such as theft, embezzlement etc. In addition to this, alienation may also be another way to cause working class people to commit crime as the lack of control they have over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression which can result in non-utilitarian crimes which are crimes that do not concern money such as murder, violence, vandalism. Gordon, a sociologist believes that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and it is found in all social classes. The second element is the state and law making; this...
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...FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES OF C+D Emile Durkheim: 1. C+D is functional Durkheim believed that a certain amount of c+d could be positive for society. -Necessary to generate social change – innovation only arises when old ideas are challenged. -Helps to clarify the boundaries of acceptable behaviour following social reactions to deviance eg drugs. -Creates social integration as it bonds society together against criminals eg 9/11 and 7/7. 2. C+D is dysfunctional Durkheim believed that crime and deviance also acts as a threat to society. This is because the norms and values that ‘unite’ society are being challenged, thus threatening consensus, social order and stability. 3. Cause of C+D Durkheim believed that C+D occurred as a result of anomie (normlessness). He believed that this could occur during periods of rapid social change eg revolutions when people become unsure of what society’s norms and values are. 4. Social order and social control Durkheim believed that there’s an agreement/consensus over norms and values, resulting in social order and stable societies. He believed that this was due to social control, a positive thing, creating social cohesion. He believed social control was achieved by agencies who socialise individuals into norms and values by integrating them into school, instilling core norms and values. Religion binds people together during times of happiness and sadness, and regulates behaviour. Parsons argued that sickness may be deviant...
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...of Crime and Deviance Functionalist’s believe that shared norms and values are the basis of social order and social solidarity. They see crime and deviance as dysfunctional to society. However, functionalist’s do see some crime as being ‘normal’. Merton took functionalist views further by saying that crime and deviance were a strain between the socially accepted goals of society and the socially approved means of achieving them - this strain then results in deviance. The American Dream states that anyone can make it to the top. However, emphasis is placed on material success so people feel pressure to deviate from accepted norms and values. People are tempted to reach the top even by illegal means, he explains this as ‘Anomie’. Anomie means normlessness - where norms no longer guide behaviour and instead anything goes. Merton identifies five possible responses of a strain to anomie. Conformity; people conform even if they are unlikely to achieve the goal. Innovation; accepting the goal of success but have little chance of achieving through normal means, turning to illegal means. Ritualism; abandoning the goal of success but stick to the rules (working in a dead end job). Retreatism; reject the goal of success and normal means to achieve it, drop out of school becoming tramps and drug addicts. Rebellion; reject the conventional goals and means of achieving them and replace them with alternative ways. Merton’s theory offered an explanation for working class crime but...
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...Assess functionalist theories of crime and deviance. Functionalism is a social structural and social control theory. It believes that it is society that causes the individual to commit crime. Social control theory looks at why people do not commit crime as it says that people are controlled by the primary and secondary agents of social control, such as the family or religion, and so should not commit crime. Functionalism is also a Right Wing theory, which believes that agents of social control like the police are fair and just; law reflects the collective conscience; people are biologically selfish and official statistics are valid. Functionalists included in this essay are Durkheim and Merton with evaluation from functionalist subcultural theorists, Cloward and Ohlin, and Marxism. Durkheim said that crime is inevitable: this is because people are not equally committed to the law due to individual differences and each society has its own definitions of what is deviant and so even a ‘society of saints’ will have deviance. He also said that crime is functional for society when there is the ‘right’ amount. The collective conscience needs to be at a moderate energy so that there is not too much or too little crime. When there is the right amount, society can progress as the criminal may be ‘the origin of the genius’ as they challenge societies current values. Durkheim also made the concept of anomie. At times of rapid change, society can enter a state of normlessness, as there...
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