...example of social constructionism. Social construction is the frame through which society views an idea. It could be the idea of a crime (for example, drug abuse is a socially constructed crime not an inherent crime) or the idea of an event (for example, the beating of Rodney King as police brutality instead of necessary to protect the officers). Nothing is black-and-white, there are many different ways to view a situation. Juries are selected to be a group of peers – this is what our justice system is based off of. If an objective peer would do the same thing in the same situation, perhaps you’ll be acquitted. However, the peer-based system is flawed. The first reason is because it can be hard to find a peer for some groups. The more educated a person is, the less likely it is that their jury will be intellectual equals. On the flip side, with an extremely under-educated person, the same principle applies. The juried system works best with an average person sitting before an average group of peers. However, this same idea – of average juries for average citizens – can skew the trial in an unfair direction. Legal studies professor Hiroshi Fukurai wrote about the peer trial being a detriment to justice, giving the example of Ku Klux Klansman trials shortly after the Civil War. These men were tried for murder and torture of abolitionists and escaped slaves, and many were found not-guilty by a jury of white Republican males (Fukurai 1999). The social construction of the...
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...SOCIOLOGY – AQA – UNIT 4 - CRIME AND DEVIANCE The exam is split into 3 questions: • Q.1 is a pure methods section which contains two parts a) 12 marks and b) 21 marks. You should spend 45 minuets on this question. • Q.2 is a method in context question. Part a) is for 9 marks [could also be a 3 and 6 mark question] and part b) is for 15 marks. You should spend 30 minuets on this question. • Q.3 is a theories essay for 33 marks. THIS QUESTION IS SYNOPTIC! You should spend 45 minuets on this question. Below is a list of all the areas and studies you need to know for each section of the exam. Don’t worry if you don’t know all the studies, each college/school are likely to teach slightly different ones, just make sure you know about that amount for each section. Q.1 For the first two pure crime parts you need to know: Functionalist theories of crime and deviance Durkheim – Social control, social regulation including suicide Merton-Strain theory, blocked aspirations Cohen – Status frustration Cloward and Ohlin – Deviant subcultures New Right/Right Realism James Wilson – Strict law enforcement needed Wilson and Kelling – Broken windows, zero tolerance Murray – Cultural deprivation, single parents and ineffective, the underclass Erdos – Families without fathers Subcultural theories Cohen – Delinquent subcultures Cloward and Ohlin – Delinquency and opportunity, criminal, conflict and retreatist...
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...One of the main misunderstandings in environmental crime is the lack of consistency in the definition and classification of environmental crime. The primary problem is differing perspectives as to what constitutes as environmental crime, embedded in moral, philosophical and legalistic interpretations of harm and in what circumstances does this harm becomes a crime (White, 2008). Many criminologists have put forth perspectives which explain the reasons why individuals and corporations engage in activities that cause environmental harms. These perspectives can be linked to the original environmental or green criminology perspectives. Pollution and dumping has become an increasingly costly problem for the environment. As a results, there has been a rise in criminology literature that analyses environmental harms as crimes (Crofts, Morris, Wells & Powell, 2010). Pollution entail the emission, leakage or spillage of a prescribed substance into the air, water or soil (Brickenll, 2010). It was the first environmentally damaging practice to capture the attention of the public and also concern regulatory attention. Pollutants recognised include pesticides, chemicals and gases. Whilst some of these emissions are banned and illegal, some are permitted, but only within specified levels. Pollution is thus illegal when there is a release of a prohibited substance, the emission or leakage of substance in excess of an established limit, or expulsion into areas such as vast bodies of...
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...Why crime is a contested subject A crime in a broad understanding is an act that violates a political or moral law of any one person or social grouping. In the narrow sense, a crime is a violation of criminal law; in many nations, there are criminal standards of bad behaviour. However, a crime can be the action of violating or breaking a law. According to Western system of law, there must be a simultaneous concurrence of both guilty action and guilty mind for a crime to have been committed; Some people will say that manslaughter is not the case, for example if an individual hits someone he did not mean to kill them, however the intent to cause harm was there. In order for prosecution, some laws require proof of cause and effect relating the defendant's actions to the criminal event in question. In addition, some laws require that attendant circumstances have occurred, in order for a crime to have taken place. Also, in order for a crime to be prosecuted, proof of a crime must be established. There are six dominant constructions of crime as we see it; * Crime as a social construct * Crime as a violation of moral codes * Crime as ideological censure * Crime as a criminal law violation * Crime as historical invention * Crime as social harm There are different theories of criminology as these are as follows Positivism, Conservatism, Strain theory; new deviancy theory and Marxism, these theories each have a view on what crime should be defined as. Crime as...
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...This essay will discuss the sociological imagination and social construction. It will offer insights of problem families and will look at it from a feminist theory and functionalism theory it will discus oppression and the impact on social institutions and underpin social work practise and the relevance. Charles Write Mills was an American Sociologist. His most famous was The Sociological Imagination, where mills states that personal troubles should become issues of the public. (mills books) By sharing these personal troubles with society will help a person realise they may not be alone and others maybe going through the same thing for example if a husband with his wife and children loses his job and is struggling to find another one. By...
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...According to the Official Crime statistics most crime is committed by young people with the peak age of crime being 18 for males and 15 for females, with the majority of this crime consisting of theft and handling stolen goods which make up over 50% of all youth crimes. Cohen states that young people have a desire to feel valued, respected and to gain status within society. He states that this age difference may exist due to young working class boys feeling alienated and angry at the low status that schools and society allocate them and experience status frustration which results in the formation of gangs or subcultures of like-minded boys who reverse the norms and values of dominant culture and award status on the basis of anti-school and delinquent behaviour. This theory was influence by Merton, who states that crime results from a strain to anomie, which is when a working class boy is unable to achieve success in society through legitimate means which results in those boys looking for this achievement through illegitimate means by committing crimes to get back at a society which did not allow them to achieve. Kintrea’s theory of gang violence reinforces this as it explains that territorial conflict with rivals from other areas heightens the sense of masculinity. This in turn allows males to gain status, respect and reputation from each other which they failed to receive from mainstream society. However, these theories fail to explain why those in the middle or upper classes...
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...and division. Native Americans have been the victims of oppression since Europeans came to North America. Europeans considered themselves to be an advanced civilization, who created social constructions of young America. Europeans introduced the term race to already existing societies in America, by differentiating Native Americans by the color of their skin. Through time, these Native American societies accepted the constructs of race and were referred to as “us” versus “them” to distinguish which race they represented. As Europeans settlers began to expand their civilization over Native American territories, their hierarchical power grew as well. The way Europeans inherited this hierarchical power was due to their technology (e.g. guns, education, medicine, etc.) leaving many Native Americans powerless. The textbook, “Investigation Difference” by Vernon Anthony states, "…use difference as a resource as we have done so ably in the past, or we can use power, coercion, and hate to try to eradicate diversity from our country as many fundamentalist, militant, and radically conservation groups and individuals advocate" ( Anthony, pg. 5). After the European settlers dominated Native American societies, Native Americans fell into the category of disadvantaged groups under the social construction of the early development of the United States. The reason why Native Americans could be in the disadvantaged group was because they were deprived of their privileges by having their...
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...in the 70’s and 80’s in changing politics. The realist view is that crime is not just a social construction, but is a real problem that needs to be tackled. Realists believe that there has been a significant rise in the crime rate and favours a tough approach against it, as they think that other theories have failed to offer a solution to crime. The left realists Lea and Young attempt to give an explanation to street crime, committed by young people in urban areas. These sociologists took a victim survey which suggested that working-class and black people, especially elderly women, have a fear of street crime, as they are often victims of crime. Their explanation of why crime is committed by revolves around three key concepts. Firstly, relative deprivation, which explains how one person feel sin relation to another, this leads into crime very easily as people can feel as if others are unfairly better off than they are, and this resentment can lead to crime. Lea and Young suggests that although in today’s society people are more affluent they are still aware of their relative deprivation because of the media and advertising, which increase everyone’s expectation on standards of living. This is linked to the idea of individualism, because this undermines the family and community values of mutual support, cooperation and selflessness, which results in anti-social behaviour. The second concept of why crime is committed is marginalisation. Left realists argue that people feel...
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...Assignment Module 2 1. Explain why we say that race is a social construction and provide an example. • Race is a social construction because race is not static. The definition of race and what constitutes it has changed over the years. This is usually based on the biases and feelings of superiority among the dominant race who seek to create and enforce differences based on their own agenda. Race is an ever-changing thing. For example, with mass immigration to America in the late 1800s and 1900s, the term white was broken down into various categories, and not considered one race. There were the Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. all considered different races and discriminated against by initial “white” Americans. Gradually this changed where all groups merged to be lumped under one umbrella of the white race. This highlight how race has and continues to change based on...
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...committed three or more killings in between emotional cooling-off periods (Miller, 2014) – can be traced back to the beginning of human history. Nevertheless, many scholars of today have argued that social and cultural circumstances have led to a specific modern conceptualization and representation of serial killers in the Western world. One of the primary influencers shaping the notion of the serial killer is the mass media. The modern stereotyped depiction of serial killers is that they range between the ages of 20 to 40 and are typically white, single, heterosexual males (Haggerty, 2009). These common depictions of serial killers are presented...
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...Crime is a contested subject that is approached by an array of academic disciplines. it draws upon psychology, sociology, law, politics, philosophy and more, which makes defining crime difficult.. The oxford dictionary definition on crime is; an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law; illegal activities; an action or activity considered to be evil, shameful or wrong. This means crimes are not and will not be the same within each society, because norms and values will differ between each. Meaning some acts which would be considered crime in one society, not within another. "the formal concept of "crime" is an inherently unstable and shifting index of fear and insecurity.. what is conceptualised as crime changes over time and is rarely consistent across different societies.. legal conceptions of crime offer only a partial representation.." (muncie and mcLaughling,2001,p.1) It is a social construction as it varies across culture, time and law, it is defined by society's own rules. Crime is constructed by the use of social laws, and the decisions of those with power to make some of these social laws into criminal laws. Therefore there wouldn't be any crime if that society's government didn't make any laws. “Crime only exists when the label and the law are successfully applied to an individuals behaviour. It is not what people do, but how they are perceived and evaluated by others, that constitutes crime.” (John Muncie “The Problem Of Crime”) ...
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...Brazil’s Economy In 2001, Brazil was viewed as one of the up and coming, fastest growing economies in the world. In fact, Jim O’Neill wrote a paper titled, “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”, which is about the emerging economies in the world. The acronym BRIC represents: Brazil, Russia, India, and China (Smith). These global leaders have lived up to expectations and have grown at a much faster rate than the rest of the world. They have been able to lift millions of people out of poverty, including 40 million in Brazil alone. Will Brazil continue to be part of the BRIC in years to come? A 2010 Goldman Sachs report predicted by the year 2030 the BRIC countries would account for an astounding 41% of the world’s market share (Smith). But we now see that those predicted numbers are very far from certain. Many believe if Brazil does not improve some of its problems plaguing its society, the BRIC could easily become the RIC group. Without the necessary changes being made, Brazil’s annual compounding rate of 4.4% could be washed away. Recently the GDP numbers show their industrial output lingering around recession numbers. It is also predicted that the Brazilian economy will grow less than the U.S. economy this year (Rapoza). Brazil was originally able to secure its spot in the fastest growing nations in the mid to late nineties by bold privatization and economic liberalization policies by then president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Cardoso’s successor, “Lula” da...
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...source of corruption and evil. The role that the city plays in creating evil is not limited to the labyrinth nature of the city which protects the crimes of antagonists and villains. The creation of evil and is association with the city is also influenced by the early Victorian perception of the city and the crimes that occurred in the city. Irene Adler the primary antagonist and villain, in the Arthur Conon Doyle’s “Scandal in Bohemia” (1891), outwits Sherlock Holmes – One of the greatest detectives and brilliant minds in literature to date. The nature in which if she operates, is helped by the nature of the city which encourages, promotes and even hide the criminality and violence....
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...the business world. The topic begins with a short-lived incursion into standards which provide us with a distinct set of lens through which we indicate to view social miracles around us. Next we sharpen the discrepancy between the two major paradigms – reckonable and qualitative approaches – while at the same time admitting that there are perhaps more alterations within each paradigm than there are between them. In other words, they are not polar inverses. In fact elements of both paradigms can be combined to bring about a diverse methods method to business research. Philosophies are the main head to scientific investigation and we will consider their configuration in terms of essential concepts, constructs and variables and how these are correlated to proposals. Finally, we take a look at the framing of inquiry hypotheses and the ways in which that progression differs from producing research questions. Scale of data measurement: Glaser and Strauss’s unique conceptualization of beached theory has undergone some changes. While numerous disparities of the innovative idea exist, as Charmaz notes, they all have the following apparatuses in mutual: (a) Immediate data collection and scrutiny; (b) search of growing themes through early data analysis, (c) discovery of basic social methods within the data, (d) inductive construction of nonconcrete categories that clarify and manufacture these procedures, (e) selection to improve the classes through relative procedures, and (f) addition of...
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...1 5/10/2012 Top Quality Architects, LP My company, Top Quality Architects has just recently won a bid to construct a high rise residential apartment building. Before we get started there are a few considerations to take a look at during the beginning of this new project. The location that the construction will take place borders a high crime urban area. When we construct this building we want our residents to feel safe while living here whether they are parking their vehicle or just exiting or entering the apartment building. Our design will not include ground floor apartments simply because we feel that there is no security and public to private entrance will only increase the possibility of a crime to happen. In order to do this we would have to apply the crime prevention through environmental design concept. Crime prevention through environmental design or CPTED reduces the opportunity of crime occurring. We know that it is impossible to mitigate crime permanently so we take every precaution we can to reduce it by a large percentage. To be effective and truly implement the CPTED principles, the design factors must be blended with the social (human) factors of the environment. This blend requires the involvement of trained and dedicated individuals, (a mix of government, neighborhood, and business representatives) from its design through it use, individuals from very diverse disciplines coming together to design an environment for people to experience...
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