Why do differences between social classes exist?

• Inaccurate statistics


  Statistics on crime are not necessarily accurate and research shows that more crime is committed by people that don't have  a job or are in a low paid job.It could be though that the commit crimes that are more identifiable and more likely to be targeted by the police therefore there are more likely to be caught and arrested then the middle and higher class.It's also not recorded because the dark figure of crime.
• Socialisation


  Children develop their norms and values from their parents.Children firm working class parents will develop different norms and values to children in the higher class.
• Material Deprivation


  Children from working class backgrounds may suffer from material deprivation which is the lack of materials they need.This may lead them turning to crime if they can't afford materials that are typical in society.
• Education


  Working class children are likely to be put in bottom sets and streams and then fail at school.This will lead them to be put into lower-paid jobs and having a lack of money.This then  can lead to them having criminal behaviour in society. The key study to go with this would be Merton and the study of goals and means which is a yellow sheet in our books.
• Anomie


  This occurs when there is a mismatch between goals and means of achieving them.Their are certain socially acceptable ways of achieving these goals but when people can't achieve them they may turn to a criminal route to be able to achieve their goal.
• Labelling


  The working class population are more likely to be offenders of crime and than this may lead some police to label those of  the lower class as criminals.The working class population are more likely to commit crime that is visible such as theft while the middle class are more likely to commit crimes that aren't seen like fraud and taking money that isn't yours form a company (embezzlement).Once a working class member is labelled as a criminal the rest of society than also labels them criminal.