Social construction

• Crime is defined as breaking the law, which may result in criminal proceedings.
• Deviance is defined as behaviour that deviates from the accepted norms and values in society
• Crime and Deviancy are relative/socially constructed

  1. Time- homosexuality illegal until 1967 in UK, gay marriage in 2013
  2. Place- age of consent is 16 in UK but 14 in Italy and Germany
  3. Person- drinking alcohol is illegal for under 16's but not for adults
• Cicourel - Interactionist 


  Working class youth are more likely to have a criminal record than middle class youth due to police bias, despite no difference in their behaviour.
• Becker - Interactionist


  Deviant behaviour is behaviour that is labelled as such
• Social order is defined as the general order or conformity to shared norms and values
• Social control is defined as the process by which people are persuaded to obey rules and conform. Agents of social control, such as police and courts, are used to do this.
• Two types of social control

  1. Informal social control - subtle control through positive and negative sanctions by agencies such as media, family, and peers.
  2. Formal social control - carried out by agencies specifically set up to control our behaviour, such as police, courts, and the army.