Sociology Paper 2

• Hiendersohn was a feminist who used control theory to explain how patriarchy leads to women committing less crimes.
• Hindersohn suggested that women where controlled in the:

  Home (By Husbands)

  At Work (By Male Bosses)

  In Public (By the threat/fear of male violence)
• Becker was an interactionist who said acts are only deviant/criminal when labelled as such by society. Individuals accept this label through self fulfilling prophecies & it becomes their master status.
• Becker talked about master statuses. This is what they see as their most important charecteristic.
• An example of Master Statuses and Self-Fufilling prophecies is Jacob Young, who is now a rapist
• Becker suggested they spiral into deviant careers by joining deviant/criminal subcultures, committing more acts of deviance/crime.
• Carlen was a feminist who completed unstructured interviews with 39 working class women (to understand reasons for crime).
• Carlen suggested they turned to deviant subcultures because they had less to lose and couldnt conform with the:

  Class Deal

  Gender Deal

  For example, they are less likely to have healthy relationships and unlikely to have well-paying jobs (Making them turn to crime as they have less to lose)
• Albert Cohern was a functionalist who suggested working class boys hold the same goals as the rest of society but because the lack of educational and employment opportunities they had little/no chance to realise their goals
• Albert Cohern (functionalist) suggested boys experiences status frustration when they joined delinquent subcultures where they committed deviant acts to gain status.
• Merton was a functionalist who suggested crime occured due to strain and that people cannot legally achieve the goals of society due to poor opportunities.
• Mertons functionalist 5 theorys where;

  Conformity

  Ritualism

  Innovation

  Retralism

  Rebellion
• Merton - Conformity: people achiving their goals through non-deviant means. Eg: Working hard for a promotion
• Merton - Ritualism: People give up on their goals but still continue to follow the rules and go through the motions of life. Eg: Turning up to work everyday
• Merton - Innovation: They realise their goals are unreachable through legitimate means, they innovate (criminally) to achieve them. Eg: Robbing a bank rather than working for it.
• Merton - Retralism: People giving up on their goals and they retreat from society. Eg: Dropping out of work and becoming a drug addict
• Merton Rebellion: Rejecting societies goals and means of achiving them and rebel against society. Eg: Dropping out of work and engaging in terrorist activities
• Durkhiems functionalist perspective suggests that crime can be positive because it preforms boundary maintenance (Allows people to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours), Changing Societies, Acts as a warning device (Teaches us about underlying issues such as suicide and knife crime), Provides jobs eg: police.
• Stanley Cohen was an interactionist who suggested there was a deviancy amplification spiral which due to the medias dramatisation it leads to increased visibility and anxiety about certain events.
• Criticism of Robert Merton: Fails to explain why some people commit non utilitarian crime, He assumes everyone is committed to success which is not the case, for example people who dont seek promotion due to family commitments.
• Travis Hirchi was a postmodernist who created bonds of attachment theory that suggested that bonds form between individuals and when these bonds weaken deviancy and crime may result.
• Steven joans criticises the Marxist perspective by suggesting that capitalism doesnt always lead to crime, eg in Switzerland
• Davis and Moore are functionalists who talked about Role Allocation suggesting that society must allocate certain roles to people, saying that some roles come with high status, wealth and power to make them desirable to the best people for them. They suggested that Social stratification was a 'universal necessity'.
• Criticisms of Davis and Moore; Occupations with lower rewards can be seen as functionally important. No proof that talent is linked with the most important positions.
• CW Mills was a functionalist that suggested we need high income inequality for top jobs to be desirable
• Criticisms of CW Mills: Out of date - things have changed
• Peter Saunders was a functionalist sociologist who said the reason the middle class dominate the workplace is because they are smarter and work harder. (Cultural Capital and lack of material deprivation). They work harder as they suit the middle class values of society and belive in meritocracy.
• A criticism of Peter Saunders is that its too deterministic because working class people also work hard but are not valued for the workplace as they lack the same education achievements as the middle class.
• Karl Marx's Marxist theory suggested society was organised based on an individuals relation to the means of production. Those who owned it where the bourgeoisie and those who dont are the proletariat, who sell their labour to the bourgeoisie. This creates hierachy.

  Due to rising inequalities the proletariat would gain class consciousness and rise up against the bourgeoisie.
• Criticisms of Marx Theory: New right and functionalists argue that capitalism is beneficial for society and creates opportunities for social mobility.
• Devine was critical of goldthorpe and lockwood who suggested that the domestic life was more privatised and centred around the home and that the working class where becoming the 'new working class'. Devine challenges these ideas suggesting she found no evidence of privitised instrumentalism. Lifestyle of her sample wasnt traditional working class but not as privitised as goldthorpe and lockwood suggested. Rejecting the idea of the 'new working class' and that there was just a rise in living standards and aspirations as consumers.
• Criticism of Devine: Under-representative as she only had a sample of 62 people in one city who all worked in the same factory.
• Melvin Tumin was a critique of Davis and Moore, suggesting that not all jobs earn what they deserve, eg: nurses, bin-men (functionally important roles). He suggested that not everyone had equal chances due to:

  Nepotism; Passing down of wealth

  Resentment: Less privilege dont want to acept the lack of privilege
• Weber said that Marxism didnt explain how complex class is (or social action theory). He suggested people gain positions according to identities (How people see them -> class, status, power). Class was your occupation and market position. Status was how important your job is and power is the ability to influence. He suggested those who have similar class have similar life chances.

  3 Sources of power:

  Traditional: Inherited status - The King

  Legal: Through established laws - Prime Minister

  Charismatic: Special Qualities - Nelson Mandela
• A criticism of Weber is the new right who suggest weber is biased, ignoring social mobility and opportunities created by capitalism