Module 2 - Sociology

• Crime and deviant behavior

  Socially constructed, dependent on social location, factors include time, age, gender, cultural norms and values
• Crime and deviance


  Subjective, depend on social opinion, norms and values of a society
• Sociological theories on crime and deviance

  • Examine causes of crime
  • Consider impact of crime on social order
  • Explain how those in power maintain social order through social control
• Functionalists


  Examine function of crime and deviance in society, how they impact social order and how society controls behavior
• Durkheim


  Focused on impacts of crime on established social order, suggested crime has both positive and negative impacts
• Merton


  Suggested existing social order causes crime, as society expects conformity to idealized norms and values
• Hirschi


  Explained role of social control in preventing deviant behavior, those less integrated into society more likely to become criminal
• Subcultural theories


  Groups react to norms and values of society due to inability to achieve socially approved goals, seek status through criminal/deviant activities
• Marxist views


  Ruling class use power to exert control over working classes through ideology and physical force, ignore crimes of powerful, focus on crimes of powerless
• Neo-Marxist views


  Individuals develop agency in response to excessive controls, resulting in criminal behaviors as resistance
• Feminist views


  • Different levels of control over males and females, reflected in reporting, recording and punishment of crime
  • Women subjected to social controls limiting opportunities to commit crime, policed through informal controls
• Interactionist views


  • Crime result of interactions between individuals
  • Deviance not defined by individual but by wider society
  • Media used as form of social control, amplifying petty offenses and generating moral panics
  • Labeling as form of social control leading to social isolation
• Realist theories


  • See crime as serious problem requiring realistic solutions
  • Right realists focus on controlling individuals, reducing opportunities and harsher punishments
  • Left realists look to tackle inequalities, provide opportunities for legitimate status
• Functionalist theories of crime and deviance


  Theories that explain how crime and deviance function in and for society
• Durkheim's theory of social change

  1. Organic change - gradual social changes that advance society

  2. Mechanical/engineered solidarity - social changes through institutions like education
• Rapid social changes after industrial revolution

  Led to unwanted changes in society, loss of organic solidarity, shift towards mechanical solidarity
• Anomie


  Drift away from the norms and values of society
• Durkheim suggested crime was inevitable in modern society and a certain level was desirable
• Too much crime would lead to decay of society's norms and values, too little would stagnate growth
• Boundary maintenance


  Social reactions to criminal behaviour that reinforce the value consensus of society
• Boundary maintenance examples


  • Public reactions to terrorist attacks
  • Public condemnation of 2011 riots in UK
• Adaptation and change


  Deviant behaviour demonstrates changing attitudes towards established social order, leads to gradual change in norms and values
• Adaptation and change examples

  • Civil rights movement
  • Gay rights movement
  • Women's liberation movement
  • Removal of slavery statues
• Other functions of crime suggested by Durkheim include safety valve and social release
• Criticisms of Durkheim's theory include difficulty defining optimal level of crime, lack of explanation for how crime occurs, and reduced effect of deviance in contemporary society
• Merton's views on the role of crime and deviance

  • Suggested that dysfunction existed in society, unlike other functionalists
  • Suggested that there was structural inequality in society
  • Suggested that the insistence of promoting the American Dream of wealth and power led to a strain to deviate from the norms and values of society
• American Dream


  Shared by most Americans, but society did not provide clear guidelines on how to achieve it
• Strain to deviate from norms and values of society


  Inevitably leads to criminal and deviant behaviors
• Merton's five different adaptations to strain

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Conformity


  Accepting the American Dream of wealth and power and actively pursuing it through legitimate means
• Innovation


  Accepting the socially approved goals but choosing illegitimate means of achieving the American Dream
• Innovation


  • Organized crime syndicates
  • White-collar criminals
  • Corporate criminals
  • Criminals focused on utilitarian crimes for financial gain
• Ritualism


  Accepting they were unlikely to achieve the American Dream, but content to conform to society's norms and values through legitimate means
• Ritualists


  • People in routine occupations, administrative roles, middle management
• Retreatism


  Rejecting the socially approved goals and legitimate means of achieving the American Dream, leading to drug/alcohol abuse, petty crimes, vagrancy
• Rebellion


  Challenging the socially approved goals and looking to create alternative visions of society, rejecting legitimate means
• Rebellion


  • Political dissidents, activists, protesters
• Merton's strain theory recognizes the role of structural inequality in crime and highlights how lack of opportunities can impact different social groups
• Merton's theory offers a rational explanation for crimes committed for financial gain, but does not explain crimes of passion or violent crimes