Topic 2: crime and deviance

• Crime

  An act that breaks laws set by government
• Deviance


  An act that breaks social norms
• Sanctions

  Used when people break laws or social norms, ranging from comments, dirty looks and fines to physical punishments and prison
• What is seen as a crime or deviant act varies in different cultures and over time
• These are historical and cultural variations, which are socially constructed or created by each society
• Social Order

  When everybody works together and follows society's rules, norms and expectations
• Social Order

  • Requires social control to ensure it
• Consensus Approach

  People follow rules because they are brought up to have the same norms and values and want the same things from life, and agree that rules are there to support them in achieving the ideal society, so most people are happy to follow them
• Conflict Approach

  People follow rules because the people in charge decide most of society's rules and put consequences in place for when we don't follow them
• Socialisation

  1. Family (primary socialisation)

  2. Peer group, schools, the media, religion and workplace (secondary socialisation)
• Informal social control

  Socialisation is the first method
• Positive sanctions

  Designed to encourage us to repeat certain behaviour, for example praise/reward for good work/obedience
• Negative sanctions

  Designed to influence people not to repeat behaviour which is unacceptable, for example teacher telling off student for poor behaviour
• Agents of informal social control use sanctions that can either be positive or negative
• How the police act as agencies of social control

  1. Enforce the law

  2. Respond to complaints

  3. Investigate what happened
• The police try to enforce the law when a written law is broken
• How the prison system acts as an agency of social control

  1. Lock up criminals to protect society

  2. Act as a deterrent to others thinking of breaking laws

  3. Rehabilitate criminals so they won't break laws again when released
• How the judiciary acts as an agency of social control

  1. Judges and law courts deal with criminals caught by the police

  2. Look at the case and find the person guilty or not

  3. Sentence guilty criminals with community service, fines or prison time
• How the government acts as an agency of social control

  1. Create and invent the laws that tell us how to behave

  2. E.g. it is illegal to steal another person's belongings
• Crime


  Any form of behaviour that breaks the law
• Custodial sentences


  Punishment where offenders will be sentenced to go to prison or Young offenders institute
• Crime rate


  A measure of the level of criminal activity in a society based on crimes recorded by the police
• Dark figure of crime


  The unknown amount of criminal activity that is not reported or recorded to the police
• Deviance


  Any form of behaviour that does not conform to the norms of a society – this can be influenced by time, place, social situation and culture
• Formal agencies of social control


  Formal rules and social controls that tell everyone within society what is and is not acceptable e.g. the police, the courts, the government
• Informal agencies of social control

  The approval or disapproval of people around us that can influence and control our behaviour e.g. family , friends, peer group, schools, work, religion
• Official crime statistics


  Government statistics on crime based on official sources e.g. police records
• Self-report study


  A survey that asks respondents to identify crimes they have committed, but for which they have not been caught
• Social construction of crime

  What is considered criminal and deviant changes over time or when it takes place, therefore is socially constructed. No act is in itself criminal or deviant- it largely depends on how other member of society see it e.g. homosexuality
• Merton's strain theory is based on secondary sources
• Victim survey


  A survey that asks respondents about their experience of crime, regardless of whether or not those crimes have reported
• Merton’s (1938) strain theory

  • Functionalist
  • Secondary sources
  • People’s aspirations and goals are shaped by their culture e.g. American Dream = economic success
  • Some people experience a strain between the goals of society and the means of achieving them.
  • This may lead to anomie (normlessness)
  • They may seek out an illegitimate route to economic success e.g. crime
• Becker’s (1963) interactionist perspective

  • Interactionist
  • Secondary sources
  • Argues deviance is created by society
  • Powerful social groups create deviance by making the rules and applying these to others
  • People can develop deviant careers if labelled as deviant
  • The deviant label can become a master status (main identity)
  • Labelling can lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy
• Heidensohn’s (1985) control theory

  • Feminist
  • Data from her study of delinquent girls; secondary sources
  • Women commit less crime because they are more closely controlled in society
  • In a patriarchal society, women have stronger social control placed on them which can reduce opportunities for crime
  • At home, women are controlled by domestic responsibilities, at work by fear of damaging reputation and in public by fear of male violence
• Carlen’s (1988) class and gender deal

  • Feminist Unstructured interviews
  • Carlen explains why working-class women commit crime
  • She argues they are promised two rewards for conforming- ‘class deal’ (money and material items from working hard) and ‘gender deal’ (happy domestic life with husband and children)
  • She found WC women committed crime when these rewards were blocked due to: poverty, living in care, drug addiction.
  • They had nothing to lose and everything to gain
• Cohen’s (1955) subcultural theory

  • Functionalist Secondary sources
  • Argues delinquency is carried out by groups not individuals, and that groups often commit non- utilitarian (not motivated by money) crimes
  • Working class boys experience status frustration at not succeeding in middle class school
  • They join/ form a delinquent subculture with an alternative status hierarchy where they will gain status for deviance