Sociological theories

• Functionalism


  Theory that focuses on what holds society together, interested in how we are socialised into the morals and values that we have
• Strain theory


  Theory that focuses on what holds society together, interested in how we are socialised into the morals and values that we have
• Functionalist theory


  • Society is seen as a stable social structure based on shared norms, values and beliefs about right and wrong - value consensus
  • Value consensus binds people together and creates a social solidarity
• Anomie


  Normless state where shared rules become less clear
• Functionalist view of crime


  • Crime is inevitable because some people will not be socialised enough and will deviate from norms and laws
  • Society contains subcultural groups who have different norms and values to the majority
• Functions of crime


  • Boundary maintenance
  • Punishing offenders
  • Public shame
  • Adaptation and change
  • Safety valve
  • Warning sign
• Some crime is inevitable because every society has some sort of crime and deviance, in a healthy society deviants test the boundaries and laws may be changed on the public's reaction
• Too much crime is a threat to society and will lead to anomie, social breakdowns and a more dangerous society
• Merton's Strain Theory


  Focuses on the goals people are socialised to achieve and the means they are supposed to use to achieve those goals
• Merton's modes of adaptation

  • Conformists
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Merton's Strain Theory


  • Not everyone has an equal chance of achieving their goals because of certain factors e.g being working class
  • This creates a 'strain' between the goals and the means, despite this people will still find a way to achieve their goals i.e cheating the system
• Cohen's Status Frustration


  Sees subcultural deviance as a group response to failure, rather than an individual one, focusing on non-utilitarian crimes (not for financial gain)
• Cloward and Ohlin's deviant subcultures


  • Criminal subcultures
  • Conflict subcultures
  • Retreatist subcultures
• Interactionism


  Believes we create society through our day to day interactions with other people, based on shared meanings or labels
• Labelling theory


  There is no such thing as a deviant nor a deviant act, acts only become seen as crimes once society has reacted and decided they are offended by the behaviour
• Primary deviance


  Acts that have not been publicly labelled, often trivial and go uncaught
• Secondary deviance


  Results from labelling - The individual is labelled a thief, for example, this becomes their master status overriding the idea they could be a father, churchgoer workmate etc.
• Labelling theory


  • If the negative label is successfully applied to the offender, the label may produce a self-fulfilling prophecy in which the offender lives up to the label
  • The criminal label then becomes their master status – it overrides all other labels a person may have
  • Crime becomes a person's deviant career – as society is hostile to them, they may find it hard to get a normal job and so turn to more crime
  • The labelling may also lead to the creation of deviant subcultures – as society is hostile to them, they seek other outsiders for support
• Self-fulfilling prophecy


  When a false definition of the situation evokes a new behaviour that makes the original false conception come true
• Marxist theory of crime and law

  • Capitalism causes crime (criminogenic)
  • Law making and law enforcement is biassed against the working class and in favour of the powerful
  • Crime and the law perform ideological functions to protect the interests of the ruling class
• Types of crime in Marxist theory

  • Blue collar crimes (crimes of the powerless)
  • White collar crimes (crimes of the powerful)
• Right Realism


  • Crime is real and a growing issue
  • Crime statistics are giving an accurate representation of crime
  • There are realistic social policies that the government should introduce to address crime
• Causes of crime in Right Realism

  • Biological differences (e.g. impulsivity)
  • Inadequate socialisation (e.g. poor parenting, lack of male authority figures)
  • Rational choice (humans have free will and choose to commit crime)
• Inadequate socialisation


  Parents are not socialising children properly
• Divorce


  Poor family socialisation and no male authority figures
• Rational choice theory


  Humans have freewill and they have chosen to commit crime
• Several studies support rational choice theory, the main supporting theory for right realism
• Rettig gave students a scenario of an opportunity to commit a crime and found the degree of punishment determined whether they said they would go ahead
• Feldman found people made rational decisions, if a crime was considered low risk, high yield they said it would be worth committing
• Bennett and Wright interviewed convicted burglars and found the burglars considered the potential reward, difficulty of breaking in and risk of being caught, with risk being the most important factor influencing their decision to commit crime
• Right realism


  Explains opportunistic petty crimes such as theft
• Rettig and Feldman's research was based on experiments which lack environmental validity, the result may not apply to real offenders
• Bennett and Wright studied unsuccessful burglars, we don't know if successful burglars think the same way
• Not all crime is the result of rational decisions, violent crimes are impulsive
• Offenders acting under the influence of drugs or alcohol may not be capable of making rational decisions
• Left realism


  Has a socialist view of criminality, seeing inequality in society as a root cause of crime, with the majority of victims coming from disadvantaged groups, working class, ethnic minorities and women
• Main factors in left realism

  • Working class people commit crime due to relative deprivation
  • Individualism
  • Marginalisation
• Surveillance theories


  Look at ways surveillance is carried out e.g CCTV, tagging
• On average we are under surveillance 70 times a day
• Panopticon


  An 18th century prison design by Jeremy Bentham where prisoners could be constantly watched without knowing if they were being watched at any given moment, leading them to self-monitor their own behaviour