Criminology 2.3 sociological

• Sociological - Marxism 


  Structural theory

  Believed that unequal structure of capitalist society shapes a persons behaviour.

  Crime is seen as inevitable, criminogenic (crime causing)
• Marxism - classes of society

  He believed there were 2 classes:

  • Ruling capitalist society (bourgeoise) - businesses, own land and private property.
  • Working class (proletariat)- capitalists exploits their labor to make profit
• Functionalism - Durkheim


  Society is a stable structure based on shared norms and values.

  Crime is inevitable, some people are inadequately socialised and likely to deviate.
• Functionalism - boundary maintenance 


  Crime produces a reaction from society that unites them against the wrong doer and reminds them between right and wrong.

  This reaffirms shared rules.
• Functionalism - anomie


  Term for normlessness.

  Shared norms and values break down and become weaker.

  Individuals have not been adequately socialised into society and therefore deviate.
• Functionalism - safety valve 


  It is believed that deviant acts can release social pressures. Instead of committing crime, people commit a minor deviant act.

  For example - prostitution acts help release mens sexual frustrations without threatening the nuclear family therefore maintaining stability within society.
• Sociological - strain theory (Merton)

  Root cause of crime lies in the unequal structure of society
• Strain theory - blocked opportunities

  Not everyone has equal chance because opportunities for the working class are blocked by poverty.

  Blocked opportunities - unequal access to education, lack of quality of life.

  Creates a strain between goal and means to achieve it
• Strain theory - 4 causes of deviance

  Identified by Merton

  • Innovators - accept goal but through illegitimate ways, committing crime
  • Ritualism - give up striving for success
  • Retreatism - dropouts, reject goals and means
  • Rebellion - rejects existing goals and replaces them with new ones with the aim of changing society
• Strain theory - illegitimacy

  When individuals are unable to meet their goals through legitimate means they would resort to illegitimate or illegal measures to achieve their goals.
• Labelling theory - Becker

  "Deviancy is not a quality of the act a person commits but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an offender"

  Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people label
• Functionalism - strengths

  • Durkheim was first to recognise that crime can have positive functions for society like reinforcing boundaries between right and wrong.
  • Recognises that peoples norms, values and behaviours are influenced by broad social structures
  • Strengthens social bonds amongst people reacting to deviant acts
• Functionalism - weaknesses

  • Ignores other theories such as biological theories like Lombroso and adoption studies.
  • While crime might be functional for some, it is not functional for victims
  • Durkheim claims society requires a certain amount of deviance to function but offers no way of knowing how much the right amount is
• Merton - strengths

  • Shows how both normal and deviant behaviour come from the same goals - explains the reason for crime and deviance as a result of social strain
  • Explains patterns of crime and statistics shows in official statistics
  • Explains why working class crime rates may be higher than other crime rates and the reason for why they commit these crimes
• Merton - weaknesses

  • Ignores crimes of wealth and over predicts the amount of working class crime
  • Ignores other theories like individualistic theories such as social learning theory
  • Focuses on only utilitarian crime like theft and ignoring crimes with no economic motive like vandalism
• Labelling theory - Lemert 


  Distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance.

  Primary deviance - when someone initially commits a deviant acts and as a result labelled as deviant.

  Secondary deviant - when someone is known as deviant and carries out more deviant acts. The result of the societal reaction to primary deviance.
• Marxism - strengths

  • Shows how poverty causes working class crime and capitalism promotes greed and ruling class crime
  • Shows how law making and enforcement are biased against working class
  • Promotes equality and the significance of it
• Marxism - weakness

  • Focuses on class and ignores relationship between crime and other qualities like race or gender
  • Over predicts about of working class crime - not all poor people turn to crime
  • Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates - Japan's homicide rate is a fifth of USA's