crime

• Crime


  An act that breaks laws of society (e.g: going through a red light)
• Deviance


  An act/behaviour which defies societal norms /values (e.g: lying)
• Deviance is Relative


  Depends on social setting/situations/time/place (e.g: nudity at home vs on a bus / chewing gum in school vs at home)
• Some acts can be both criminal and deviant (e.g: rape)
• Social Order


  Occurs when society is running smoothly without criminal behavior and disruption - it is regulated via legislation
• Social Control


  Handles a breakdown in social order
• Types of Social Control

  • Informal
  • Formal
• Informal social control


  Controlling behaviours with social expectations (e.g. social media/peer pressure/parents)
• Formal social control


  Controlling behaviours with written laws by formal organisations (e.g. prison/fines/sacking)
• Marxists suggest a breakdown in social order is influenced by an unfair division of power with the less privileged (women/working class) expressing dissatisfaction through crime
• Functionalists say a value consensus is a societal agreement on the right way to behave (shared norms/values)
• Functionalist view of crime

  • Crime is a normal, integral part of all healthy societies
  • Durkheim argued crime only occurs because of anomie (a lack of norms so people turn to any means to achieve success)
• Merton's strain theory


  Some people end up experiencing strain between goals they have been expected/socialised to achieve and means of achieving them, so turn to crime as it appears an easier way to achieve expectations (anomie)
• Cohen's status frustration


  Working class boys had less opportunity to achieve goals due to educational failure and cultural deprivation, hence why they turned to a criminal subculture (group with criminal norms/values)
• Working class statistically commit more crime than any other class, according to official stats they commit the most violence & robbery
• Marxist view of crime

  The authoritative bourgeoisie create the laws so they punish some crimes more than others (bias), agencies of social control work to protect the bourgeoisie which leaves the working class more vulnerable to police targeting, capitalism encourages crime with these values
• Statistically, men are more likely to commit crime
• Chivalry factor


  Women are treated more leniently by justice system (especially mothers)
• Bedroom subculture


  Girls are protected at a young age and are less exposed to society (boys let out with mates more often)
• Heidenson's control theory


  Social bonds acted as a method of social control, a patriarchal society controls women making it harder for them to break the law
• Carlen's control theory


  People are controlled by deals/rewards rather than social bonds, common for the working class as they need the rewards the deal provides (a wage/being a housewife)
• Dobash & Dobash argued men use the facade of 'family' to exercise power/control thus abusing one physically and mentally
• Alder's liberation theory suggests if society becomes more equal, women's crime rates will also become more equal to men's (e.g. more women in senior positions means more white-collar crime)
• Interactionist view


  There is no deviance, there are only acts which are labelled as deviant, deviance is created by a reaction of others, what is considered deviant depends on the time, place, social setting and reaction of others
• Becker's master status


  The main label we are perceived with, some groups are more susceptible to this (lower class) and some groups have the power to enforce these labels (upper class), a criminal label leads to a criminal career (deviant way of life)
• Moral panic


  The media traumatising events
• Deviancy amplification


  The media's dramatics encouraging people to make it an actual problem
• Victimology suggests the person with the highest risk of being a victim of crime is a young black male
• Police bias - police act on their prejudice by assuming certain minorities are more likely to be a criminal
• Institutional racism - a whole organisation having a culture of prejudice towards ethnic minorities thus treating them unfairly
• Statistics: Black people are 5x more likely to be stopped & searched, 29 arrests for every 1000 Black but 9 for every 1000 White, Black people are 4x more likely to end up in prison
• Edgework theory


  Suggests taking voluntary risks is an escape from social boundaries (living life on the edge)
• Official statistics


  Not all crime is reported/recorded for many reasons
• Victim surveys


  Ask people about their experiences with crime over the last year with questionnaires
• Self-report surveys


  Ask individuals if they've committed a crime/how often
• The dark figure of crime


  The crime which is unreported
• Social stratification


  The way society is structured and divided with layers based on social class
• Social inequalities


  Each layer is unequally ranked which leads to unequal distributions of most things, the most privileged are at the top and the least privileged at the bottom which impacts their chances of success
• Functionalist view of social stratification

  • Stratification is inevitable and people will naturally fall into the layers society needs to create social order
  • A meritocratic society means people will receive rewards for talents, this leads to a productive society as the most important jobs are done by those truly suited, high pay/status follows the more important jobs to attract those truly suited (role allocation)
• Functionalists assume society is a meritocracy, Marxists would disagree