Sociology Crime and Deviance

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What is Crime?
Actions that break the criminal law e.g. burglary, murder
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Deviance
Actions that do not conform to society’s norms. Deviant behaviour is socially defined and varies between cultures and over time.
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Social Order
The way in which various components of society work together to keep society as it is.
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What is a consensus perspective?
Consensus perspectives such as functionalism argue that social order is maintained because most people agree with society’s norms and rules.
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What is a conflict perspective?
Conflict approaches such as Marxism argue that social order is maintained because one group (e.g. the bourgeoisie) have the power to influence the
laws and maintain order through social control.
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Formal social control
The ways that the state controls people’s behaviour based on laws and
written rules.
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Informal social control
The way that people’s behaviour is controlled based on unwritten rules and
sanctions such as pubic approval or disapproval. It is enforced via peer and
social pressure.
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Agencies of social control
Groups that help the state to control people’s behaviour. These include
families, schools, the police, courts, prison service, probation service etc.
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anomie
When a society’s norms and values disintegrate or disappear.
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Labelling
The theory that people often behave in ways that reflect how others have
labelled them.
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Subculture
A group that has norms and values that are different to mainstream society
and that often cause or influence illegal/deviant behaviour e.g. gangs.
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White collar crime
Non-violent, financial crimes such as tax evasion, fraud, bribery etc. They
are usually committed by businesses/governments and are underreported.
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Folk devil
A media created villain or enemy of society.
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Moral panic
An over exaggerated public response to some social issue that relates to right and wrong.
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Media coverage
The media decide what is ‘newsworthy.’ They ten to exaggerate certain types of crime (e.g. violent street crime), which is known as media
amplification. They also play a role in agenda setting by focusing on certain issues and views and therefore influenc
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Violent crime
Violent crime (e.g. knife crime) gets a high profile in the media and therefore the public become concerned about it and politicians feel that
they have to do something about it.
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Sentencing
Some people believe that prison sentences are too soft and that many prisoners get released too early. There is also the question of whether some
crimes deserve a prison sentence at all.
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Treatment of young offenders
There has been large a rise in violence, sexual abuse, suicide and self harm in youth prisons (e.g. Feltham) and some people want them to be closed
down.
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Folk devils and moral panic
cohen
The interactionist Cohen argues that the media often portray an oversimplified version of events that creates a folk devil (e.g. drill music).
These oversimplified versions of events can lead to a moral panic.
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Functionalist perspectives on crime
1. A limited amount of crime is necessary for society to improve. All social change begins with some sort of deviance
2. Crime has some positive functions, such as emphasizing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour and binding communities together (e.g. w
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Merton's strain theory
The functionalist Merton argues that crime occurs when people can’t achieve the goals that they have been socialised to strive for (e.g. wealth)
through socially acceptable means. This leads to anomie and high rates of
crime.
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Interactionist perspective
Interactionists argue that crime and deviance are socially constructed and that people in power label certain people as deviant and they then are more likely to commit crime.
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Becker's labelling theory
The interactionist Becker argues that what makes something deviant is not the act itself but how people label it. For example, killing someone is usually deviant but not during a war. Through informal social control labels stick and become part of someone
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The Marxist perspective
Marxists argue that capitalism itself causes crime. It encourages people to want and value material possessions but exploits the working class so that
they can’t afford them. It is inevitable that the working class will commit crime to try and get materia
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Marxist perspective 2
Agencies of social control act in the interests of the bourgeoisie and target certain types of crime that are more likely to be committed by the working class (e.g. knife crime rather than white collar crime).
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Feminist perspective
The feminist perspective examines the way that women are treated by society. Many crimes against women such as **** or domestic violence are under reported and have a low conviction rate. When women commit certain crimes (e.g. crimes against children) the
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Heidensohn
The feminist Heidensohn uses control theory to explain why women have lower rates of recorded crimes than men. She argues that women are controlled by men, leaving them with fewer opportunities to commit crime. For example, girls are controlled by their f
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Social class
Official crime statistics indicate that working class people are more likely to
commit crime than other classes and they are over represented in prisons.
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Gender
Official crime statistics indicate that females are less likely to offend than males.
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Ethnicity
Crime statistics shows that members of some ethnic groups are more likely to offend than others.
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Age
Crime statistics indicate that criminal activity is more commonly found in particular age groups (e.g. adolescents/young adults).
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Albert cohen on deliquent subcultures
Cohen argues that working class boys often underachieve in school due to the middle class norms and values and so become part of a subculture (e.g. a gang) where they can achieve status in other ways. In these subcultures they learn to be delinquent and c
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Carlen on women crime and poverty
She suggests that working class women often don’t commit crime because they have made a ‘class deal’ and a ‘gender deal’ with society. The class deal is that they will be able to buy goods if they work hard. The gender deal is that they should do domestic
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Police recorded crimes
Police recorded crime statistics do not always provide an accurate picture of actual crimes committed because some victims do not report crimes and the police do not record all crimes (e.g. if they see a crime as not important).
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Victim surveys
Victim surveys ask people about their experiences of crime (e.g. CSEW: Crime Survey for England and Wales). These provide data about crimes that
are not recorded by the police but do not cover all crimes (e.g. murder).
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Self-report studies
Self report studies ask people about the crimes they have committed (e.g. OCJS: Offending, Crime and Justice Survey). These provide information on some crimes that are not recorded by the police (e.g. vandalism) but are
unlikely to reveal much about more
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Patterns and trends
The CSEW shows that UK crime has been falling steadily for the last 20 years. However, there has been an increase in online crimes and there is a growth in serious violence, particularly in urban areas like London and
Manchester.
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The dark figure of crime
The dark figure of crime includes all of the crimes that are not recorded. This could be for a number of reasons (e.g. fear of reprisal, crime committed
by family member, the victim is not aware that the act was a crime).
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Actions that do not conform to society’s norms. Deviant behaviour is socially defined and varies between cultures and over time.

Back

Deviance

Card 3

Front

The way in which various components of society work together to keep society as it is.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Consensus perspectives such as functionalism argue that social order is maintained because most people agree with society’s norms and rules.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Conflict approaches such as Marxism argue that social order is maintained because one group (e.g. the bourgeoisie) have the power to influence the
laws and maintain order through social control.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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