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Sociological explanations of crime and deviance (Marxists (Chambliss (laws…
Sociological explanations of crime and deviance
Functionalists
Merton
E: funct. subcultural
strain theory
strain between goals and achieving them
crime is a WC phenomenon
theory of anomie
crime is a feature of everyday life
5 responses to material goals of society
retreatism
rebellion
ritualism
innovation
conformity
Durkheim
2 functions of punishment
1- acts as a deterrent. 2- reinforces wrong and right ideas
2 functions of crime
1- boundary maintenance. 2- adaption and change
Davis- safety valve
Cohen- warning device
E: Matza
crime is not inevitable
Hirschi
why don't more people commit crime?
bonds of attachments
prevents anomie
commitment
attachment
belief
innovation
crime occurs when one is broken
E: 'white collar crime' is ignored
Subcultural Views
Functionalists
WC subcultures = fertile ground for crime to take place
Cloward + Ohlin
crime youth takes depends on illegitimate opportunity structure in their neighbourhood
conflict subculture
gangs conflict
retreatist subculture
drugs
criminal subculture
utilitarian crime
E: only focus on WC
Miller
delinquents part of mainstream WC culture
focal concerns
smartness
toughness
excitement
Cohen
WC subcultures causes WC crime
failing in school = join delinquent subcultures
overcome status frustration
achieve status through membership in gangs
E: Hall + Jefferson
Marxists
Hall + Jefferson
youth subcultures = symbolic/ritualistic attempts to resist the power of the bourgeois
adopt behaviour that seems threatening
e.g. punks
Matza
critical of funct. subcultural approach
youth drift in and out of delinquency
crime = more casual than made out to be
Marxists
Pearce
laws that benefit the WC, benefit the MC
e.g. health and safety laws keep the workforce strong and give MC a caring face
Slapper + Tombs
compare crime = rarely prosecuted and punished
encourages companies to use crime as a means of making profit
Gordan
selective policing = law favouring MC
bias against the WC
why crime seems like WC phenomenon
E: not bc selective, bc MC crime is hard to detect
Snider
agrees with Pearce
capitalists states reluctant to pass laws that regulate activities of businesses that threaten their profitability
Chambliss
laws created by ruling class
say what is/isnt crime
protect their own interests
capitalism = crimogenic
norms and values of capitalist societies create crime
E: ignores non-utilitarian crime
Neo-Marxists/Critical Criminology
Taylor, Walton + Young
a 'fully socialised theory of crime and deviance
E: ignore intra-class crime
WC victims of crimes committed by WC
E: feminists - ignores gender inequality in crime
E: idolises people that commit crime
make them appear as victims of capitalism
Interactionists
Focus on small scale studies
Cicourel
typifications
ideas about what a typical delinquent is like
more likely to be charged
MC don't fit this
Cohen
Mods and rockers
once labelled by the media they will live up to it
Lemert
secondary deviance
societal reaction
most important is SR in producing SD
primary deviance
no point in studying
Braithwaite
2 types of shaming
disintegrative shaming
labelling results in social exclusion
reintegrative shaming
act is labelled, not the actor - easier for criminals to be accepted back into society
Becker
deviance in the eye of the beholder
someone isn't deviant unless caught in the act
lead to...
master status
deviant career
self-fulfilling prophesy