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TOPIC ONE : PERSPECTIVES ON CRIME, EVALUATION OF LABELLING, EVALUATION OF…

- - - - Selective law enforcement
        
        has lead to the impression that crime is mainly a working class phenomenon
        
        Chambliss suggests there's separate laws for rich and poor
        --> crime control mainly focussed on w/c who are most likely to be prosecuted for crime
        --> Higher social classes are treated more lenitently by police
        
        Pearce names white collar crime "Crimes of the powerful " who are rarely prosecuted even if they are discovered
        
        Reiman argues it is more likely a crime committed by higher class people, the less seriously it is to be treated as a criminal offence
        
        w/c attention is diverted away from exploitation they experience at work
        
        Neomarxist theories argue traditional marxist theorires are too deterministic in suggesting people are driven into crime by forces beyond their control
        
        Neomarxists suggest that no one is forced into crime and many people are in the same situation and don't turn to crime therefore it is a choice
        
        Neomarxist theorists couple the choice to commit crime w the view that w/c crimes are symbolic political acts of resistance to ruling class oppression
        
        w/c criminals are seen as "robin hood figures" --> take forms of political actions against inequalities in power and wealth - misdirection into criminal actions
        
        Gilroy - discussed Black Crime in 1970s as a form of resistance to ruling class oppression in form of police racism and harrassment
        
        Taylor et al suggested structural and interactionist approaches must be drawn upon to understand c&d
        --> developed "fully social theory of deviance" blending labelling theory and marxism
        
        Hall et al studied black street crime in the 1970s mugging
        --> suggested crime was used to reassert dominance of the ruling class hegemony when it was under threat due to economic and political crisis
        --> this was achieved by diverting attetnion away from wider structural causes of the crisis onto problem of mugging by blaming young black people
        --> media stirred up public by exaggerating problem of black crime and created demands for soemthing to be done about it [reasserting hegemony]
        -------> led to moral panic
- - - - Control theory - hirshi
        
        Argue social bonds with other people encourages people to exercise their self control, tie them to conformity and restrain them from committing crime
        
        If social bonds w others are weakened or broken, their self control is weakened and they'll turn to crime
        4 controls which mean too much to people to lose if they get caught committing crime :
        
        Belief - respect for rights of others and need to obey the law
        
        Commitment - to conventional activities eg working, education, raising family etc
        
        Involvement - keep busy within community so no time for crime
        
        Attachment - to family and friends and local community
- - - - Urbanisation has led to societies growing in both size and complexity therefore societies have become more secular leading to anomie :
        
        normlessness in society
        
        lack of value consensus
        
        social norms unclear or conflicting
        --> therefore increasing crime
        
        Anomie is caused by competitive division of labour, increased geographical mobility, urbanisation, unclear n&v
        
        Merton argues most people share goals eg : financial success, owning a home etc and most conform by APPROVED MEANS of achieving them [paid employment]
        
        Merton argues that not all people have the same opportunity due to racism, low pay, unemployment, lack of educational success
        
        therefore face "strain" which results in Anomie
        
        STRAIN THEORY - Merton
        Use different modes of adaption :
        
        Innovation
        
        Ritualism
        
        Retreatism
        
        Rebellion
        
        Subcultural theories
        
        Cohen - Status frustration
        W/c youth believe in success goals of mainstream culture but factors eg :
        
        failure in education,
        
        living in deprived areas
        
        & having poor chances in the job market
        --> means they have little opportunity to achieve my approved means
        --> feel as though they are denied status into mainstream society leading to experiences of status frustration
        
        Cloward and Ohlin - 3 w/c delinquent subcultures
        
        Criminal subcultures : develop in more stable w/c areas where theres establishment of adult crime pattern - provides learning opportunity for aspiring young criminals & alternative to legitimate jobs as means of achieving financial rewards. Adult criminals exercise social control over the young
        
        Conflict subcultures : develop in socially disorganised areas w high pop turnover resulting in loss of social control/ cohesion. Approved & illegal means of achieving mainstream goals are limited so cause frustration in young ppl resulting in antisocial behav--> status obtained through peer group
        
        Retreatist subcultures : emerge in lower class youth who are "double failures" ; failed in mainstream society & in criminal +conflict subculture --> retreat into drug addiction, alcoholism, theft, drug dealing, shoplifting etc
        
        1 more item...
        
        Hirshi - CONTROL THEORY
        
        Asking why people do not commit crime
        
        Argue social bonds with other people encourages people to exercise their self control, tie them to conformity and restrain them from committing crime
        
        If social bonds w others are weakened or broken, their self control is weakened and they'll turn to crime
        
        4 social bonds :
        
        Belief - respect for rights of others and need to obey the law
        
        Commitment - to coventional activities eg working, education, raising family etc
        
        Involvement - keep busy within community so no time for crime
        - Attachment - to family and friends and local community
      - Durkheim argues that even in a "society of saints" they will still be minor instances of deviance as we cannot all be saints --> so crime is inevitable
- - - - Lemert - Primary and Secondary deviance
        
        PRIMARY : deviance which hasn't been publically labelled eg breaking traffic laws, use drugs, take stationary from work
        
        SECONDARY : deviance is publically labelled
        
        Becker says that the attachment to label may cause major consequences for individual's self concept and their future actions
        
        A deviant label can be seen as a master status which overrides all other characteristics the individual may possess
        
        Others respond to the individual in light of the master status and assume they have the negative attributes of the label
        --> secondary deviance arises from the attachment to label and societal reaction to the deviant
        
        Deviant career
        
        Becker argues the labelling process can lead to self fulfilling prophecy and a deviant career
        --> Labelled individuals face rejection from others and become "outsiders" causing them to continue to act in way of their label
        
        Prisons help to make the label stick
        --> after prison offenders are labelled ex cons which can close down potential alternative legitimate opportunities and unable to get rid of label
        
        Deviant career begins when indiv identifies w deviant group facing similar problems
        --> generates further deviance