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Topic 2.3 sociological theories - Coggle Diagram
Topic 2.3 sociological theories
Marxism
Karl marx:
Social class and the distribution of power and wealth within society.
Higher classes owns the working class as they sell their labour in order to survive. Thus much of society is controlled by the bourgeoise and therefore the working class much conform to their rules he called this social control
Upper class and middle class - concerned with gaining financial capital
Lowest economic social classes in society
Markist theory link to criminality
Insituition such as the justice system, prisons, schools, police and religion are all there to encourage individuals within society to conform to the rules of the bourgeoise
Most white collar crimes a committed by those in positions of power, they are not dealt with as harshly by the authorities due to their status in society
Sort of crimes often go ignored in contrast to other street crimes (burgarly and robbery)
Working class - more likely to commit crime as they are trying to rebel against the social control of the bourgeoise
Lower classes - those unemployed, those who live in poorer conditions, belong to single parent families
Functionalism
Society is based on mutual agreement and unity
Durkheim
Crimes serve a function in society - more like violations of moral codes
Adaptive function: introduces new ideas and practices
Boundary functions: reinforces social norms and value
Balance of crime in order for society to function properly
Too little crime: would not help society to understand what socially acceptable behaviour and boundaries are
Too much crime: chaos and disorder
Some crimes helps to unite society - terroist attacks
Certain amount of crime is normal is society - allows society to keep up with social and moral changes to avoid becoming stagnant
Eg, the practice of homosexuality was once illegal - if there had been opposition to it - legal change would not have happened/ yesterdays deviance is todays normality (nelson mandela)
Anomie: social groups : each with different values so shared rules of behaviour become less clear - shared norms because weakened
Merton's strain theory
cause of crime = unequal structure of society
American (dream) social values - money success or wealth as the goal people should pursue and tells them they should achieve this through legitimate means as hard work or school and in a career
Blocked opportunities: not everyone has an equal chance of achieving success legitimately - very unequal - opportunities for working class people are often blocked by poverty and inadequate schools
Strain: the goal and society says they should achieve and they lack the legitimate means to do so
Innovation: accept the goal but find illegal ways of achieving it by committing utilitarian crimes (financial gain) - usually from the lower classes, where legitimate opportunities are blocked
Ritualism: give up striving for success - plod along in a dead end job
retreatism: dropouts who reject both goal and means - vagrants, drunks and drug addicts
Rebellion: reject the existing goals and means, replacing them with new ones with the aim of changing society - political radicals and alternative cultures
Interactionalism
Labelling theory
An individual that is consistently named/ labelled something, where they start to believe and become it. - criminals
Howard Becker
once a person is labelled delinquent/deviant they would become it. -- socially constructed - self full filling prophecy
agents of social control use considerable discretion and selective judgement in deciding whether and how to deal with illegal behaviour
Police: stereotypes : likely to stop young black males
Police and criminal evidence act: reasonable suspicion
Edwin lemert
Primary deviance: Person breaks social norms and values but is not yet socially labelled as deviant
Disrupts lesson, class clown, detention, boys
Secondary deviance: More serious behaviour recognised by society
Ben kicks ball too hard and smashes window, teachings execluding
Realism
crime is a real problem: tackled and not just a social construction created by control agencies
Has to be a significant rise in the crime rate, especially in street crime, burgulary and assault
Left and right
Left: Linked to labour government
80s and 90s - like marxists see society as an unequal capitalist one.
Unlike marxists - believe in gradual change rather than violent overthrow of capitalism
Practical explanations of crime that offer solutions to reduce it
Look at crime on an individual level and what factors cause an individual to commit crime
Crime: state, informal controls, victim + offender
Lea and young: fully understand and be able to tackle crime - must look at 4 different elements which are called the square of crime
Relative deprivation: perception of being deprived of something - theft, violence