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Topic 3.2 Strengths and weaknesses - Coggle Diagram
Topic 3.2 Strengths and weaknesses
Bandura - social learning individualistic
Strengths
Study had showed children copied the behaviour of their parents/ role models - presented with the bobo doll
Children who observed aggressive behaviour being rewarded imitated that behaviour - shows the importance of the role models in learning deviant behaviour
Takes into account of the fact that we are social beings - we learn from the experiences of others not just from our own direct experience
Social beings - skinner doesn't account for this in the rat study
Weakness
Bobo doll is a toy that is intended for hitting and many argued that its a bit like saying giving a child a toy gun and saying don't shoot - the bobo doll is meant to be hit therefore many said that the study is flawed
The theory assumes peoples behaviour is completely determined by their learning experiences and ignores their freedom of choice. This also conflicts with legal views of crime, which assumes that we have freewill to commit crime.
Not all observed behaviour is easily imitated we might see a film in which a safecracker is rewarded with the skills to imitate the behaviour.
Lab studies - not representative
Not all criminal behaviour is easily imitated
Freud - Psychodynamic individualistic
Strengths
Freud was one of the first individuals to explore mental health when many people at the time were critical of mental health being an illness
Theory points to the importance of early socialisation and family relationships in understanding criminal behaviour
Psychoanalytic explanations have had some influence on policies for dealing with crime and deviance
Weaknesses
Freud's studies were not actually based on scientific research
Critics doubt the existence of un-conscious mind - how could we know about it if its unconscious
Psychoanalytic explanation are unscientific and subjective - they rely on accepting the psychoanalysis claims that they can see into the workings of the individuals unconscious mind to discover their inner conflicts and motivations
Bowlby's individualistic psychoanalysis
Strengths
His work shows the needs to consider the role of parent child relationships in explaining criminality
Research showed that more of his sample of 44 Juvenile delinquents had suffered maternal deprivation (39%) than a control group of non delinquents (5%)
Weaknesses
Retropective study, where delinquents and their mothers had to accurately recall past events, this can be a problem - if it involves recalling emotive experiences
Overstimulates how far early childhood experiences have a permanent effect on later behaviour
Eysneck individualistic theory
Strengths
High levels of testosterone have been linked to psychoticism which can lead to aggressive/ criminal behaviour
Some studies support his basic assumption that offenders tend towards being extravert, nerotic and psychotic
Weakness
Easy to live on the personality report as it consists of a series of questions
Extroversion scale measuring two different things - impulsiveness and sociability confusing response
evidence on prisoners shows more correlation but not caustion
Lombrosso biological theory
Strengths
Scientific - 400 people, one of the first accounts of social and environmental factors
Lombrosso was the first person to study crime scientifically, using objective measurements to gather evidence. Previously crime was seen as a moral or religious issue
Importance of studying criminal records and criminal records
Later work took some account of social and environmental factors
Weakness
Many people have the characteristics that Lombrosso (eg big ears, big nose) but are not criminals
Lombrosso was criticised for being prejudice against a persons physical traits
No control group with non criminals - so characteristics might be the same in the general population
Primitive savages - racist: many people have the characteristics that lombroso lisle -( big ears, big nose) not criminals
Sheldon biological theory
Strengths
His study did find that the majority of criminals were mesomorphic
Other studies have replicated sheldon's findings. Glueck and Glueck found that 60% of the offenders in their study were mesomorphs
The most serious delinquents in sheldons sample were the one with the most extremely mesmorphic body shape.
Weakness
A persons body shape may change over time. Does this means that criminality can therefore change
Glueck and Glueck found that criminality found that criminality was best explained not by biology alone, but by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors.
Criminals may develop a mesomorphic build as a result of needing to be physically tough to succeed. If so, criminality causes somatotypes, rather than somatotype cause criminality.
Social class may underpin both crime and body type - manual labour
Doesn't account for endomorphs/ ectomorphs who are criminals
Jacob et all genetic theories biological
Weakness
Having an extra Y chromosome does not pre- determine criminality and it does not therefore mean that a person will become a criminal
XYY men strong/ tall - fit into stereotype of violent offenders and get labelled as such
XYY often have low intelligence so may be over represented in prison for being caught in the act
Syndrome is rare - 1 in 200 so cant explain much crime
Strengths
A study was done on prison inmates and it found that a significant number of them had the extra Y chromosome
Price and what more later found links between the syndrome and property crime
Twin studies genetic theories biological
Weaknesses
The study sample was small and therefore may not be fully reliable
If genetics were full explanation, there would be a 100% concordance rate - studies show half or less
Can you fully control for shared environment? impossible to isolate effect
Strengths
Does support the fact that there is a genetic component to criminality
Ishikawa and Raine found higher concordance rate for identical than non identical twins
Logic to the arguments of looking at MZ twins
Marxism social structure Theory
Strengths
Gives an explanation of how crime could be a result of the bourgeoise rebelling against the proletariat
Shows bias of law making and law enforcement
Highlights role of greed in capitalism
Weaknesses
Many disagree that social class and status exists. Many believe that it is just on ideology
Ignores relationships between crime and other inequalities - gender/ ethnicity
Over predicts White collar crime
Not all capitalists societies have high crime rates, eg japan
Labelling Theory Interactionalism social learning
Strengths
Highlights the consequences of labelling
Shifts focus to how police creates crime based on stereotypes
Shows how attempts to control deviance can trigger the deviance amplification spiral (moral panic)
Weaknesses
Become a self- fulfilling prophecy and can be very dangerous particularly when dealing with young people
Wrongly assume deviance is inevitable
Victim status given to labelled offenders ignores 'real' victims of crime
Doesn't explain where the power to label come from or why some are applied to some groups and not others.
Realism - left realism sociological theory
Strengths
Accepts crime happens and it is real
Draws attention to the reality of street crime and effects, especially victims of deprived groups
Weaknesses
Relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime as not all those who experience it commit crime. Over predicts the amount of working class crime.
Fails to explain white collar crime and corporate crime, because it only defines crimes as street crimes of the poor.
Focus on high crime inner areas gives an unrepresentative view, overestimates crime rates.
Realism - right realism sociological theory
Strengths
Forced the government to create victim surveys so that more can be found out about crime. As a result more measures to prevent those crimes were able to be put into place
Several studies support - eg Rettig- gave students a scenario with an opportunity to commit crime and found degree of punishment influenced whether they did it or not
Feldman - people make rational decisions
Explains petty crimes like theft
Weaknesses
Accepts statistics on crime and does not take into account the dark figure of crime
This was an experiment - work in the real world
Not all crimes rational- what about crimes of passion? Violent crimes often impulsive influence of alcohol / drugs