Explanations of Crime & Deviance (AQA GCSE Sociology): Flashcards

Informal social control is based on unwritten rules and enforced through social pressure, such as the approval or disapproval of family, friends and teachers.

False.

Prisons may offer little rehabilitation and have high reoffending rates, and some police forces are seen as institutionally racist.

Informal social control can be ineffective when family and peers share deviant attitudes, such as parents buying underage children alcohol.

Official sanctions for breaking formal rules include imprisonment, fines and losing a job.

An example of an informal rule is holding the door open for someone walking behind you.

Durkheim argued crime must have a purpose because it occurs in every society.

According to Durkheim, one function of crime is that it reminds everyone of the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and reinforces shared values.

By binding people together, Durkheim argued that crime contributes to social cohesion.

False.

Durkheim argued that too much or too little crime is harmful to society.

Durkheim's view may apply more to small-scale societies, and Marxists argue he ignores the unequal distribution of power.

People's aspirations are shaped by the values of their culture, such as the American Dream of financial success.

In Merton's theory, strain is the tension between socially approved goals and the legitimate means available to achieve them.

Anomie is normlessness, where the norms regulating behaviour break down and people turn to illegitimate means to succeed.

According to Merton, working-class people experience more strain because they often have limited access to education and employment opportunities, as they lack wealth, status or social contacts.

False.

Conformity means using conventional, legitimate means, such as qualifications and hard work.

In Merton's theory, innovation is using deviant means, usually crime, to achieve success goals, a route mostly taken by the working class.

Ritualism is where people give up on achieving success but stay in low-paid, low-status but respectable jobs.

Retreatism involves giving up both the goals and the means and dropping out of society.

In Merton's theory, rebellion is rejecting the success goals and means and replacing them with new ones to create a new society.

Albert Cohen criticises Merton by arguing that juvenile delinquency is driven by status frustration caused by educational failure.

Merton does not explain why some people experiencing anomie still follow the rules, or why women have lower rates of recorded crime.

Marxists argue crime is caused by the hierarchical class structure of capitalist society, in which the bourgeoisie exploit the working class.

Marxists link crime to materialism, consumerism and competition to acquire goods.

According to Marxists, some working-class people might turn to crime because, in an unequal society, not everyone has the opportunity to buy capitalism's goods, so some try to obtain them through crime.

False.

Marxists argue capitalists also commit crimes, as they are motivated by profit, which encourages greed and self-interest.

Marxists argue laws serve the interests of the bourgeoisie, who can prevent laws that threaten their profits, such as closing tax avoidance loopholes.

Marxists argue that benefit fraud is seen as more serious than tax evasion, even though the latter costs the state more.

According to Marxists, agencies of social control favour the bourgeoisie because street crime is policed more heavily than white-collar crime, and Black and working-class people are targeted.

Ethnic minorities are over-policed and under-protected and more likely to receive prison sentences.

False.

Critics argue the law reflects the interests of many groups; for example, anti-discrimination laws tackle workplace inequality.

Critics argue Marxists disregard individual responsibility because they view people who commit crimes as victims of circumstance rather than responsible for their actions.

Feminists argue Marxists focus on social class and ignore non-class issues such as gender.

Countries such as Japan and Switzerland challenge the Marxist view by showing that not all capitalist societies have high crime rates; their homicide rate is about a fifth of the US rate.

The chivalry thesis suggests that female offenders are treated more leniently than men by the criminal justice system.

The double deviance thesis suggests the criminal justice system treats some women more harshly, particularly those who deviate from gender stereotypes.

Feminists examine how women are victimised, such as why domestic violence and sex crimes are underreported.

Heidensohn used secondary sources such as official crime statistics and interviews with women and girls in prison and Borstal.

Women have fewer opportunities to commit crime because they are controlled by men at home, in public and at work.

Heidensohn argued that in a patriarchal society, public life is seen as a man's sphere and the home is seen as a woman's place.

According to Heidensohn, women are controlled at home because housework and caring take up women's time, and husbands as breadwinners have financial power over their wives.

Women are controlled by the threat of male violence and fear of a loss of reputation.

Women are controlled by male-dominated hierarchies and intimidated by sexual harassment.

False.

Critics argue she generalises, overlooking the impact of ethnicity, class and age.

Heidensohn underplays women's free will and choice in offending, and she did not compare women's criminality with men's.

Becker wrote from an interactionist perspective.

An act becomes deviant based on whether others say it is, society's reactions to it and rulemaking by social groups.

Becker described people who are negatively labelled by powerful groups as outsiders.

The power to label is related to age, gender, ethnicity and class; for example, adults make rules for young people.

False.

Labelling depends on who commits the act, when and where; for example, a soldier killing in war is seen as normal.

Interactionists argue that most people commit criminal acts, but only some are labelled, because labelling depends on who commits the act, when and where it happens and who observes it.

A master status is a label that becomes a person's dominant identity, affecting how others see and respond to them.

When a labelled individual begins to see themselves in terms of the label, this is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A deviant career is the process through which a labelled person is gradually drawn into further deviance over time.

A deviant career is complete when the individual joins an organised deviant group that develops a deviant subculture.

Interactionism does not explain why people deviate before being labelled, and it is deterministic, implying a deviant career is inevitable.

Structural approaches argue interactionism overlooks the influence of the social structure; Marxists add that it ignores class power inequalities.