Crime & Deviance TOPIC 1 & INTRODUCTION

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1) Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control. 2 ) The social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity, gender and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime.

Globalisation and crime in contemporary society; the media and crime; green crime; human rights and state crimes. Crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies

OBJECTIVES OF CHAPTER ONE:   (i) In this chapter, we shall examine some major sociological theories.  (ii) Functionalism & Crime. Strain Theory. Deviant Subcultures.

FUNCTIONALISM Value consensus. Common culture. Durkheim's Functionalist Theory   Value consensus. Common culture. A culture is a set of shared norms (rules), values, beliefs and goals. Same culture = Social solidarity - it binds individuals together, telling them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves. Durkheim & The Organic Analogy

SOCIETY 2 KEY MECHANISMS (i) SOCIALISATION (ii) Social control mechanisms include rewards (positive sanctions) for conformity, and punishments (negative sanctions) for deviance. Both of the above ensures we all know how to behave!

Functionalists : The inevitability of crime Crime is NOT negative (surprise surprise?) They do see TOO much crime as destabilising society BUT they also see crime as inevitable and universal. Every known society has some level of crime and deviance - a crime-free society is a contradiction in terms.

Functionalsim: Durkheim For Durkheim (1893), 'crime is normal... an integral part of all healthy societies'.  

Func: 2 reasons for crime and deviance.   Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values, so some individuals will be prone to deviate. Secondly, particularly in complex modern societies, there is a diversity of lifestyles and values. Different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values, and what the members of the subculture regard as normal, mainstream culture may see as deviant.

Durkheim & Modern Societies: Durkheim: modern societies tend towards anomie or normlessness The rules governing behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut. This is because modern societies have a complex, specialised division of labour, which leads to individuals becoming increasingly different from one another. This weakens the shared culture or collective conscience and results in higher levels of deviance. Relates to Postmodernisation & INDIVIDUALISATION: FAMILY DIVERSITY CHAPTER Page: 228,229, 230

Functionalists are Positive about Crime! Durkheim: Crime fulfils two important positive functions.

Durkheim: (1) Boundary maintenance Crime produces a reaction from society: We all come together to condemn the wrongdoer. We look at each other relieved that we are not like the criminals. We recommit to shared norms and values, recognising that we are not like the criminals again.

Durkheim: (2) Adaptation and Change   Durkheim, all change starts with an act of deviance: Individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must not be completely stifled by the weight of social control. There must be some scope for them to challenge and change existing norms and values, At first everything can appear as deviance.

Thus, for Durkheim, neither a very high nor a very low level of crime is desirable. Each of these signals some malfunctioning of the social system:  Too much crime threatens to tear the bonds of society apart. Too little means that society is repressing and controlling members too much, stifling individual freedom and preventing change.  

Study: Kingsley Davis (1937; 1961): POSITIVE FUNCTION OF PROSTITUTION: Prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men's sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family.

Study:Ned Polsky (1967): Pornography safely 'channels' a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery, which would pose a much greater threat to the family.

Study: Albert Cohen Identifies another function of deviance: a warning that an institution is not functioning properly.   For example, high rates of truancy may tell us that there are problems with the education system and that policy- makers need to make appropriate changes to it

Study: Kai Erikson (1966): ACTIVITY: Page 7 of handout… Outline in a couple of sentences how Erikson sees Crime and Deviance as having a ‘positive’ function in society.

Activity: Go to page 72. Outline 3 criticisms of the Functionalist views expressed so far.

Study: Robert K. Merton's Strain Theory (1938) Merton: The first strain theory Strain Theories argue that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve success in a ‘legal way’…

Merton (1) Structural factors - society's unequal opportunity structure. Everything seems to be standing in your way of achieving…eg the education system preferring white MC. (2) Cultural factors - the strong emphasis on success goals. The emphasis on how to achieve these goals is not given. We are shown success but NOT how to achieve success.

For Merton, deviance is the result of a strain between two things: The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve. What the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately.

The American Dream Go to page 73, read the section and outline what “The American Dream” is.

Merton & 5 different types of adaptation Table 2A Types of adaptation to the strain to anomie Response Goal Means Conformity + Innovation - Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion -/+ Key: (+) acceptance (-) rejection (-/+) rejection of mainstream values and -- replacement with new ones

Let’s go through Merton’s Types of Adaption… PAGE : 9! Of Handout.

Evaluation of Merton Activity: Go to page 74 and outline the main criticisms of Merton’s theory in your own words.

Subcultural Strain Theories These see deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society. See subcultures as providing an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve by legitimate means - mainly those in the working class.

Activity: Go to page 11 & 12 of the handout Write 1 paragraph explaining the views of Cohen. Include the following concepts: STATUS FRUSTRATION Utilitarian Crime Subculture Alternative Status Hierarchy

Cloward & Ohlin: 3 Subcultures Different subcultures respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities. For example, the subculture described by Cohen resorts to violence and vandalism, not economic crime or illegal drug use.

Cloward & Ohlin: The reasons for the different responses of criminals. (i) Unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures. (ii) Not everyone who fails at school can successfully become a criminal! The criminal underworld has ‘structures’ too. (iii) Different neighbourhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers.

Cloward and Ohlin: 1. Criminal Subcultures: Criminal Subcultures provide youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime. Neighbourhoods with a longstanding and stable criminal culture with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime. Right adults to train them…

Cloward & Ohlin: 2. Conflict Subcultures: These arise in areas of high population turnover. There are high levels of social disorganisation and prevents a stable professional criminal network developing. “loosely organised gangs”…don’t have good career progression for “wannabe” criminals. Winning turf from other gangs.

Cloward & Ohlin: 3.Retreatist subcultures & “double failures” ’Double failures' - those who fail in both the legitimate and the illegitimate opportunity structures. According to C& O many turn to a retreatist subculture based on illegal drug use :(Merton)

Activity: Handout Page 18 in your GREEN books: In PAIRS type up the following & stick your answers in the green assessment books. Answer ALL of the QUICK CHECK QUESTIONS: Outline two reasons why functionalists see crime as inevitable. (4 marks) Applying material from Item A, analyse two functions of deviance. (10 marks)

Activity: AO2/ EXAM SKILLS Choose 4 criticisms of Cloward and Ohlin and develop a paragraph in response to them. Three of these must have an evidence base. You must expand on the criticism and give an example or explain what you mean.

Messner and Rosenfeld's (2001) Institutional Anomie Theory This mentality exerts 'pressures towards- crime by encouraging an anomic cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an 'anything goes mentality in pursuit of wealth. ’ Anomie is felt by Americans, as all the institutions leave people feeling insecure. They feel that they must have ‘wealth’ at any cost. Including using criminal methods.

Example of Institutional Anomie For example, schools become geared to preparing pupils for the labour market instead of focusing on values such as respect for others. Economic Goals valued above all other goals… Not a nice feeling….

Downes and Hansen (2006): In a, survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries, they found societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment.

Savelsberg (1995) Applies strain theory to post­ communist societies in Eastern Europe, which saw a rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism in 1989. He attributes this rise to communism's collective values being replaced by new western capitalist goals of individual 'money success'.