A third idea Durkheim held was that deviance and crime also help to promote social change. While most violations of norms are greeted with opposition by the masses, others are sometimes not, and those violations that gain support often are re-examined by that society. However, quite often those activists that once were considered deviant, are reconsidered and become part of the norms, simply because they gained support by a large portion of the society. In sum, deviance can help a society to rethink its boundaries, and move toward social change, hopefully for the greater benefit of the group. An example of this would be women’s and gay rights. Women can now vote at elections, pay their own National Insurance, whilst gay men can now get married! Years ago, the norm was that a women had only two roles in life, to have children, and be a homemaker. Homosexuality only became legal in the 1970s.
Emile Durkheim
From
Information taken from class notes and
Merton’s Theory of Anomie
Robert King Merton (July 4, 1910 – February 23, 2003), born Meyer R. Schkolnick to immigrant parents, was a distinguished American sociologist who taught at University of Columbia.
The term Anomie derived from Durkheim, to Merton means: a discontinuity between cultural goals and the legitimate means available for reaching them. However, there is less empahsis on the legality of reaching goals as this theory looks at what happens if goals cannot be reached. This could be a state of lawlessness if the only means to reach cultural goals is by means of criminality. This theory is usually known as a macro anomie theory of social disorganisation. (Strain Theory)
Many people strive for a high paid employment, nice car, and big house for example, but in reality these opportunities does not exist for everybody and this leads to ANOMIE.
Society, according to Merton’s theory, responds to this situation of ANOMIE in one of five ways: conformity, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion and innovation.
Conformity is when compromises have to be taken. For example, those who cannot afford to run a car may take public transport or rent a house instead of mortgage. Ritualism is scaling down goals where people accept the way things are and carry on in their low paid jobs for example. Taking drugs or drinking alcohol to hide away from reality for example, is called retreatism. Those who rebel usually try to fight for ‘freedom’ by protesting for example. Finally, someone may decide that to achieve their goals they may have to choose the criminality route and this is called innovation.
Merton believes that crime is happening because criminals are not socialised properly and says it is the way they are brought up.
The problem with Merton’s theory is that it assumes that everyone in society share the same goals and values, and the social norms. Another criticism is that he does not take into account non-financial crime.
Picture from
Robert .K Merton
From
Information taken from class notes and
Marxist Theory of Crime
Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a Prussian philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary.
Marx did not write at length about crime, but he did argue that laws are the codified means by which one class, the ruiling class, keeps the working class in check. He believes that crime and deviance arises because of capitalism.
Marxists recognise that for a society to function efficiently, social order is necessary. However, apart from communist societies, they consider that in all societies one class – the ruling class – gains far more than other classes. Marxists agree with functionalists that socialisation plays a crucial role in promoting conformity and order. However, unlike the latter, they are highly critical of the ideas, values and norms of capitalist society, which they term ‘capitalist ideology’. Modern Marxists point to education and the media as socialising agencies, which delude or ‘mystify’ the working class into conforming to a social order, which works against its real interests.
It seems that, to Marxists, crime is a result of exploitation in that one group exploit another group. In this case it would be the ruling class exploiting the working class. Karl Marx himself believes that the high rate of crime in western capitalist countries represents a protest against alienation and powerless. Capitalism is a competitive ideology whereby people are encouraged to be aggressive in order to achieve material gains and status. An example of this would be when politicians or football managers are forced to step down if they make the slightest mistake, even if they were not to blame.
It is therefore suggested that the law is there to protect the interests of the powerful in order to control workers and to maximise profits. The mass media collude in exaggerating the crimes of the powerless.
It is also argued, by neo-Marxists, that as long as people have there comforts, such as cars, televisions for example, no one will notice they are being exploited, as they are contented with the things that they have. This, according to Marxists, is called “a state of false-consciousness”. For example, the no smoking ban that came into effect in Wales will mean more people staying at home watching television, instead of going out socialising with the rest of society and at the same time realising from this socialisation that people are being exploited. In the war, people from every class in society were down in the trenches, and so, people started to come out of this false-consciousness.
The criticisms with this theory are that it does not account for non-financial crimes and it does not offer an explanation to why the middle class offenders are often prosecuted. It is also based on a political ideology and not taking into account the other reasons for committing crime. It also cannot explain the presence of crime in communist countries.
Karl Marx
From
Information is from class notes, , and .
Sub-Cultures
Albert K. Cohen (1918), a functionalist, is an American criminologist best known for his Subcultural Theory of delinquent urban gangs. Albert Cohen addressed the criticism that Merton could not explain non-financial crime in his anomie theory and suggested a theory based on the replacement of society’s common norms and values by sub-cultures. He proposed two basic ideologies, the first of which is called status frustration. (This frustration is those who, in society, are fed up with their low-status. Not feeling like they have a place in society).
Status frustration is directed mainly to the young people of lower classes. There is no correlation between their own social realities and the rest of society's promoted goals. They become frustrated at the disadvantages and inequalities that they face, and this leads to Cohen’s second principle; reaction formation.
Reaction formation is the consequence of status frustration, and the young men of the lower classes find themselves replacing societies norms and values with alternative ones. For example, instead of working hard being the common goal for respect, it may become a deliquent act in that whoever commits the most vandalism will gain respect from their respective peers. This provides the group with a sense of values and status which they cannot receive from the larger society. It is a process which allows the members of the groups to adapt to their own exclusion from society.
Unlike Merton's strain theory, Cohen holds the view that the reaction to status frustration is a collective response rather than an individual one.
It could be the case that subcultures may not respect the law of the general norms, yet they will allow themselves to be controlled by the norms and values of that particular group. And it could be argued that they are in a state of false consciousness as subcultures control those in a group.
Information was from
Cloward & Ohlim (Delinquency and Opportunity)
Richard Cloward began his academic career in the late 1950’s. His first published work was a revision of Merton’s theory of anomie titled, Illegitimate Means, Anomie, and Deviant Behavior. Cloward, along with Lloyd Ohlin, expanded upon this revision and developed a theory of delinquent gangs in Delinquency and Opportunity.
This study suggests that the social structures of gangs would depend on the geographical area of that gang. The criminal subculture of these gangs would then depend on the association of the area in which the gangs live. For example, if gangs of youths live in Peckham, where drugs and violence are rife, then the outcome for the gang would to follow suit. Something called Differential Association. A person learns to do crime.
There is also a clash of subcultures whereby one gang will attack another gang or be against another gang in conflict. This is referred to as Conflict Subcultures. When a gang withdraws from society, for example to take drugs of drink excessively, is referred to as retreatism subculture, according to Cloward and Ohlin.
The above theory has a stark resemblance to Merton’s theory of anomie; however, Cloward and Ohlin look at younger delinquents.
Social control
It is enlightening to see that each of the theories talked about show signs of social control. Whether it is the state, family, school, friends or peers and media.
The family has a certain degree of social control in that they socialise into the norms and values, the school teaches children to be on time and they generally prepare children for a working life. Children also face pressure from peers and the media also has a part to play in social control. The above mentioned, excluding the state, is informal control.
Formal Control would be the government, police, and criminal courts for example. It could be argued that society is being controlled from every angle. Even the sub-culture is being controlled, not by informal or informal means but by their own gang members, just by conforming to the norms and values of that sub-culture.
Labelling
When a person is labelled this becomes their master status, thus possibly causing that person to feel rejected, which will make them withdraw more from society. This may well encourage more deviance as the person learns to exist as an outsider. This leads on to:
The Deviant Career
At this point the person who has been labelled will have embarked upon a criminal career and they will often join a sub-culture of people like themselves, as they will be able to belong to a group that accepts them in.
They will then learn the norms and values of that group and will learn the ropes as with any career.
It could be argued that delinquents are produced by the agencies of social control or by society itself. It could be said that labelling an individual can sometimes do more harm than good.
Conclusion
From a sociological point of view crime is needed, according to functionalists, crime is the fault of the capitalists, from a Marxist view point and crime is the result of Anomie, according to Merton. There are many ideologies surrounding the topic of crime, but what people must be able to do whilst taking in the theories is realise that sociologists such as Marx was talking about the time in which he lived. The different viewpoints can be looked at and similarities can be seen in society of today.
However, there is no question that crime brings people closer together. For example, the 9/11 attacks was a crime of terrorism, but it brought nations together to fight against terror. Little Madeline McCann, who was taken from her mother and father by an unknown stranger, brought countries together, to pray and help seek out the perpetrators. Even the pope met with the McCann’s to pray for them and guide them spiritually.
Crime happens for a number of reasons and crime will continue to exist until the end of time. However, there is a potential to reduce crime and that is by looking and the causal factors of why people choose criminality as a means of making ends meet. If causal factors can be addressed then crime may reduce.
Sub-cultures, for example gangs, have their own circle of norms and values. Their norms will usually be different to mainstream society norms, however, the gangs still adhere to their social rules within the group. This is a form of control because even when mainstream society norms are broken, the norms within the gang are maintained. Thus, gang members are controlling each other. Another example is the saying, “honour amongst thieves”.
Whichever way society looks at the theories described, society is being maintained and controlled, either informally or formally.
And there is no way out of it because social control is in every country between every social system, from the family to school to Government.
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