Sociological Theory and Methodology - Crime and Deviance.
Sociology Assignment 2:
Task 1
Sociological Theory and Methodology.
Crime and Deviance.
It is generally agreed on by sociologists that crime equals breaking the written laws of society whereas deviance involves breaking the unwritten rules in a way that involves diversifying from the norm with an act that involves anti social or morally unacceptable behaviour i.e. it is socially constructed and can change over time. However, crime and deviance can overlap with some behaviour being both deviant and criminal. The three sociological perspectives have different views on the causes and cures for crime and deviance, which will be discussed in the following essay.
The functionalist believes that society needs strong laws as without them society would fall into anarchy. It also states that crime and deviance is inevitable. Durkheim argued that crime is functional and by punishing criminals, society reconfirms it own standards and deviant behaviour is necessary for progress in society.
This perspective blames crime as the outcome of inadequate socialisation, with poorly functioning families and minority communities that condone deviant and criminal behaviour. They believe that the blame for criminal and deviant behaviour lies firmly at the feet of the individual.
This theory however is heavily criticised by the conflict theorist for not taking into account other reasons why the lawbreaker, offends. The functionalist ignores causes of crime such as poverty and unemployment. The functionalist counter critique this view by arguing that blaming criminal activity on society takes away the responsibility from the individual.
The conflict theorist also points out that the ideologies of what is criminal and deviant is set by the ruling class and these ideologies are maintained by the ruling class. The conflict theorists views crime and deviance as the outcome of a capitalist society, with a consumer society being encouraged at every corner and the structure of society, denying the opportunity of participation to many. This therefore leads to some of the working class having to resort to criminal behaviour to reduce the inequality in society.
Marxist also raises the issue of white-collar crime that is ignored or seen as clever and the working class criminal being dealt with heavily by the hard edge of social control. However, the Marxist view does not address the issue of criminal and deviant behaviour that does not have an economic cause such as sexual and some violent crimes.
The social action theorist looks more closely at the individual than the other two perspectives. This perspective looks at how individuals become criminal and believe that some members of society are more susceptible to becoming criminal than others. For example they may live up to labels that, they are given. A child that is constantly told they are a problem will continue to be a problem living up to the stereotype as this is what is expected of him this is what is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy. These stereotypes that are abound in society today effect the way individuals view others, these individuals can include teachers law enforcers and judges and those that fit the stereotype of criminal and deviant such as a working class afro Caribbean male are often dealt with more harshly than those who do not resemble these negative stereotypes.
Marxist criticises the social action approach for not looking sufficiently at the causes of crime such as the class system that creates inequalities in society.
The social action theory can be criticised for assuming people have no control over their own behaviour once they have been labelled. Marxist's say that labelling does not cause a person to become a criminal. Ronald Ackers stated in Gibbon and Jones 1975 p.131
" One sometimes gets the impression from reading the literature that people go about minding their own business and then - 'wham' - bad society comes ...
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Marxist criticises the social action approach for not looking sufficiently at the causes of crime such as the class system that creates inequalities in society.
The social action theory can be criticised for assuming people have no control over their own behaviour once they have been labelled. Marxist's say that labelling does not cause a person to become a criminal. Ronald Ackers stated in Gibbon and Jones 1975 p.131
" One sometimes gets the impression from reading the literature that people go about minding their own business and then - 'wham' - bad society comes along and slaps them in a stigmatised label. Forced into the role of a deviant and individual has little choice but to be deviant."
Ackers suggests that people may just choose to be deviant whether they have been labelled or not. Thus the act of labelling is not wholly responsible for generating a criminal or deviant.
Task 2 Life Chances.
Society is made up of many groups, which are clarified by the registrar general. These groups define the class an individual belongs too. This essay will discuss how belonging to the working class affects the opportunities and life chances that an individual receives from the point of being able to stay healthy, gain a good education and have the ability to take part in a consumer society.
From looking at statistics it is apparent that there are some common factors in health
occurring for families living in poverty.
Children born into poverty are more likely to:
* Die in the first year of life;
* Be born small, be born early, or both;
* Be bottle fed;
* Die from an accident in childhood;
* Smoke and have a parent who smokes;
* Have poor nutrition;
* Become a lone parent;
* Have or father children younger;
* Die younger.
Table 8: Childhood Mortality Rates per 100,000 by Social Class (England & Wales)
Social Class
Age 1-4 yrs
Age 5-9 yrs
I
27
4
II
23
2
IIIN
23
1
IIIM
37
9
IV
30
4
V
71
30
Due to the social collateral of this group they are more likely to receive in adequate health care, this in turn leads to the above points occurring and reoccurring through generations.
The health story unfolds with a working class mother. Due to her class group it is acceptable for her to smoke during in her pregnancy this then leads to a low birth weight baby, who in turn will suffer poor health due to this factor. The mother then goes onto bottle feed as she has not received or understood the advantages of breastfeeding and her mother bottle fed too. The less educated the mother is less able to find employment that enables her to afford nutritious food and the safety features a parent from a middle class background will be able to buy to keep their child safe and the story continues.
However through meritocracy a working class person should in theory be able to achieve upward social mobility. The functionalist sociologist would argue that the underclass or working class create their own problems through uncooperative attitudes to work and education. However, it cannot be ignored that however intelligent a child is, if they are living in poverty, the conditions for them to learn in are going to be far from ideal. When this is compared to a child of the same intellect from a middle class background that has their own computer, possibly a tutor and space to study, it is evident whom is going to achieve more. The inequality is plain.
Economically there have been changes to the working class, with a wider social stratification within this group, although there is the road sweeper and factory worker there is also the almost millionaire plumber. The upper working class person is able to afford to live in a consumer society with advantages of the middle and upper classes. Nonetheless, although this group's economic state has changed studies show that their lifestyles have not. This can only be contributed to education and health care, perpetuated by those in power. The educators are still less likely to recognise the potential in a child of a plumber than they would a child of a doctor.
The association between opportunity and class is visible, although there is a meritocracy and the opening for upward mobility the lower the class a person comes from the harder they have to work to reach their goal. Whilst there is still a recognised class system in society, there is always going to be a sharp gradient of life chances.
Task 3
The Nature and Extent of Crime in Society.
The Nature and extent of crime is documented by official statistics. These statistics are derived from two main sources of data. One of which is the amount of crime recorded by police, however, although it is possible to derive an idea of the extent of crime and its nature by looking at crimes reported to police, this does not give the full picture. To get a more rounded perspective of crime in society today it is necessary to look at the other source of data, which is the British crime survey. The BCS includes crimes reported to police, unreported and unrecorded crimes against individuals and their property. From these two sources it is possible to see that some crime is under reported and whereas in the case of car theft in 97% of cases are reported and burglary 85% of cases are reported to police, this mainly due to insurance reasons. The crime of rape is largely under reported with women being reluctant to report husbands or boyfriends due to fear of stigma and retribution.
In 1993, domestic burglary peaked and since 1991 there has been a fall in theft and burglary. Between 2002/03 only 3 in 100 household were burgled. For sexual offences gaining figures has been difficult as only a small number of these crimes are reported, however, according to BCS in 2000 1 in 20 women had been raped on at least one occasion since age 16. By March 2003 there was a 17% rise in reported sexual offences, this could be contributed to more people reporting the crime due to less stigma being attached and greater faith in the justice system.
The figures for crime in general are actually encouraging showing a fall of 40% since 1995. Over recent years there has been changes in the way that crime is recorded and new crime types added under drug offences, this makes it difficult to read the figures.
The most likely perpetuator of crime according to the 1996 table of indictable offences in England and Wales (Haralambos and Holborn 1995) was males aged 21-34. This can be attributed to males of this age group being more likely to be risk takers. There has also been a rise in the crime committed by women, with a rise in the ladette culture perpetuated by beer drinking celebrities such as Zoë Ball and female radio DJ's. More recently there has been a rise in the number of offenders falling into the category of Afro Caribbean men aged 15-24 and most of the prison population is from a working class background. This can be attributed to white-collar crime being over looked and the justice system and police attitudes being biased against what they feel is the stereotypical offender. Crime is more prevalent in inner city areas; it is generally thought that this is due to greater unemployment and depravation. The factor of anonymity in city areas can also account for these statistics. Another facotor that may effect the statistics is that in certain areas there is higher police activity so these figures can be skewed due to the possibility that in some areas more offenders are actually caught.
A clearer picture of who are the victims of crime became visible when Victim studies began in 1981 with BCS. The most likely victim of crime in conflict to the media reporting is a young Afro Caribbean male. Although media reporting would lead us to believe that they are the greatest offenders, statistics show that they are more likely to be the victim. A study of 4,300 16-year-olds found some youngsters "bounced" between being victims and offenders. Most victims of crime along with offenders are likely to be working class this stems from the fact that this group is least likely to be able to afford security measures that the middle and upper classes have access too. This group are more likely to live in poorer areas and have to use public transport rather than cars to travel, this therefore puts them at greater risk of street crime.
The media propagates attitudes towards crime and criminal, tabloid reporting is responsible for a good deal of these attitudes, often reporting crime using a very dramatic and biased approached. The text in tabloid reporting steers the reader into thinking in a negative way, often leading the reader to form an opinion on an offender before knowing his background. A report from Carel Press, Carlisle, essential articles 6 'Game over' shows an example of this type of reporting. The report is based on the victim's perspective and is wholly judgemental and written from a functionalist perspective. It gives way to stereotyping and prejudices of the writer often creating an inflammatory reaction.
The broad sheets are thought of as having a more objective approach to reporting. However typically there is still a shock element to broadsheet journalism with negative statistics and little explanation for the reasons behind criminal acts. For instance in the http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml %2Fnews%2F20 03%2F09%2F07%2Fnladet07.xml. the " Ladette Culture" article sites a 76% rise in girls aged 10-17 sentenced for an offence. It doesn't take into account till further into the report the fact that there is a greater crack down on crime with magistrates having more power to detain young offender. Some readers by the time they have read the dramatic opening will have made their opinions. Although the reporting sounds less like a soap opera than the tabloids it still puts the same message across. Generating, insecurities among the public and reinforcing negative stereotypes, of working class young people.
Both these reports offer only a correctional view and the functionalist perspective, whereas it may be more useful to focus on the sociological reasons that lead to criminal and deviant behaviour with a greater social action perspective. Thus creating a greater interest, in preventing criminal behaviour, before it occurs and addressing some of the inequalities in the society today.
Bibliography
http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/974.html
[Accessed 03-04-04]
http://www.rsc-ne-scotland.ac.uk/map2learn/mindmaps/Crime%20and%20Deviance/Crime%20and%20Deviance-279.htm
[Accessed 03-04-04]
http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/crime/labeling.htm
[Accessed 03-04-04]
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:WZz-DVDu_hUJ:www.volterra.co.uk/docs/crime.pdf+interaction+view+of+crime&hl=en [Accessed 03-04-04]
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/victimsofcrime.pdf
[Accessed 03-04-04]
References
Table 8 http://www.esbhhealth.nhs.uk/publications/public_health/inequalities.asp
[accessed 8th May 2004]
Appendices
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F09%2F07%2Fnladet07.xml
Carel Press, Carlisle, essential articles 6 'Game over'
Nicola Quinn Page 1 5/4/2007