Compare and evaluate Subcultural theory and labelling theory
Compare and evaluate Subcultural theory and labelling theory And their perspectives on crime and deviance. What makes people commit crime or deviance can be analyzed in many different ways, sociologists for many years have came up with many theories that they believe fits patterns of crime and deviance, the two that I am going to compare and discuss are the Subcultural theory and the labelling theory. I will discuss each theory individually then I will compare them to each other to see what similarities they have to each other and if they contradict each other also if they differ, and also see if either of them actually work or play any relevance on today's society. Subcultural theory Albert Cohen in 1955, first developed the Subcultural theory of working class crime and deviance, he took his research from investigating delinquent gangs in low income, inner city areas. Merton had previously wrote an article called, 'Social structure and Anomie', this concluded that people look towards developing a sense of the norm, of gaining the 'the American dream', but find that this is hard to reach with their own norms, so they reach a state of Anomie, a sense of normlessness where anything goes, they take on the attitudes and views of other people to gain 'the American dream' this making them feel Anomie. Cohen agreed with Merton that people's mainstream value of gaining
Voting is no longer a matter of loyalty to a certain class but a rational decision based on a range of factors
"Voting is no longer a matter of loyalty to a certain class but a rational decision based on a range of factors" To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence supports this view? (40 marks) Instrumental and expressive are models of voting behaviour; expressive models are about social background whereas the instrumental model is about rational choice. The instrumental model shows 3 main factors that affect voting behaviour to make it a rational choice; these 3 main factors are the consumer theory, lifetime learning and tactical voting. Whereas the expressive model has 4 main factors that are: family socialisation, interactionist model, embourgeoisement and class alignment/dealignment. When voting first came into place, everyone voted for which party was representing their class, e.g. labour was working class and middle class was the conservative party. But these days people base their decisions on many different factors, some vote on what their family vote for so they stay loyal in that respect but on the other hand others vote more tactically. The instrumental model suggests that people vote through the consumer theory, Himmel Weit et al 1981 stated that voting is like a political market place, they said that people vote on which party matches their own personal values therefore this sociological argument supports that people aren't loyal to their own class, but
How Crime is Detected and Prevented
How Crime is Detected and Prevented In this essay I will describe and explain how different methods are used to detect and prevent crimes. The different types are Alcohol, Arson, Ballistics, Blood, Documents, Drugs, Explosives, Fibres, Fingerprints, Footprints, Glass, Hair, Paint, Plastic, Pollen, Soil and finally Teeth. ALCOHOL: When a person is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, the police can test them with different types of machines. These machines are called breathalysers. The Lion Alcolmeter S-L12 is the most common of these. These machines test the breath for traces of alcohol. If the suspect tests positive, they will be detained until they are cleared. Other ways of detecting alcohol on a person are physical tests. The police will ask the suspect to perform certain actions such as walking in a straight line and following a finger with there eyes. ARSON: When the forensic gets to the scene he must be very careful. An arson attack would burn away most of the evidence so the forensic must be careful where he treads. They would look under furniture and cloth, as this would have protected any fingerprints or fibres lying there. One of the most important roles of the forensic scientist following an arson attack is to establish the chemical nature of the accelerant - the material used to start the fire. When the evidence has been
An Evaluation on the Biological Theories of Crime
An Evaluation on the Biological Theories of Crime The biological theories of crime are based on the nature versus nurture debate. Are we born criminals or do we learn crime? The main objective of these theories is: 'Does the way you look say that you are a criminal?' Lombroso (1876) introduced the first theory. This theory proposes the following three points: You have an innate predisposition towards criminal behaviour. In other words crime is something you are born to do. Your physiognomy - the way you are going to turn out by the way you look. We as 'normal' humans are termed as Homo Sapiens. Criminals are thought to be 'retarded'; therefore they are termed as Homo Deliquens. Lombroso stated that criminals (homo delinquens) exhibit the following physical characteristics: A narrow sloping brow symbolizing low intellect High cheekbones and large ears Extra nipples, fingers or toes A renowned jaw symbolizing strong passion Lombroso had also stated that these criminals behaved in a different way to everyone else. These different behaviours are as follows: An inability to adjust to social and moral issues An inability to differentiate between right and wrong A low inability to show any kind of guilt or remorse An inability to show any kind of feelings towards other people An inability to form any kind of relationship However, from an evaluative point of
crimes committed by males and females
The difference between crimes committed by males and females Hypothesis: females have a different attitude towards committing crime than males and therefore female crime rates are low. Rationale: Gender differences within crime can be seen as a reflection of the long held views about the particular strengths, weaknesses, and appropriate responsibilities that shape both male and females into their everyday lives, patterns of crime and response to crime. Although the idea that men and women naturally possess distinct characteristics is treated skeptically in the twenty-first century, it was a universally held view in the past. Men and women were thought to inhabit bodies with different physical make-ups and to possess fundamentally different qualities and virtues. Men, as the stronger sex, were thought to be intelligent, courageous, and determined. Women, on the other hand, were more governed by their emotions, and their virtues were expected to be modesty, compassion, and piety. Men were thought to be more aggressive; women more passive. These differences were echoed in the faults to which each sex was thought to be prone. In this project I am interested to see the correlation between the different characteristics that men and women possess which leads them to commit crimes that are severe to different extents. Hence, this leads me to my hypothesis which is that 'females
Studies of the effectiveness of punishments often use reconviction rates as a measurement of success or failure. According to fairly recent reports there are currently no real differences between reconviction rates for custodial and all community penalti
INTRODUCTION Studies of the effectiveness of punishments often use reconviction rates as a measurement of success or failure. According to fairly recent reports there are currently no real differences between reconviction rates for custodial and all community penalties (Home Affairs Committee, 1998, Home Office, 1998). However, there are many problems associated with the reliability of such data, and much caution is needed when using such measurements as a criteria for assessing the effectiveness of punishment. For instance, there is much disagreement about what reconviction should be counted. For community penalties the counting began on the date of sentence whereas for custodial sentences the counting begins on the date of release (May, 1994). therefore, does not take into account any offence committed whilst in prison. On the other hand, there is no way of knowing how far re-offending whilst serving a community sentence is due to the ineffectiveness of the punishment or an individuals social circumstance. The 1998 report by the Home Affairs Committee draws attention to even more concerns regarding reconviction rates. It is stated that: "Reconviction rates take any subsequent reconviction as an indication of failure and do not take into account changes in offence severity or a reduction in the frequency of offending;
The Pornography of fear
The Pornography of fear . The media's utilization of crime has increased fear of crime in society, but it may not be a precise interpretation. 2. The author first presents support for his thesis in the first sentence of paragraph two, he says, "Britain has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe, yet it has the highest fear of crime." This quote automatically informs the reader that the public's fear of crime is not justified. The author supports this further in the first line of paragraph three: "Fear of crime is not crime. It is fear." The author then starts to verify that the media takes advantage of fear by saying, in the third last sentence of paragraph three, "The politician plays on public...in his protection". He then begins to expand his point by conducting a survey, which is called the MORI poll. In paragraph four, second and third sentences he states "This is not some police...This is a measure of something real". The author clarifies a rational link connecting fear and crime in paragraph six, in the last sentence, where he finishes the thought by stating, "If crime falls, fear should fall." On the contrary the author says in the second last sentence of paragraph seven, "A feature of fear...by imagination." In this quote the author is explaining that the fear in media is derived from true facts, with exaggeration. 3. I think that there is a bias in this
Is street crime or suite crime more harmful?
CRIMINOLOGY 2002/2003 MODULE COORDINATOR PADDY HILLYARD ASSIGNMENT Is street crime or suite crime more harmful? Each time a newspaper is opened or a television is turned on, graphic stories of robbery, murder and mayhem appear. It is common crimes, like these, that fill the world with fear and that become the centre of attention. The focus on street crime creates the myth of the fear of crime and although crime statistics indicate that crime may be on the decrease, to residents of particular areas this decrease may not be so apparent. So with the saturation of the minds of those in society about the dangers of street crime, whether it be through media, television programmes, games or even toys, it is hardly surprising that street crime is viewed as more harmful than corporate crime. Wilson (1975) considers predatory street crime to be a far more serious matter than consumer fraud, anti trust violations ...because predatory crime.makes difficult or impossible the maintenance of meaningful human communities. The lack of focus on corporate crime adds to the myth that the young, economically disadvantaged male perpetrates the majority of crime and it is this type of crime that society fixates upon. It is understandable that the public are unaware or ignorant of the harm created by corporate crime, especially if the focus is on the more conventional street crime and they
As an inner city area Spinney Hill will have a higher crime rate than the Suburb of Knighton
Conclusion and Evaluation I have gathered a great deal of information, conducted surveys and questionnaires, completed statistical tests and created illustrated maps to help me establish whether crime is higher in an inner city area like Spinney Hill when compared to a suburban area like Knighton. At the very start of this project I created an aim. This aim provided a starting point to this project and thus a goal to achieve. In my opinion I believe that I have achieved this aim as I have collected a substantial amount of evidence to aid me in approving or disproving my main hypothesis. This coursework was centred on my main hypothesis which I was to test to see whether it was an accurate or inaccurate statement. In order to test this main hypothesis I created five sub-hypotheses to analyse and see whether they were true and thus provide further evidence and support that the above main hypothesis was correct or incorrect. These sub-hypotheses were as follows: - Fear of crime will be higher in Spinney Hill 2- Security measures will be lower in Knighton 3- Unemployment breeds crime in Spinney Hill 4- Spinney Hill has a higher population so thus a higher crime rate. 5- Environmental quality will be higher in Knighton My first hypothesis was carried out by conducting a fear of crime questionnaire in both wards. I gathered a great deal of information from this
Examine some of the reasons for the existence of deviant subcultures. Assess the view that gender is the best predictor of crime.
a) Examine some of the reasons for the existence of deviant subcultures Deviant subculture theories are to an extent developed from Merton's strain theory, they see deviance as the product of delinquent group formed because its members feel alienated from main stream society, and form their own values in a subculture, they are largely working class phenomenon's, an example of this would be some form of gang, such as Hispanic gangs in America. Reasons for these formations come from subcultural theorists such as Cohen, and Cloward and Ohlin, mainly focusing on working class males. One reasons is that working class males face adversity in society from a very young age, they face alienation in school on a large scale, the middle class dominated school systems have different norms and values to what they have themselves and to what they have been taught by their families. This builds up frustration as their path to success seems much harder than that of people of a higher social status. This frustration can lead to the formation of a deviant subculture, because the values of a subculture are often the complete opposite of legitimate society. Where normal society values decency and kindness, a subculture values malice and hostility, because the deviant cannot generally achieve monetary success or academic recognition, being part of a gang and becoming part of their behavioural way
