Examine the reasons why female educational achievement has improved in recent years
Examine the reasons why female educational achievement has improved in recent years. (20 marks) The issue that has addressed in this question is why female education achievement has improved in recent years as from average marks females have overtaken males in KS1, 2 and 3 and in GCSE scores. I am going to study the reasons to why this has happened in my essay. One reason may be due to the way parents treat their sons and daughters traditionally when they are young, having the males go out and play, learning actively and the girls stay in, read or have friends round. Therefore this may lead to learning better social skills than the males and learning more at a younger age. This may then indicate on later life why males struggle behind females. Something that has changed over the last 15 years are the attitudes of females, before this the priorities of women was to raise a family first before carrying out a career. As over the years more opportunities for women have become open, more women stay on for further education and want to start a career before thinking about a family. Before, jobs such as doctors and teachers were mostly male dominated and women were given jobs such as secretary and nurses. There are also more subjects introduced such as Drama and Dance, because there are more creative subjects- as the female uses the left side more than the male, meaning they then
How had Policing and Crime Changed by the Middle of the 19th Century?
How had Policing and Crime Changed by the Middle of the 19th Century? Policing and Crime had changed dramatically by the middle of the 19th century. Policing in the earlier years was a very different matter. During the 1700s old methods of policing continued, they had been in place for centuries. Constables and Watchmen were appointed in villages and towns. These were very ineffective. There was very few men who could do the job and the ones that did were always very tired because they had full time jobs as well. Constables didn't have success in cities. Places like London were always crowded with house and back alleys where criminals could hide. At the beginning of the 19th century new methods of policing began to be tried out. In 1805 two magistrates made a breakthrough in policing. John Fielding and his brother Henry were based in Bow street and realised more men were needed to fight crime. Their new ideas included, a horse patrol of 54 men to stop highwaymen. A team of thief-takers who patrolled London called the Bow Street Runners. They also started a newspaper called the Hue and Cry which contained information about criminals and crimes so the public could help. The idea of a full time police force was still being met by strong opposition during the early 1800s, this was because of a number of reasons, the first is people feared the cost, people also thought that it
Using the example of violent crime show the strengths and weaknesses of police recorded crime figures.
Using the example of violent crime show the strengths and weaknesses of police recorded crime figures. According to the Home Office "Police statistics provide a good measure of trends in well reported crimes, are an important indicator of police workload, and can be used for local crime pattern analysis" (Home Office 2004). Violent crime has always been an issue of concern for both the government and the public. Reports of attacks occur daily in the media and in official crime statistics. One issue that remains is how reliable these statistics are, are they unnecessarily creating an atmosphere of panic and tension within the general public or do they provide a reliable measure of the rate of violent crime today? Modern crime statistics today are taken from various sources, local levels, courts, the British Transport Police, and the British Crime Survey. In comparison to the 1940s and 50s when crime statistics were formulated by a small number of criminologists "working in academic or clinical settings" (Maguire 2002 p324), one might come to the conclusion that the information available today is more reliable and ecologically valid. However, extensive research into these new methods and approaches has found new weaknesses and strengths. One main example of statistical sources introduced in recent years is the British Crime Survey introduced to Britain in 1982. This, in
To what extent do official crime statistics provide a realisable estimate of the amount of crime committed in England and Wales
To what extent do official crime statistics provide a realisable estimate of the amount of crime committed in England and Wales? The Criminal Justice System is an area of the English Legal System that strikes a balance between punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent. This balance has been the subject of much debate in the last 20 years because there has been a large number of miscarriages of justice, where innocent citizens/ people are sent to prison. This then suggested that the system had tipped this balance too far and was greatly engaged in proving guilt. Examples of high profile cases that show some of these miscarriages of justice are , The Birmingham Six and The Guilford Four. The Criminal Justice System also helps to regulate and control anti - social behaviour. The police play an important role as they have responsibility for investigating crimes, gathering evidence and deciding whether to prosecute or not. These powers over suspects also enables them to help convict the guilty or, as the miscarriages of justice has shown, abuse to convict the innocent. As a result of these miscarriages of justice some changes were introduced to prevent them happening again. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was introduced to protect suspects. With regards to Crime and the society, there is no doubt that crime and fear of crime are consistently high on the
Assess the usefulness of functionalist approaches to our sociological understanding of crime and deviance
Assess the usefulness of functionalist approaches to our sociological understanding of crime and deviance This essay will be looking at the usefulness of different functionalist approaches to crime and deviance. To do this it will be looking at the psychological causes of crime by Lombroso, the role of crime and deviance in society by Durkheim, the strain to anomie, 5 adaptations study by Merton, the status theory by Cohen the Opportunity structures study by Cloward an Ohlin and the focal concerns study by Miller. When looking at these studies it will also be looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each study. This will then be followed by a conclusion. The psychological causes of crime study by Lombroso looks at why people commit crime from a biological point of view. His research claimed that there were genetically-determined characteristics found in the "criminal classes" such as, large jaws, high cheekbones and large ears. To find this out, he carried out his study on inmates in Italian prisons. One of the main disadvantages of this study was that it was carried out on people from poor backgrounds; whose physical appearance may have been affected by poverty and poor nutrition meaning that he was basing his study on people who had been socially deprived. Another disadvantage of his study was that not all people who commit crimes go to jail, such as those who
Sociological View On Suicide
Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of different sociological approaches to suicide Item a shows that there have been many studies conducted on suicide and the decisions behind why people commit suicide. Such sociologists who have conducted these studies and Durkheim, Douglas and Taylor. All three have conducted studies but there is great difference in the way the study has been conducted. Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist who was also a positivist thinker who was strongly influenced by the also French sociologist, Auguste Comte. He was a sociologist like no other of his time. He was trying to make sociology a more respectable and accepted subject by showing how sociology was the same as the natural sciences. He was trying to prove how sociology could be studied through the logic of methods by making his studies objective and ensuring research is reliable and quantitative. Durkheim used a comparative method when undertaking his subject which meant comparing the suicide rates from different European countries in the 19th century. He considered these statistics to be social facts gathered in each country showing a true reflection of how many people had taken their own lives. Durkheim believed after his research that suicide rates were determined not by a persons psychological state but by their relationship to society. From his research,
Outline and asses sociological explanations of gender differences in the pattern of crime
Outline and asses sociological explanations of gender differences in the pattern of crime By looking at official statistics it would appear that 80% of all crime is committed by men. Crime committed by women is generally more minor and men commit more crime in every area with the exception of shoplifting. However in the past 10 years female crime has increased three fold. Although women only make up 4% of the prison population, in the 1970's government experts predicted that there would be no women in prison at all, which has evidentially not occurred. Even so men still commit a much higher proportion of crime. An early study into the causes of crime by Lombrosso claimed that men commit more crime as they are more likely to have physical flaws such as an extra nipple creating a more ape like appearance. By studying criminals in one Italian prison he argued that a more ape like features that he claimed could be seen in convicts and not in the prison officers, suggested that the individual was less evolved and therefore predisposed to committing crime. He noted that women are less likely to have these flaws and are therefore not born criminals explaining less female criminal activities. However Lombrosso ignored socialisation as being a factor in creating a criminal disposition, which is the idea favoured by most sociologists. In the nature vs. nurture debate Lomobrosso
How far do these sources support the idea that witchcraft was an essentially female crime?
How far do these sources support the idea that witchcraft was an essentially female crime? All the sources support the idea that witchcraft was essentially a female crime but some to a lesser extent. However there is one exception, source 10, which states that in some countries for example Russia, Estonia and Scandanavian countries, the prosecution of men was nearly on par with women. Source 1 strongly agrees with the question 'that witchcraft was an essentially female crime'. The source is an extract from the malleus maleficarum, which was written by two monks in 1486. The malleus maleficarum was a very influential piece of literature in much of Europe. It spread the message throughout much of Europe to be wary of witchcraft and warned people that witches lived amongst them in their very villages. The malleus maleficarum was very mysogenistic, for example, "But the natural reason is that she is more carnal than man". This quote showed that them monks believed that women tended to have more sexual partners than men. The source also claims women have "slippery tongues" implying that they tend to expose themselves easily by simple gossiping. The source cleary agrees with the idea that witchcraft was a female crime as it also says, "a greater number of witches is found in the fragile feminine sex than among men". This source is also intersting as it is written by two monk,
Evaluate the strengths and limitations of using self-completion written questionnaires to investigate unauthorised absences from school.
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Applying material from Item B and your own knowledge of research methods, evaluate the strengths and limitations of using self-completion written questionnaires to investigate unauthorised absences from school. (20 Marks) Sociologists draw a close correlation between unauthorized absences and the underachievement in school work. Pupils who are not successful in their subjects are more likely to truant. Students may also not attend school due to caring responsibilities or the dislike of school in itself. Sociologists such as positivists may choose to use self-completion written questionnaires to study unauthorised absences as it illustrates itself in the form of quantitative data. This method of research can be distributed easily and inexpensively to a large number of pupils in a short space of time. However, response rates are often very low, especially when dealing with sensitive topics. Children who are bullied are less likely to attend school, this leads to them missing important lessons and inevitably underachieving in their academic subjects. Furthermore, if the sociologist is investigating unauthorized absences, they must acquire a way of distributing the questionnaires. If the child is not attending school, then they will not receive the questionnaire. In order to obtain a bigger picture, the sociologist might also choose to send
Outline and evaluate the view that crime and deviance are socially constructed
Transfer-Encoding: chunked Outline and evaluate the view that crime and deviance are socially constructed All crime is considered deviant but not all deviant acts are considered criminal. To analyse the difference between what is crime and what is simply deviant behaviour a clear definition of both needs to be established in order to evaluate whether crime and deviance are socially constructed. Crime is simply a set of universal rules that are punishable by law. They vary in severity from little misdemeanours to unspeakable acts of maliciousness. Depending on the type of criminal activity will decide on the outcome of the punishment (James, 2017). Whereas, deviance is recognised as a behaviour that is infringing against expected rules and norms. Deviance is more than merely non-conformity; it is behaviour that strays substantially from social expectations. Although these acts are considered offensive, they are not punishable by law and typically the punishment is stigma from within society (Nagel, 2016). For anything to be considered criminal or deviant originally the act itself must have been created and developed by a society. It is the perception of a society that determines whether the act is deviant or criminal making it socially constructed. (Scott & Marshall, 2009) History has shown us that incidents which were once considered deviant or criminal are now not
