Defining Crime and Deviance 1. What does it mean to suggest that ‘deviance’ and/or ‘crime’ are social constructs? A social construct is defined as a social phenomenon or category which is created and developed by society - an idea which is ‘constructed’ through cultural or social practice. Since the Labour Government were in power 3600 laws have been introduced and it is said that this is due to society constantly changing its views on various issues such as smoking inside in public places
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Strain Theory In accordance to experiencing strain or stress‚ people may become upset and sometimes engage in crime as a result to either cease or reduce the stress they are experiencing. For example they may steal to reduce financial stress or violence as revenge to those that have wronged them. There are two major types of strain that contribute to crime Others that prevent you from achieving your goals Others that take things you value or present negative stimuli Money is probably the most centralised
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Examine some of the ways in which Marxists explain crime (12 marks) Marxists idea of crime is strongly linked to capitalism and the way it creates conditions for crime through exploitation and competition. There are two branches of Marxism; traditional and Neo-Marxism. They both focus on the idea of criminogenic state‚ however Neo-Marxist theory links in with the labelling theory to explain crime. Traditional Marxists such as David Gordon (1976) argues that crime is a conscious‚ rational response
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Organizational explanations of deviance has various or numerous elements that might cause misconduct since small work groups have their own influences while isolated work groups develop their own climate that might not conform or go along with the organizational ethics. From what I understand a group of individuals in some sort of organization that are using the power that they have in an unethical way. An example of an organizational explanation or defiance is employees using company vehicles for
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Culture Influences through Mass Media Our culture is highly influenced by mass media by promoting celebrities and ordinary people who do astonishing things into a stereotype that we base our lives on. Society as a whole is represented in the mass media and impacts our culture and how we relate on a daily basis. As much as we would like to believe that we have control over our own lives‚ the mass media impacts the way we see gender roles‚ use symbols‚ distinguish between high and popular culture
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Examine the relationship between deviance and labelling. The relationship between deviance and labelling is partly based on the view of the stereotypical criminal. This stereotype suggests a white‚ working class‚ male as a deviant‚ making them a ‘suspect’ before they’ve even committed a deviant act. However‚ whether an act is labelled as deviant depends on who commits the act‚ where and when it’s committed‚ and how it is interpreted – and the label the individual is given as a result. Functionalists
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commit crimes but their surroundings cause strain in their life and force them to partake in illegal behavior. However‚ some of the actions taken are less serious than others like: a teen speeding on the street to make curfew or stealing from a store to pay your rent. The actions of speeding can have a dramatic effect such as getting pulled over for drunk driving and having your parents find out and making them miss bills due to bailing you out. These illegal actions taken were due to the strain put
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Sociologists like Emile Durkheim used the structural functional theory of crime to understand the world and why people act the way that they do. Its main thought is that our culture is a whole unit. This unit is composed of interconnected portions. Sociologists who believe theory often focus on the social structure and social function. Durkheim based primarily all his work on this theory‚ the structural functional theory. Durkheim debated that deviance is a typical and essential part of our culture due to
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concepts. One of his most important achievements has been the established connection between theory and research‚ thereby making the way for the course of sociology. Merton favored what he called middle range theories: these are theories that “lie between minor but necessary working hypotheses that evolve in abundance during day to day research and all inclusive systematic efforts to develop a unified theory that will explain all the observed uniformities of social behavior‚ social organization‚ and
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elsewhere‚ assess the usefulness of labelling theory in explaining crime and deviance. (21 marks) Labelling theorists are concerned with how and why certain people and actions come to be labelled as criminal or deviant‚ and what effects this has on those who are labelled as such. As stated in Item A‚ labelling theory is focused with how individuals construct society based on their interactions with each other. Becker emphasises the significance of crime being a social construct; an action only becomes
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