Assess The Usefulness Of Conflict Theory

Examinable Skills

AO1: Knowledge and Understanding (43% of all marks available)
Knowledge of the subject or topic must be accurate
Must have sufficient depth of knowledge
To UNDERSTAND the material, you must be able to select the right knowledge to answer the question
Must use SOCIOLOGICAL knowledge rather than ‘common sense’ knowledge

AO1
Yes I know what they mean
No I don’t and therefore need to revise what they mean
(a )Sociological concepts and theory: You must know what the terms mean

Social order

Social change

Conflict

Consensus

Social structure

Social action

The role of values

Relationship between sociology and social policy

(b ) Methods of sociological enquiry. You must understand the range of methods and
Assess the strengths and limitations of using interviews or official statistics when investigating state and war crimes.

Question 5 or 6: Theory and Methods ONLY

‘If we can agree on what we mean by ‘science’, then we can begin to assess the extent to which sociology is scientific.’ To what extent do sociological arguments and evidence support this view?

Assess the usefulness of conflict theories in understanding society today.

Evaluate different views of the relationship between sociology and social policy.

Assess the view that sociological research cannot and should not be objective and value-free.

Evaluate the relationship between the theoretical perspective of the sociologist and their choice of research methods.

Assess the contribution of Functionalist theories and research to our understanding of society today.

Assess the contribution of feminist perspectives and research to our understanding of society.

Evaluate how the concepts of modernity and post-modernity have influenced sociologists’ understanding of society today.

Methods Key Words

Validity

Reliability

Generalisation

Ethical
The structural origins of crime & deviance
Cloward and Ohlin accept Cohen’s views on the structural origins of crime and deviance.

2. The cultural causes of crime & deviance
However, Cloward and Ohlin criticise Cohen’s cultural explanation of crime. In particular, his failure to explain the variety of subcultural forms that emerge out of the social structure.

Cloward and Ohlin maintain that the form working class delinquent subcultures take depends on access to ileegitimate opportunity structures, i.e. access to existing adult criminal networks who will take on younger ‘apprentice’ criminals.
Criminal subcultures emerge when working class youths have access to adult riminal networks. The focus of their deviance is on material crimes such as burglary.
Conflict subcultures emerge when working class youths lack access to adult criminal networks but live in an environment which values defence of territory and violence. The focus of their deviance is gang related ‘warfare’.
Retreatist subcultures emerge when working class youths are denied access to criminal or conflict subcultures. The focus of their deviance is on alcohol and drug abuse.
3. Walter Miller and ‘focal concerns’

1. The structural origins of crime &