Sociology A2 Exam on Crime and Deviance
What is crime?
Crime is associated with behaviour that breaks the formal, written laws of a given society
What is deviance?
To deviate means to move away from set standards in society. Deviance then, is a much more general category than crime and is used by sociologists to refer to is different but not legally controlled.
All crime is deviance, but not all deviance is crime.
TOPIC 1 – FUNCTIONALIST, STRAIN AND SUBCULTURAL THEORIES
Functionalist’s perspective
Functionalists see society as based on value consensus
All members of society share a common culture
A culture is a set norms, values, beliefs and goals
Shared culture equals social solidarity – binding individuals together, telling them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves.
To achieve solidarity, society has two key mechanisms
Socialisation – instils shared culture into its members, helping to ensure that all individuals internalise the same norms and values. They also feel it right to act in the ways society requires.
Social control – rewards (or positive sanctions) for conformity, and punishment (negative sanctions) for deviance. These help to ensure that individuals behave in the way society expects.
Durkheim’s functionalist theory
The inevitability of crime
Functionalists believe that too much crime has the potential of destabilising society; they also see crime as inevitable and universal. Therefore, this means that every society has some level of crime and deviance.
Durkheim (1893) ‘crime is normal… an integral part of all healthy societies’.
Reasons why crime and deviance are found in all societies: * Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values, so some individuals are prone to deviate * Diversity of lifestyles and values. Different groups can develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values. Therefore what the members of the subculture may regard as normal, mainstream culture sees as deviant.
Crime is associated with behaviour that breaks the formal, written laws of a given society
What is deviance?
To deviate means to move away from set standards in society. Deviance then, is a much more general category than crime and is used by sociologists to refer to is different but not legally controlled.
All crime is deviance, but not all deviance is crime.
TOPIC 1 – FUNCTIONALIST, STRAIN AND SUBCULTURAL THEORIES
Functionalist’s perspective
Functionalists see society as based on value consensus
All members of society share a common culture
A culture is a set norms, values, beliefs and goals
Shared culture equals social solidarity – binding individuals together, telling them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves.
To achieve solidarity, society has two key mechanisms
Socialisation – instils shared culture into its members, helping to ensure that all individuals internalise the same norms and values. They also feel it right to act in the ways society requires.
Social control – rewards (or positive sanctions) for conformity, and punishment (negative sanctions) for deviance. These help to ensure that individuals behave in the way society expects.
Durkheim’s functionalist theory
The inevitability of crime
Functionalists believe that too much crime has the potential of destabilising society; they also see crime as inevitable and universal. Therefore, this means that every society has some level of crime and deviance.
Durkheim (1893) ‘crime is normal… an integral part of all healthy societies’.
Reasons why crime and deviance are found in all societies: * Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values, so some individuals are prone to deviate * Diversity of lifestyles and values. Different groups can develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values. Therefore what the members of the subculture may regard as normal, mainstream culture sees as deviant.