...Outline and evaluate Right realist explanations of crime and deviance Crime is an act of behaviour that goes against the formal written laws, such as murder. Deviance is an act of behaviour that goes against the norms and values of society, such as being loud in the cinema. Right Realists believe crime is a real problem to be tackled not just a social construction (Interactionism) due to a significant rise in crime especially with street crime such as burglary and assault. They are concerned about the widespread fear of crime and about the impact of crime on its victims and argue other theories have failed to offer realistic solutions. In this essay I will outline and assess Right realists explanations of crime by referring to Wilson, Marsland, Hircshi, and use New right theorists Murray and Clark to support and criticise them. Right realist share New Right/ neo-conservative views about the underclass causing and committing crime. They argue that crime has become out of control and that society should get tougher on crime with harsher sentencing. In 1980s and 1990s society witnessed increasing levels of crime. Wilson is the father of Right Realism. He was a right wing policy advisor to Ronald Regan and had a very conservative view. Thus believing people are responsible for their own lives. He rejected the claim that the economic recession was to blame for the crime explosion due to the economic boom in the 1960s was accompanied by a huge rise in crime too. Wilson argued men living...
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...Assess the usefulness of realism in developing our understanding of crime and deviance Sociologists, both left and right realists, have tried to develop accurate theories of crime that propose practical solutions when dealing with the worldly issues of crime and deviance. The way these two approaches pursue this is drastically different from one another, as both wings are from completely opposite ends of the political scale. Nevertheless, like all sociological theories, they have their margins and flaws, yet both approaches have demonstrated to be useful in developing our understanding of crime and deviance for a number of reasons. The origins of left realism lie in the desire to move away from “pure theory” to something which can be utilised and applied practically in order to solve the problem of crime in Britain. Left realism is predominantly useful in understanding crime and deviance because it avoids the age old divisions between structure and action. Instead, left realism sets out an outline which contains all levels of analysis, both micro and macro. Young for example, suggests that in order to truly understand and deal with crime efficiently, the interaction between micro and macro factors need to be considered alongside each other in what is referred to as ‘the square of crime’. Simply, this means that when studying the problem of crime, sociologists should consider the roles of the state (they have the power to define what is criminal and what is not), the offender...
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...Crime and Deviance Revision SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Sociology Department Greenhead College SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Remember: You have to revise everything, because you have no choice on the exam paper. The specification 1 Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control * Different definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution...
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...Crime and Deviance Revision SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Sociology Department Greenhead College SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Remember: You have to revise everything, because you have no choice on the exam paper. The specification 1 Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control * Different definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution...
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...“Assess the usefulness of realist approaches in understanding crime and deviance” In your answer you should make use of material from the following areas; Religion, Education, Mass Media, Family & Households etc. Both left and right wing sociologists have attempted to develop ‘realistic’ theories of crime which offer practical solutions in dealing with the issue. However, the way these two approaches go about this is radically different, as right and left realism are from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. Although like all sociological/criminological theories, they have their limitations and flaws, both approaches have proven useful in understanding crime and deviance for a number of reasons. The origins of left realism lie in the desire to move away from “pure theory” to something which can be utilised and applied practically in order to solve the problem of crime in Britain. Left realism is particularly useful in understanding crime and deviance because it avoids the age old divisions between structure and action. Instead, left realism sets out an agenda which contains all levels of analysis, both macro and micro. Young, Lea and Matthews for example, suggest that in order to truly understand and deal with crime, the interplay between macro and micro factors need to be considered alongside each other in what they call “the square of crime”. In essence, this means that when investigating the problem of crime, sociologists should consider the roles of...
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...Past Crime and Deviance Questions Sept 2008 Read Item A below and answer the question that follows. ------------------------------------------------- Item A ------------------------------------------------- Situational crime prevention (SCP) involves intervening in the immediate situations in which crime takes place to reduce its likelihood or seriousness. It often involves ‘designing crime out’ of products, services and environments, for example by use of anti-climb paint, CCTV and security guards in shops, better street lighting, metal detectors at airports, neighbourhood watch schemes and the re-designing of housing estates. ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- SCP does not rely on intervening in children’s socialisation to prevent them becoming criminals later, or on the threat of punishments to deter current criminals. Instead, it makes specific changes aimed at influencing the decision or ability of offenders to commit particular crimes in particular situations. Like rational choice theory, SCP sees criminals as acting rationally. By making certain crimes less rewarding, more risky or needing greater effort, SCP makes criminals less likely to choose to commit them. 02 Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of conflict theories for an understanding of crime and deviance in contemporary society. (21 marks) Jan 2010 Read Item A below and answer the question that follows...
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...Assess the value of the right realist approach to crime and deviance. (21 marks) Right realists argue that crime today is a very real and growing problem. Right Realists argue that crime threatens society’s work ethic, social cohesion and destroys communities in society. Unlike other theories, Right realism focuses on the solutions for crime alongside the explanation of what causes crime in society, this approach also criticise labelling and criminology theories for being too sympathetic to the offender or too hostile to those in power. Right realists, Wilson and Herrnstein argue the idea that crime is a result of biological differences in people. Some people are suggested to be more inclined to commit crime than others. For example, those with higher traits of aggression may have the increasing tendency to commit crime. In support of the previous point, Wilson and Murray argue that low intelligence can lead to the causes of crime, this being a biological trait shows that crime is because of biological differences. In contrast, Lilly found that differences in intelligence only accounted for a 3% difference in offenders. This implies that it is very unlikely that the causes of crime are biological differences. Clarke, a right realist, came up with the rational choice theory, suggesting that crime is a matter of choice which is made by the criminal who weighs up the costs and benefits of committing crimes. In today’s society, the costs of committing petty crimes are rather...
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...Assess the usefullness of statistical data in the study of crime and deviance Extracts from this document... Introduction Assess the usefulness of statistical data in the study of crime and deviance. Official statistics seem to indicate that crime levels are rapidly on the increase, from being a few hundred thousand in the 50's and 60's to more than 6 million in today's world. However the debate in the usefulness of statistics in relation to the study of crime has provoked many different arguments. Durkheim and Conte are the Positivists who believe that they are useful. They believe this because using statistics is the closest sociology can get to a scientific experiment. As statistics provoke quantitave data it is open to be testable and comparable with previous results. Against this belief are the Anti-Positivists who say that statistical data is not reliable, as it doesn't establish a cause and effect for the reasons behind committing crime. It may depend upon the context of the situation an individual is placed in; therefore it does not look at the meaning behind committing crimes. They are also hard to compare over time and lack validity due to problems with obtaining statistics. The reliability of official statistics can be questioned, as although positivists claim that they are used for correlation analysis, the anti-positivists dismiss this as they say other factors that have occurred over time and culture change have caused crime figures to be irrelative to each other...
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...Assess the usefulness of Marxist theories in explaining crime and deviance Marxists sociologists believe that we live in a capitalist society which is divided into classes. They argue that society is based on conflict over the inequality of wealth and power between the bourgeoisie; the ruling capitalist class who own the means of production and the proletariat; the working class who are exploited by the bourgeoisie in order for them to gain profit. This is known as capitalism. The Marxist view on crime is based on three main elements. The first element is criminogenic capitalism, this suggests that crime is inevitable due to the fact that capitalism breeds crime in society. This is the idea that the exploitation of the working class can cause a rise in crime rates. For example, people in poverty may resort to crime in order to survive as crime may be the only way they can obtain consumer goods by committing utilitarian crimes which are crimes concerning money such as theft, embezzlement etc. In addition to this, alienation may also be another way to cause working class people to commit crime as the lack of control they have over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression which can result in non-utilitarian crimes which are crimes that do not concern money such as murder, violence, vandalism. Gordon, a sociologist believes that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and it is found in all social classes. The second element is the state and law making; this...
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...Assess the view that crime and deviance is a product of the labelling process (21) Some sociologists believe that crime and deviance is a result labelling which is when a label is attached to a person or group of people due to their appearance, sex, ethnicity or other factors. It is also leads individuals to believe that labelling theory can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is when the person begins to act according to the label and hence it comes true simply through being made. The interactionist explanation of deviance moves away from looking at the reasons which ‘cause’ deviance and focuses instead on the people who are defined as deviant and the consequences of this labelling. However many would fault this view that crime and deviance is a product of the labelling process, as they believe it over-simplify the process of labelling, and particularly minimizes the role of the deviant. Deviants come across as passive victims in this view. If a certain group of people have committed crime in the past they are more likely to be thought as to reoffend. Sociologists such as Cicourel investigated typifications, which are stereotypes of young offenders meaning the police, focus their attentions on these types of people. Through typifications the police concentrate on working class areas closely attaching a negative label to them. Once a label has been attached through self-fulfilling prophecy the offenders are more likely to feel victimised so may be obliged to offend...
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...Crime and Deviance exam questions Crime questions – Qu. 1 & 2 – both worth 21 marks.You should spend 30 minutes on each question and each should have a traditional essay structure (include an introduction and a conclusion, at least two sides of the argument, two or more theories, relevant studies and as much evaluation as you can cram in!). You also need to show ‘conceptual confidence’ – this just means that you should make it clear to the examiner that you know and understand the important concepts, e.g. anomie, relative deprivation.Make sure you make reference to the item – both essay questions will have their own item. You can often use the information in the item as a springboard into the essay in the introduction. However, you will be penalised for ‘overuse of the item’, so don’t just copy it out. You can use short quotes or statistics from the item though. | Question: | What to include: | Assess the view that ethnic differences in crime rates are the result of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates. | This question is essentially about the presence (or not) of institutional racism in the police, courts and penal system. You will need to compare the importance of this as opposed to explanations that argue that ethnic minorities do commit more crime - either as a result of relative deprivation (left realism) or poor upbringing, absent fathers, etc (new right). * Try to include some stats, reference to patterns of offending, stop and search...
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...Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess right realist explanations of both the causes of crime and the solutions to crime (21 marks) As suggested in item A, right realists explain crime to be a social problem requiring practical solutions. Realists focus on crime which is at the centre of public concern, for example street crime, violence and burglary; they are concerned with increasing measures of crime control. Wilson and Hernstein put forward a biosocial theory explaining the causes of crime; they argue crime is an activity disproportionately committed by young men living in large cities, these young men are temperamentally aggressive as a result of biological factors which predisposes them to crime. The social aspect to their theory comes from the belief that young men are socialised in the family, school and wider community in a culture that emphasises immediate gratification, low impulse control and self-expression which has reduced the restraints on their behaviour in conforming to society’s norms and value, resulting in more crime. A criticism of Wilson and Hernstein’s theory is their assumption that young males in inner cities are responsible for most crime. Right realists uses official statistics to base their theory on, thus, the assumption of young males could be based on an invalid picture presented by official statistics. The theory also ignores wider structural causes of crime, such as the increasing gap between the rich and the poor creating resentment...
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...Assess the View that Crime is Functional, Inevitable and Normal. (21 marks) Within the sociological perspectives of crime and deviance, there is one particular approach which argues that crime is functional, inevitable and normal. This sociological perspective, of Functionalism, consists of Durkheim’s work on crime and deviance. His main argument was that ‘crime is normal’ and that it is ‘an integral part of all healthy societies’. This perspective views crime and deviance as an inevitable feature of all societies which is universal. However, Durkheim did argue that too much crime can lead to the destabilisation of society. Durkheim identified three positive aspects of crime which make it a functional component of society. He did this through magnifying the positive impacts it can have on social cohesion which refers to the invisible bonds which bring people together within a society. There were three main positive aspects which he accentuated as they made crime and deviance functional. These were ‘reaffirming the boundaries’, ‘changing values’ and ‘social cohesion.’ The first, reaffirming the boundaries, refers to situations where crime has already occurred. When the criminal is taken to court, the public outcry which follows verifies the boundaries. This can be seen particularly in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where public hangings and executions take place. The second positive aspect of crime which makes it functional for society is changing values. Durkheim stated that...
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...Assess sociological explanations of the role of the mass media in creating moral panics about crime and deviance: A moral panic is the process of arousing social concern over an issue, this is often an exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem, which is usually driven or inspired by the media. In this situation the reaction ends up amplifying the problem out of proportion to its real seriousness. This creates anxiety amongst the general population, and this therefore puts pressure on the agents of social control to deal with the problem, who then act accordingly to the group responsible for the panic. There is a strong relationship between mass media and crime. On average, around 30% of newspaper content is dedicated to crime, however it can be debated whether this news is true because the media exaggerate the truth in order to publish a newsworthy story. The mass media are heavily involved in creating moral panics about crime and deviance in society. According to Cohen, the mass media play a vital role in the societal reaction to crime and deviance. He suggests that moral panics have a number of stages, in which the media label certain groups, in order to maximise profit. Firstly, the media use exaggerated language and headlines when reporting on a particular event that has occurred and use follow-up articles, in which they identify this event as a social problem. Whereby ‘folk devils’ are created (Goode and Ben-Yehuda: 1994). Folk devils are over simplified...
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...Assess the value of the left and right realist approaches to crime and deviance Right realism sees crime, especially street crime as a real and growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens society’s work ethic. Right realist views correspond with conservative governments as they see it as a workable solution to curb rising crime. It’s led to a shift in thinking, away from researching the causes of crime and towards a search for practical crime control measures. They view the best way to reduce crime was through control and punishment rather than rehabilitating offenders or tackling causes of crime such as poverty. Right realism reflects this political climate. They criticise other theories for failing to offer any practical solutions to the problem of rising crime. They regard theories such as labelling and critical criminology as too sympathetic to the criminal and hostile to law and order. Right realists are less concerned to understand causes of crime and more concerned to offer realistic solutions. Although their main emphasis is on practical crime reduction, they do offer explanation for causes of crime.Right realists reject the idea put forward by Marxists and others that structural or economic factor such as poverty and inequality are the causes of crime. For example against Marxists they argue the old tend to be poor but have a low crime rate. Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour. They...
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