as racism and youth offending. Giddens (2001) states that there are four benefits to studying sociology which make up why it informs social policy. Firstly, sociological study can develop understanding of social situations both factually, allowing development of judgement or theory, and theoretically, enabling us to provide and explanation as to why something is happening. Secondly, it can inform policymakers of perspectives that are different from their own, such as the awareness of cultural differences
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if they go against expected gender norms. For men, crime can be seen as an expression of masculinity and a way of gaining social status. Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations of gender differences in the patterns of crime. There are an array of sociological explanations and theories as to why there is a significant difference not only in the crime rates of different genders but also in the crimes committed by each. Firstly,item B states that men are
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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
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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
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Assess the relationship between sociology and social policy In order to understand the role of sociology in relation to social policy, it is important to firstly distinguish between social problems and sociological problems. According to Peter Worsley, a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and private misery and calls for collective action to solve it. According to Worsley, a sociological problem is “any pattern of relationships that calls for explanation
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Positivism means “scientific” and positivist methodologies argue it’s possible and desirable to study social behaviour in ways similar to those used by natural scientists to study behaviour in the natural world. Positivism A basic principle is that social systems consist of structures that exist independently of individuals; they represent behaviour at the institutional level of society and people experience structures as forces that push us to behave in ways that shape our individual
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and by the criminals or deviants themselves. Over-representation of certain types of crimes may lead to heightened fear of these crimes by the public. In some cases, moral panics may also result in a change in the law. 01 - Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations of the role of the mass media in creating moral panics about crime and deviance. [21 marks] The Media are often the subject of claims that they cause crime and deviance through their devotion to exaggerating
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Asses the strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews for the study of boys underachievement at school Unstructured interviews have advantages and disadvantages and as a qualitative method they are expressed through words and relay people’s thoughts, feelings and motivations. Unstructured interviews are interviews that don’t have certain questions meaning it’s more free and relaxed. They give us a deep understanding of the interviewee’s world because we can use the answers they give to
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H/W Tania Begum 6.13 23rd March 2016 Assess the hypodermic syringe model of the relationship between the mass media and the audience. (18 marks) There are a variety of sociological theories and evidence that suggests that the hypodermic syringe model has a relationship between the mass media and the audience however there also some flaws to these ideas. The hypodermic syringe model assumes
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Assess the sociological explanations for the growth of new religious movements. By: Amy Rashid Over the years, there has been a growth of new religious movements in the society. This growth can be explained in terms of why people chose to join the movements or in terms of wider social changes. Hence, in this essay, I shall discuss several sociological explanations for this occurrence. Firstly, Steve Bruce (1995, 1996) attributes the development of a range of religious institutions, including
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