Assess the contribution of Realism to our understanding of Crime and Deviance (21 Marks) Realism is a perspective that branches off into two sub-categories, Left Realism and Right Realism. Left Realism was originally developed as a critique of New Criminology and, like Marxists, they support the Conflict Theory (The idea that society is unequal). However, unlike Marxists, they believe in gradual social change rather than overthrow of capitalism to achieve equality. Right realism though, like Functionalists
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Asses the contribution of postmodernism to sociologists understanding of crime and deviance in todays society. Some sociologists believe that we now live in a post-modern society that has a distinct set of characteristics in comparison to modern society; Postmodernists reject the views of the modernist theorists as they claim that they are metanarratives (big stories). They believe that sociology needs to develop new theories so we can fully understand postmodern society, as society is constantly
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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
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Assess strain theories as an explanation of crime and deviance in contemporary society The relationship between offending and subculture explains how a situation for example society preventing certain groups particularly working class males from succeeding in terms of material achievement and this creates group response whereby the group rejects the values and of that society and develops alternative values ‘subculture’ and this leads to values generated by the subculture being justified and leading
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‘Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of labelling theory in explaining crime and deviance’ (21 marks) Labelling theory is a micro approach that looks at how individuals construct society based on their interactions with each other (item). In terms of crime and deviance, labelling theory argues that most people commit deviant and criminal acts but only some are caught and stigmatised for it. So therefore, it is not useful to search for differences between ‘deviants’
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Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess the view that crime and deviance are the product of labeling processes. Labelling theorists are interested in how and why certain acts come to be defined or labelled as criminal in the first place. They argue that no act is inherently criminal or deviant in itself. In other words, it is not the nature of the act that makes it deviant but the nature of society’s reaction to the act. For a sociologist such as Becker, a deviant is simply someone
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labelling theory in explaining crime and deviance. (21 marks) Labelling theory is a micro theory that explains how self-identity and behaviour of individuals may be determined or influenced by the terms used to describe them. As Item A states, it is a micro approach that examines how individuals construct society. Labelling theory is useful in explaining crime and deviance through the way in which Lemert distinguishes between primary and secondary deviance. However, the usefulness of labelling theory
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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
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Sociologists use the labelling theory in order to explain why crime and deviance occurs in society. This theory conveys the idea that a act is only criminal or deviant if the act is labelled accordingly, these labels are attached to individuals by those in society who are conformist, therefore they are defining what is deviant and non-deviant. Those who use this theory as an explanation therefore explain crime and deviance in the terms that it occurs as a result of labelling that has been placed
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Assess the usefulness of functionalist and subcultural theories of crime and deviance for an understanding of why working class people commit crime (21 marks) Functionalists see society as based on shared norms and values which societies members are socialised into, known as a value consensus. This produces social solidarity, binding individuals together into a unit that works with other units to keep society running; it has been compared to the parts of the human body in the organic analogy.
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