505311
Description
Mind Map by Amy Gregor, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Amy Gregor
over 10 years ago
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Sociological Theories on Crime
- Marxism
- Capitalism can only thrive while
the working classes are exploted
- The class which tends to gain the most is the 'ruling class'
- Crime in the working class, "blue collar" is thought by Marxists to be
caused by their frustration on the ruling classes and being exploited
- Marxists believe, like functionalists, that crime is
crucial to ensuring conformity and order among the rest
- Modern Marxists suggest the
media makes the working class
conform to being manipulated
- Deviance is a result of inequality
- While the state passes laws to help the ruling class, working
class are not satisfied with what they have
- As they cannot reach their rulers, they resort to deviance acts against others
- Marxists believe that crime is social class related
- Result of working class oppression
- Capitalism can only thrive while
the working classes are exploted
- Functionalism
- Emile Durkheim came up
with this theory
- He believed that deviance (in small amounts) is
necessary in order for society to function properly
- This comes from the idea that when
everyday people see deviant behaviour, it
strengthens their morals and brings society
closer together against that type of behaviour
- This comes from the idea that when
everyday people see deviant behaviour, it
strengthens their morals and brings society
closer together against that type of behaviour
- Deviance contradicts the collective sentiments of the
wider group, meaning a small amount of crime will bring
people together
- Functionalism marks the extremities of deviant behaviour
- Emile Durkheim came up
with this theory
- Labelling Theory
- A theory by Howard Becker
- The idea that if people are
labelled or branded as something
they will begin to take it on as
truth and start acting in said way
- An example of this would be youths in a rundown area or from a poor
background being consistently stereotyped as thugs who will join gangs
and amount to nothing
- They are being fed this idea that they are good for nothing other
than being delinquent who commits crime and so may feel there is
no hope for themselves and resort to what everybody thinks of them
anyway
- They are being fed this idea that they are good for nothing other
than being delinquent who commits crime and so may feel there is
no hope for themselves and resort to what everybody thinks of them
anyway
- A theory by Howard Becker
- Merton's Strain Theory
- The idea that people feel strained and under pressure
to achieve cultural goals, but there are no easy means
for them to achieve them
- People feel pressurised to have
certain things, live a certain way etc.
and it can be difficult to achieve these things
- Merton's theory suggests that people act
deviantly as an attempt to achieve these
goals set out by society
- An example would be somebody who can't afford
a smartphone, and feels so excluded and
pressured into feeling the need to have one that
they go and steal one
- A further example would be drug dealers who have dismissed the culturally
acceptable way of making money but still desire to abide by the cultural
value of making money
- An example would be somebody who can't afford
a smartphone, and feels so excluded and
pressured into feeling the need to have one that
they go and steal one
- The idea that people feel strained and under pressure
to achieve cultural goals, but there are no easy means
for them to achieve them
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