Sociological Theories on Crime

Marxism
1. Capitalism can only thrive while the working classes are exploted
2. The class which tends to gain the most is the 'ruling class'
3. Crime in the working class, "blue collar" is thought by Marxists to be caused by their frustration on the ruling classes and being exploited
4. Marxists believe, like functionalists, that crime is crucial to ensuring conformity and order among the rest
5. Modern Marxists suggest the media makes the working class conform to being manipulated
6. Deviance is a result of inequality
7. While the state passes laws to help the ruling class, working class are not satisfied with what they have
8. As they cannot reach their rulers, they resort to deviance acts against others
9. Marxists believe that crime is social class related
10. Result of working class oppression
Functionalism
1. Emile Durkheim came up with this theory
2. He believed that deviance (in small amounts) is necessary in order for society to function properly
  1. 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
3. Deviance contradicts the collective sentiments of the wider group, meaning a small amount of crime will bring people together
4. Functionalism marks the extremities of deviant behaviour
Labelling Theory
1. A theory by Howard Becker
2. 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
3. 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
  1. 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
Merton's Strain Theory
1. The idea that people feel strained and under pressure to achieve cultural goals, but there are no easy means for them to achieve them
2. People feel pressurised to have certain things, live a certain way etc. and it can be difficult to achieve these things
3. Merton's theory suggests that people act deviantly as an attempt to achieve these goals set out by society
  1. 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
  2. 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

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Sociological Theories on Crime

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	Creado por Amy Gregor hace más de 10 años