Sociological Theories of Crime

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Sociological Theoriesof Crime

• Law and Order

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What are the causes of crime?
From a Marxist perspective, Im simply a member
of the oppressed proletariat.
Society is breaking down, and I am a product of
inadequate socialisation
This is what I get a buzz from, and Im taking
all the credit for it. Give us the money ... and
fast!
3
Theories of Crime

• Functionalist
• New Right
• Environmental/Subcultural
• Interactionism/Labelling
• Traditional Marxist
• Left Realist
• Feminist

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Functionalist

• Societies have value consensus on good and bad
  behaviour
• Deviance may be unusually good, bizarre or (most
  commonly) immoral/illegal
• Deviants persistently behave differently from the
  normal majority
• The more deviant the act, the more likely to be
  illegal
• Crime arises when socialisation breaks down and
  the tendency towards selfishness is unrestrained
  responsibility is more structural than individual

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New Right

• Societies have value consensus on good and bad
  behaviour
• Deviance crosses the boundary of this consensus
• Deviants persistently behave differently from the
  normal majority
• More deviant acts more likely to be illegal but
  illegality is sometimes over-defined by
  interfering bureaucrats
• Crime arises from poor upbringing, genetic
  defects or even government interference
  responsibility more individual than structural

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Environmental/Subcultural

• Society is a complex whirlpool of changing and
  conflicting values (subcultures)
• There are dominant, mainstream values, and
  deviance is the result of following subcultural
  values
• Deviants are not wrong, just subscribing to
  different values
• Laws reflect majority/mainstream values
• Crime is inevitably caused by culture clash

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Interactionist/Labelling

• Society is about the interaction of individuals
  and groups in interpreting/ determining normal
  behaviour
• Deviance is interpreted differently depending on
  time, person and place
• Deviance is about differences of interpretation
  rather than major differences between people
• Legal definitions are determined through pressure
  group activity
• The causes of crime relate more to how people
  define crime, but there is little difference
  between deviant and normal people

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Traditional Marxist

• Society is structured on the basis of
  exploitation of the masses (proletariat) by an
  economic elite (bourgeoisie)
• Deviance is behaviour disapproved of by those in
  power as undermining/threatening to the system
• Deviants are victims of a bullying, repressive
  state white collar law-breakers are rarely
  branded criminal
• Legal definitions are determined by the level of
  threat of a behaviour to the ruling class
• Crime is caused by the unfair, corrupt nature of
  capitalist society Marxists like to highlight
  crimes of giant corporations

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Left Realist

• View of society similar to Marxism, but also a
  belief in commonly shared values and the need for
  practical solutions within a capitalist system
  that is not going away
• Deviance may be defined by powerful groups, but a
  complexity of factors are also at work e.g.
  gender, race etc.
• Not so concerned with legal definitions as with
  deviant behaviour that is damaging to society
  e.g. homophobic harassment, minor street crimes
• Crime is caused by capitalist societys
  marginalisation of groups such as young, working
  class males

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Feminist

• Society is based on the exploitation of women by
  men
• Deviance is determined differently for women than
  for men
• Deviants are defined in relation to their roles
  in society, with men construct the roles of women
• Women commit far less criminal acts, so concern
  is not so much with criminality as the way in
  which normal male behaviour is deviant for them
• Women encounter the law more as victims than
  perpetrators
• Female crime is more likely to be caused by
  economic need e.g. prostitution, shop-lifting

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Research Methodology

• Functionalist based on theory rather than
  research
• New Right combination of theory and secondary
  research
• Subcultural often uses participant observation
• Interactionist tends to use observation,
  participant observation and case studies
• Marxist abstract/theoretical rather than
  research-based, although participant observation
  and case studies may be used
• Left Realist makes much use of detailed victim
  and attitude surveys
• Feminist combination of theory, secondary
  research and intensive case studies