For example, Marxists say the education system performs ‘ideological functions’ for the Capitalist system and the Bourgeois: they believe that the norms of punctuality and acceptance of authority and hierarchy prepares us for our future exploitation at work, which benefits future employers more than workers. The idea that institutions such as schools and the media teach a set of norms and values which work in the interests of the powerful and prevent social change. In Sociology, Marxists use the term the ‘dominant ideology’ to refer to the world-view of the ruling class, which they present to everyone else as normal – their world view passes of inequality and exploitation as normal and natural, thus justifying their existence. The culture of every social system has an ideology that serves to explain and justify its own existence as a way of life. IdeologyĪ set of cultural beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie and justify either the status quo or movements to change it. Dog Eat Dog SocietyĪ phrase associated with Marxist Sociologist David Gordon who said that capitalist societies are ‘dog eat dog societies’ in which each individual company and each individual is encouraged to look out for their own self-interest before the interests of others, before the interests of the community, and before the protection of the environment. It implies that an individual is breaking social norms in a negative way. Devianceīehaviour that varies from the accepted standard of normal behaviour in society. These are the crimes which do not appear in Official Police Statistics. The amount of unreported, or undiscovered crime. A final way capitalism generates crime is by creating inequality – resulting in a significant number of people at the bottom of society (the underclass) who are effectively unable to consume at a reasonable level. The means whereby the Capitalist class get rich is by exploiting workers through paying them as little as possible to increase their profits, and they also encourage materialism, to increase demand for the goods they produce. According to Marxists, the self-interested pursuit of profit lies at the heart of the Capitalist system. The Marxist idea that the exploitative capitalist system generates crime. The breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a punishment – depending on the society this might ultimately mean imprisonment or the death penalty. The drive is usually the desire to increase profits. Corporate CrimeĬrimes committed by or for corporations or businesses which act to further their interests and have a serious physical or economic impact on employees, consumers and the general public. The context dependency of deviance emphasises the fact that the same form of behaviour can be considered deviant in one society, but not deviant in another. Whether or not an act is deviant depends on the society in which the act takes place, the historical period, and the actors present. As a result, social disorder and crime increases further. These signs give off the impression that people in the area don’t care, and that there are low levels of informal social control, and criminals are thus drawn to such areas. Broken Windows theory states that crime increases in areas where there are high levels of ‘social disorder’, characterised by such things as high levels of litter, graffiti and broken windows. Broken Windows TheoryĪ theory of crime developed in the 1980s and associated with Right Realism. For more details please see this post: Hirschi’s Control Theory of Crime. He theorised that there were 4 main bonds of attachment – commitment, attachment, involvement and belief. Hirschi argued that when an individual is more attached to society they are less likely to commit crime. Where modern social systems encourage excessive individualism – as a consequence there is a general lack of agreement around norms and values – some commentators describe anomie as a state of normlessness.Īnomie was a key part of Merton’s Strain Theory of Deviance. Many of the concepts below tie in with sociological perspectives on crime and deviance. A list of definitions of some of the key concepts relevant to the A level sociology crime and deviance module.
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