Comparing Functionalism and Marxism on Crime and Deviance This assignment will compare and contrast Functionalism and Marxism on crime and deviance. The functionalist view of crime is that it is a threat to social order. Someone who commits a crime or a deviant act has gone against the norms and values of society. Functionalist’s believe in the nurture side of the nature versus nurture debate. Some people are socialised into crime, some functionalists, however such as Emile Durkheim see crime as being normal and an integral part of all healthy societies.
Assess the usefulness of functionalist approaches in explaining crime The functionalist approach to analysing deviance and the causes of crime looks at society as a whole. It explains crime that the source of criminal behaviour lies in the nature of society itself rather than in psychology or biology. Functionalists such as Durkheim see deviance as an inevitable and necessary part of society and too little is unhealthy. Some also consider crime to have positive aspects for society. In this essay we will assess the usefulness of these functionalist theories, and look at how it helps us explain crime.
The first is instrumental, the state responds to crime to secure benifits of the wider society such as crime prevention & crime reduction. The second purpose of the Australia criminal justice system is non utilitarian, which means the state must redress imbalances caused by those people who take illegal advantage of another or diminish another’s human dignity. An example of informal control is the socialisation process. Socialisation is the general process by which individuals within a society learn & assimilate social norms & socially acceptable behaviour. This learned behaviour is a social inheritances, drawing on the information passed down from generation to generation, which is the basis of any societies
Even though all of these strains have an influence on the racial differences in crime, I believe that the community contributes a lot to these differences. By observing at a community, one can derive that a community branches out to numerous types of strain. According to the text, African Americans show a disproportionate number of residents who occupy areas where there are higher rates of violence and economical disadvantages. These disadvantaged neighborhoods usually lack good public schools, job opportunities, and more often promote criminal behavior. With the lack of job opportunities in a poverty infused area, one might succumb to criminal
African Americans’ social rights were very limited partially because of the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. These restrictions aided the system of sharecropping, maintained social hierarchy and segregation. Black Codes restrict civil rights for African Americans such as to carry a weapon, vote, getting involving in the court, marry white citizens and travel without permits. The code varied in different
Acts of armed robbery that end in violence or homicide tend to render the public outraged and give their voice a stronger demand for justice to be done. If we choose to take the stance that our criminal justice system is mean to only keep society safe and that justice is carried out then we need to recognize that the laws we have in place currently are set in place to do so. In theory we could see how enforcing a harsher sentence to those who choose to commit violent acts or armed robbery would work as a deterrent to prevent criminals from committing the act as often as they do
It does however explain why some people or actions are described as deviant, and can help in understanding crime and deviance. According to item A labelling has changed the theoretical base for the study of criminals. Becker emphasises the significance of crime being a social construct; an action only becomes criminal or deviant once society has labelled it so, and that crime can be argued to be a social construction. He introduced the concept of a master label, referring to the label which a person is given which overrides all other labels. When a person is labelled as negatively, society tends to tend them as such, and this master label often becomes internalised, and then a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs.
• Social Control theories attribute crime and delinquency to family structures, education, peer groups etc. • Theorists share a conviction that deviant behavior is expected. • “Why people obey rules” main thing trying to be proven • Critical component of all social control theories is their attempt to explain factors keeping people from committing crimes. Social Heritage • Cynicism of the United States because of Watergate • Conservatism enhanced popularity of control theories, theories themselves not inheritantly conservative. Intellectual Heritage • Connection with strain theories.
Crime is defined as an infraction of criminal law. Jary and Jary (2000). In Sociology: A New Approach, Haralambos et al. (1986) crime is further defined as an act which breaks the law and is subject to punishment. Crime and deviance are culturally defined and therefore relative, as a culture evolves so do definitions of both deviance and crime.
Consensus Theory CRJU: 4300-992 Dr. David Montague June 18th, 2012 Introduction The consensus theory of criminal law states that society makes its own path and that path is an outcome of social needs and values. The consensus theory’s main purpose is to satisfy a majority at large. The consensus model depends on the idea that society is an integrated whole that seeks stability. There are some laws that represent consensus among people, such as [homicide].In a consensus model, law becomes more important as society becomes more impersonal, because the law is a formalized way of enforcing previously informal social norms. Consensus theory means any area dealing with a problem where several objects must be simplified to one.