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Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context

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Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context
Crime and Deviance Revision
SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context
Sociology Department
Greenhead College
SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context

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The specification

1 Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control * Different definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy.

2 The social distribution of crime and deviance by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends in crime * Study of statistics and other evidence on the social distribution of crime by age, ethnicity, gender, locality and social class, including recent patterns and trends * Issues related to and explanations of the social distribution of crime and deviance by age: juvenile delinquency and youth crime * Issues related to and explanations of the social



Links: The distortion and exaggeration of crime * Greer (2005): All media tend to exaggerate the extent of violent crime. * Williams and Dickinson found 65% of crime stories in ten national newspapers were about violence. In the same year (1989) the British Crime Survey reported only 6% of crimes involved violence.

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