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CRIME AND DEVIANCEHaralambos- Ch. 6DEVIANCEA simple definition of "Deviance is any act which goes against the dominant norms of society (or groups within society) and whichproduces disapproval and possibly punishment. This may range from the trivial – bad table manners, burping or farting- to the extremelyserious - assault, murder.Some sociologists distinguish between Deviance, which invokes moral disapproval e.g. adultery, homosexuality etc and Non-conformitywhich doesn't arouse such censure e.g. weird clothes, haircuts, nose piercing etc.CRIME is any act which breaks the criminal law. These are divided into INDICTABLE serious crimes - murder, rape, robbery and ofteninvolve lengthy prison sentences and NON-INDICTABLE less serious - petty theft, parking offences etcTHE RELATIVITY OF CRIME AND DEVIANCEWhat is considered deviant or even criminal varies between different societies and even groups within society.PLUMMER distinguishes between SOCIETAL DEVIANCE which are categories of deviance which people in society generally believe to bedeviant and are defined as such general beliefs of society e.g. armed robbery and SITUATIONAL DEVIANCE which is a result of the peoplecreating rules in their everyday lives - at work, amongst friends etc. These norms are influenced by society’s general rules but somegroups may reject some norms of society.For example the use of soft drugs amongst some social groups and Homosexuality among others: these are societally deviant but not inevery situation e.g. in drug dens and "gay bars" they are normalised. Homosexuals in such situations may have "rules" of their own.What is considered deviant may vary according to :-i. AGE ii. TIME iii. SOCIETY iv. CULTURE v. CIRCUMSTANCESBecause of the variety and relativity of deviance Interactionists, in some ways provide the best definition. They argue that whether an actis deviant depends not on the act itself but on people’s reaction to it.EXPLAINING CRIME AND DEVIANCEA number of different subjects attempt to explain crime and deviance. Biological and Psychological explanations tend to explain crime interms of the individual and his/her characteristics. Deviants are seen as "different from us" - normal people.Cesare Lombroso is seen as the father of Criminology. He argued that criminals could be identified from their physical characteristics :-enormous jaws, "jug ears", prominent eyebrows, as well as love of idleness and orgies. Criminals and deviants were seen as"evolutionary throwbacks".Psychologists such as EYSENCK also emphasise hereditary factors. Criminality is seen in a similar way to intelligence i.e. just as there is aspectrum of intelligence so some people are more criminally inclined than others, this is largely hereditary.Psychologists accept that environment also plays an important role. Followers of Freud tend to see crime and deviance in terms of "damaged individuals" often produced by faulty socialisation - neglect, abuse etc. Such types of explanation have much more in commonwith some sociological views, especially those of functionalists.West’s study of delinquency in a London Borough found that boys who were delinquent at the age of 14 were mostly drawn from thosewho, at the age of 8 had the lowest living standards, home problems, uncooperative parents, were disliked by teachers and had poorschoolwork.Such an approach however ignores the question of LABELLING and how this affected such boys’ behaviour. In general such approachesalso ignore the questions of POWER i.e. who makes the rules, in whose interests?Psychological theories have been very influential. Psychologists have an important place in Police work and prisons. ‘Damaged individual’ theories helped lead to the increase in Social Workers since the war and ‘hereditary’ theories are an important part of the "new rights"thinking.Sociologists are highly suspicious of many of these kinds of theories. They regard SOCIAL CONTEXT as crucial in explaining crime. Wedon't see abnormal personalities or genes as the cause of crime. In a sense criminals are "normal people" like the rest of us.Marxists, Functionalists and Interactionists provide competing explanations of crime but all are social explanations and, indeed, manytheories straddle different perspectives.CLASSICAL THEORY – FUNCTIONALIST, MARXIST AND INTERACTIONIST.FUNCTIONALISMFunctionalists see shared values and norms as the basis for social order. Society is based on VALUE CONSENSUS. Too much deviance istherefore DYSFUNCTIONAL i.e. a threat to order and stability.However a certain amount of crime and deviance is NORMAL and indeed “an integral part of all healthy societies” – DURKHEIM – indeed itis FUNCTIONAL.This sounds strange but think of what a society would be like if everyone followed all the rules, all the time. Such a society wouldstagnate and lack the innovation and development needed for a healthy society. Deviance may be seen as functional in several ways:-

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The publicity that crime and deviance attract and the condemnation of the rest of society helps reinforce accepted values andnorms. Thus crime helps reinforce social solidarity and integrates people.

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Crime and deviance can be seen as a safety valve e.g. Prostitution is functional in that it provides sexual services withoutthreatening the family/marriage.

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Deviance is functional in that it provides work for those who deal with it – police, courts, prisons etc and the rest of society isreassured by the presence of people like “the Bobby on the beat”

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Deviance can signal a needed change in society. Contraception was once considered morally wrong but has become an accepted andnecessary part of modern society, thanks to people like Marie Stopes who was imprisoned for publicising Birth Control.Race Riots are a clear indication that there are problems in society that need to be attended to if order is to be maintained.

DURKHEIM developed the key concept of

ANOMIE.

This is when people are unsure of what is right or wrong (NORMLESSNESS)-chaos-disorder prevails.He feared that Anomie was likely to increase in modern industrial societies. In the past people lived similar lives and were heavilydependent on each other (MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY). Now COMMUNITY has broken down and although people are economicallyinterdependent (ORGANIC SOLIDARITY) they are far more individualistic and less bound by common values and norms.ROBERT MERTON also developed the concept of

Anomie

- he was concerned with explaining crime amongst the lower classes. He feltthat high levels of crime and deviance were the result of a contradiction between the values of American society and the economicinequalities of life.Whilst “MONEY SUCCESS” is a central value in the US, and all other capitalist societies, only a certain number of people can achieve this.This value is essential so that people will strive to get to the top and thus the most able will get the most important jobs. But whathappens to the rest?Merton tried to answer this using his famous

ANOMIC PARADIGM

, which categorises the different ways people will react to thissituation.

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CONFORMITY – using legitimate means to pursue accepted goals e.g. the successful businessman.

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INNOVATION – pursue accepted goals but not by legitimate means e.g. a bank robber.

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RITUALISM – people who “forget” the goals but slavishly follow the accepted means – a bureaucrat.

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RETREATISM – reject social goals and drop out, “New Age” traveler, some drug addicts etc.

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REBELLION – reject goals and work for the overthrow of the system that has produced them – Revolutionary.In other words most criminals accept the dominant values/goals of society but cannot achieve them “honestly” and so resort to crime.ECOLOGICAL AND SUBCULTURAL THEORYFollowing Merton, the CHICAGO SCHOOL developed Durkheim’s ideas and applied them to the inner city. They developed

ECOLOGICALTHEORY

, which looks at why this area of the city has the highest crime rates. They found that this area suffered from high rates of poverty and high levels of immigration.These newcomers, often from other countries like Ireland and Italy were often not well integrated, and this, along with their povertyencouraged them to commit crimes to get by and succeed. Often the values and norms of their original country were very different.Irish gangsters, and the Italian Mafia are examples of this, as are the high rates of crime amongst blacks.Such theorists argue that as these migrants become better integrated so crime rates will fall. There is some evidence to support this,however these theorists are criticised for underestimating the effects of

labelling, prejudice and discrimination.

Whilst it is true that many migrant groups have become “integrated” blacks and Hispanics still have high crime rates – a result of theinequalities and discrimination that they suffer.As we can see “Ecological” theory has its limitations, but it is an important influence on subsequent

SUBCULTURAL THEORY

. Similarlythe work of Merton was criticised and developed by subcultural theorists.

SUBCULTURAL THEORY

Merton’s theory about w/c crime raises a number of questions :-

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Merton only explains “money crimes”, not things like vandalism and assault.

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It does not explain GROUP deviance, gang crime.

COHEN

(1955) attempted to answer these questions through “SUBCULTURAL THEORY”. The focus was on YOUNG, MALE, W/C deviance(All the figures show that this is the group with the highest degree of criminality).Cohen studied juvenile gangs in the inner cities. He found that crime and deviance were a “way of life” for such groups and they were not just concerned with getting money but with IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION – fun and excitement etc - and with receiving the respect of their peers (STATUS). Their destructiveness and their fierce gang loyalties were a reflection of their rejection of a society that, in a sense,had rejected them.As these “lads” couldn’t achieve success and status in legitimate ways, through education, they turned the values and norms of schooland society on their heads – bad becomes good – you achieve status through violence, messing about, defying authority. They createdtheir own sense of social order, social control and value system.Such youth form ‘DELINQUENT’ SUBCULTURES not so much to achieve “money success”, as Merton would suggest, but to overcome theSTATUS FRUSTRATION that they feel. Note the connection here with anti-academic subcultures.

CLOWARD AND OHLIN

Cloward and Ohlin accept Cohen’s views on “non-economic” and group deviance, but they argue that he over-estimates the effect of educational failure, and underestimates the variety of so called delinquent subcultures.They identify 3 types of delinquent subculture :-

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CRIMINAL SUBCULTURES. Where youths do commit crimes to achieve money success. These largely occur where there was a strongand organised adult criminal culture so youths could learn “the tricks of the trade”.

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CONFLICT SUBCULTURES where success in life was not available through legitimate or criminal means. The frustration caused bythis often led to violent gang crime.

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RETREATIST SUBCULTURES comprised of youths who were “triple failures” – unable to succeed legitimately, or join criminal orconflict gangs. They retreated into crimes like drug use and hustling.Not all sub-cultural theory is based on the Functionalist/Consensus approach. They see sub-cultural deviance as being a product of class,ethnic and other CONFLICTS.

CONFLICT SUBCULTURAL THEORYWALTER MILLER notes that many lower class youths become deviant by trying to conform to the values of lower class culture –immediate gratification, machismo, excitement and fatalism. Such teenagers are often from “households where there is no father.They demonstrate their masculinity in street corner gangs and break the law because it is based on the values and interests of the highersocial classes and does not benefit them. The high level of crime attributed to youths from single parent families in recent years addscredence to Miller’s theory.MARXISTS also use sub-cultural theory. They also see young, w/c deviance as a reaction to laws that are used to control them. The breakup of w/c communities, along with increased teenage affluence and consumerism means that some w/c youths are left behind- and theywant their share of the spoils.They behave in a deviant manner to attain the products they see advertised all around them or because of the alienation that THEY FEEL.It is a form of “Teenage rebellion” which is fuelled by the conflict between traditional w/c culture and those of the school and media etc.,so deviance is a “kick against the system” a reaction to oppression and domination by “the authorities” EVALUATION/CRITICISMS

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Functionalists/subculturists focus on w/c crime and

ignore the crimes of the higher social classes

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See crime and deviance as a product of society and social background

(deterministic

DAVID MATZA argues that young people often CHOOSE to be deviant and that such behaviour is often casual and transient – theygrow out of it.

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Interactionists and Marxists argue that the theory ignores the fact that certain groups are labeled and criminalised. Young, w/c,males are more likely to be policed, arrested and convicted than u/c youth.

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Ignores the question of power. Marxists argue that the u/c make laws in their own interests to

control the w/c, so it is notsurprising that w/c kids break the law.

MARXIST THEORIESFor Marxists social order is based not on value consensus but on the ability of the ruling class to control the behaviour of the lowerclasses.The state is controlled by the ruling class and is used to make laws which benefit them. Most laws for example are based on theprotection of private property.Capitalism encourages greed and selfishness and generates frustration and aggression.

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Greed explains financial crime.

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The dehumanising effects of capitalism, which puts profit before people and causes ALIENATION, explains crimes against people.

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The law and police crack down on w/c crime – theft, burglary, etc. but tend mostly to ignore Corporate and m/c crime– fraud,embezzlement, pollution, health and safety breaches.(though occasionally an upper class person is prosecuted to make the systemseem fair (LEGITIMATION).

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Some laws do benefit everyone – laws on murder, health and safety at work etc and because these are mixed in with laws thatbenefit those at the top – property and anti-trade Union laws etc., it makes the w/c think the law is fair. (LEGITIMATION/FALSECONSCIOUSSNESS).CRITICISMS/EVALUATION

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Marxists, like functionalists are criticised for being DETERMINISTIC, for seeing crime as the product of social and economic choicesand underestimating the fact that people CHOOSE to commit crimes.

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Most laws benefit everyone.

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Marxists overestimate the power of the ruling class to control the law. Many groups – Trades Unions, Environmental groups etcinfluence what laws are made (Pluralist criticism)

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Left realists argue that traditional Marxists see w/c criminals as “Robin Hood” figures ignoring the damage that they do to other,mostly w/c, people.INTERPRETIVE THEORIESUnlike Marxism and Functionalism Interactionists do not focus so much on the causes of crime but on the day to day interactions betweenpeople that define what is considered “deviant” or “criminal”. They see social order as being “fragile” in the sense that it is only createdby people’s everyday interactions and the meanings they attach to situations.Symbolic Interactionism developed strongly in the 1960s a time of change and unrest. It focussed on different questions – Why are someacts defined as deviant whilst others are not? It also argued that we are ALL deviant and criminal at times, so the real question is whysome groups are criminalised whilst others are not.LABELLINGLabelling and its’ associated concepts are the main contribution Interactionists have made to an understanding of deviance and crime.HOWARD BECKER argued that “deviance is created by society”. In other words the groups that make and enforce the rules decide what iscriminal or deviant and LABEL those who break the rules as deviant. It is not the act itself that is deviant but the reaction of others thatdefines it as such – the MEANING attached.e.g. injecting heroin is not deviant when done by a doctor to relieve pain, but it is, when done by a junkie to get kicks. The dominantclasses seek to control the use of all drugs except to the extent that they are able to gain from it, such as doctors selling drugs formedical health. Others are denied the right to sell drugs to make money, thus forcing them to work in the capitalist system.Interactionists focus on the “AGENCIES OF SOCIAL CONTROL” – the police, courts etc and their actions in defining, labelling andpunishing crime. The police:

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have limited resources and so enforce the law selectively- mostly against the w/c l/c

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focus on the crimes that are obvious, that frighten people and are relatively easy to clear up.

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focus on those groups which their experience and prejudices tell them are most likely to commit crimes – the w/c, young, males,