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Unit 6: Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

• All societies have rules and expectations for behavior.
• Social groups punish those who break rules. Sociologists study how rules and laws are made, kept, or broken, and who decides the consequences.
• Modern societies have police forces, courts, judges, and punishments, along with concerns about rising crime rates.
• Most people break laws or norms at some point, and patterns exist regarding who is labeled 'criminal' or 'deviant' and who becomes a victim of crime.

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control Defined

• Deviance refers to actions that do not follow the norms and expectations of a social group.
• Crime involves actions that break a law set by a government or rulers.
• Deviance is broader than crime, including acts against social norms without breaking laws.
• Deviance describes behavior disapproved of by others.
• Most crimes are deviant, but sociologists also study deviance that isn't criminal, such as drug use.
• Examples of non-criminal deviance: inappropriate clothing or rude behavior.

Relativity of Crime and Deviance

• Not all crimes are seen as deviant.
• Speeding is a common crime, but often not considered deviant.
• Outdated criminal laws may also be rarely obeyed or punished.
• Deviance and crime are relative, varying by time and place.
• Culture is relative: norms and values vary between societies.
• Deviance is relative because it goes against societal norms, and crime varies with culture as laws differ.
• No acts are inherently criminal or deviant.
• Killing is not always a crime (e.g., soldiers in wartime).
• Homosexuality was once illegal in many countries, but has been decriminalized in much of the world today.

Formal and Informal Social Control

• Informal social control involves persuasion by family, friends, colleagues, and the media.
• Formal social control is imposed by institutions like social work, medical authorities, and the police.
• Some groups feel the force of social control more than others, especially young people.

Formal Social Control Explained

• It's enforced by governments or their agencies like police and courts, or by people in positions of authority.
• Agencies can impose formal punishments, such as fines or imprisonment.
• Informal sanctions can also be implemented.
• Cautions from Police: Minor offenses may result in warnings without official record to be made.

Formal Agencies of Social Control

• The Police: Responsible for investigating crimes and catching offenders.
• The Courts: Hear charges, decide guilt, and impose punishments.
• The Armed Forces: Involved in social control in some countries and situations, especially where the police cannot cope.
• The Government: Ultimately responsible for social control: Ensure law and order and control police, courts, armed forces, and penal system.
• Penal system: Responsible for carrying out punishments imposed by law courts.
• Prisons: Part of the penal system.

Informal Social Control

• Important for controlling behavior, though less obvious than formal control.
• Methods include critical comments, ridicule, sarcasm, and disapproving looks (negative sanctions), and praise (positive sanctions).
• Socialization into values guides individuals toward acceptable behavior, leading them to internalize norms and control their behavior.
• Agencies of informal social control are also main agencies of socialization.

Main Agencies of Informal Social Control

• Family: Gives a sense of belonging and creates obligations that limit behavior. Family disapproval affects behavior and teaches what is acceptable. Close relationships between individuals give family members a sense of belonging.
• Education: Socializes individuals into values. Sanctions in schools exercise social control, like a teacher using a look or saying a name.
• Workplaces: Have formal rules and norms enforced by sanctions from employers and colleagues.
• Peer Groups: Have powerful informal control like negative comments or exclusion (ostracism).
• Media: Reports criminal behavior and court cases, informing about punishable behavior reinforcing right and wrong.
• Religions: Have rules about behavior. Holy texts set rules and religious rules shaping values for laws. Religion influencing attitudes to behavior.

Conformity, Functionalism, and Marxism

• Informal social control is essential for societies to run smoothly.
• Functionalists: See informal control as positive and in everyone's interests, value consensus created through socialisation.
• Marxists: Argue it prevents working class recognizing/rebelling exploitation, a form of indoctrination for ruling-class idology.
• Limited effectiveness even when challenged, those challenging will be punished.
• Both see informal control occurring when socialiation doesn't work.

The State of Social Control

• The state is increasingly involved in social control: police forces deal with criminals
• Corporations are taking over: Private prisons exist, and security companies do not rely on police.
• Society has Classification Systems: Detailed systems developed identifying explinations for behaviors to decide what to do with them
• Segregation : Criminals being segregated: Physically/Socially - Negative Media Coverage, prisons
• Punishments have Greater Range: Punishments have evolved: Inflicting public physical pain - has decreased

Surveillance and Types of Crime

• Surveillance has increased in society with replaced public spaces into private, creating increased public safety.
• There are various crimes like violent, property, white-collar, corporate, expressive and hate crimes

Violent Crime, Property Crime and Corporate Crime

• Violent crime involves physical force causing harm/involving weapons.
• Property crime involves damage/theft of private property like theft/damange
• Robbery with threat of violence/Burglary are specific names of private property crime.
• White collar crime doesn't involve violance or involve gaining for finacial gain
• Corporate Crime: Bribery, Corruption, Breaking Saftey and Health regulations, Advertisment Frauds

Expressive vs Instrumental Crime

• The former includes acts like domestic violence and is unplanned/emotional.
• The latter includes acts like theft which has clear aim

Measuring Crime Through Various Methods

• Domestic crime involves offences in a relationship.
• There are official crime statitics recording number of crimes and offender recorded in a specific period.
• Policing through police investigating crime and arresting offenders,
• The penal system is responsible fr punishment.
• Most crimes reported are either by victim/witness
• Most self-report study's involve trivial offences.

Victim Surveys

• It asks the sample of people: Crimes they have been victims of,
• Data found uncovers unreported crimes & shows new patterns in crime,
• They may not undercover all types of crime.

Patterns and Explanations of Crime and Deviance

• Victimisation patterns include categories of age, social class, gender, and ethnicity.
• Often, those committing crimes are also victims.
• children are at risk due to having Little or No power
• older people are also at risk regarding online crimes

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

• If women stay home/fear crime, it can allow the risk to increase to be attacked as there is less bystanders present

Young People

• The most liekly group: Committting crimes as this group experiments

Power Inequalities

• Rulling class can influence crime, as they decide act crimes, protect wealth/prevalge not criminalistion

Socialisation

• Gender is a variable factor/socialisation boys get different toys-weapons/Action fgiures that increase roughness