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SOCIOLOGICAL
EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME
Learning outcomes
To complete activity from yesterday
To answer assessment questions on sociological
explanations of crime
Starter…
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Agree
Criminal and deviant behaviour is the result of
parents failing to socialise their children
correctly.
Explain your opinion.
Disagree
5 Mins
Complete task from yesterday
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Work in groups of 4.
On the tables will be information about four different
Functionalist and New Right explanations for crime.
You need to move from table to table, read the
information and fill in the appropriate part of your
worksheet.
Extension – once you’ve completed all four sections of
your worksheet, work together to answer the short mark
exam questions.
15 Mins
Inadequate socialisation
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New Right theory argues that inadequate
socialisation leads people into crime.
By the term inadequate socialisation they mean that
some parents, usually from the underclass, do not
socialise their children properly into society’s norms
and values.
Thus, these children do not know how to behave
appropriately in their society and may commit
deviant and criminal acts.
Opportunity structure
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Functionalist sociologists such as Williams argue that people
living in certain neighbourhoods are more likely to get
involved in crime because such neighbourhoods offer
greater opportunities for crime.
Such neighbourhoods are characterised by low educational
achievement, high unemployment and high levels of crime.
There are also criminal subcultures in such neighbourhoods.
As such, these neighbourhoods offer greater opportunity
structures for crime.
It is therefore likely that children living in such
neighbourhoods will get involved in crime as they are more
likely to join subcultures and get socialised into opportunistic
criminality.
Relative deprivation
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Functionalist theory argues that relative deprivation
can lead to crime.
Relative deprivation is the feeling of being
disadvantaged or having less material goods in
comparison to others. For example, a person may
have a mobile phone, but if they feel that others
around them have better mobiles, they will
experience relative deprivation.
This feeling may lead them into crime in order to
obtain the goods they feel they lack.
Subcultures
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Functionalist sociologists Cohen argues that
membership of subcultures and peer group pressure
within subcultures lead to crime.
He argues that working class boys underachieve in
education and as a result experience status
frustration – a feeling of anger at their low status.
In order to gain status, they join subcultures in which
they gain status through deviant and criminal
activity, e.g. they gain respect from their peers and
status by being rude to teachers.
Past paper exam question.
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Discuss how far sociologists would agree that most
criminal behaviour is caused by poverty and social
deprivation. (12 marks) Feb 2012
Use pages 156 and 157 and your notes to help you
answer the question.
25 Mins
Plenary
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Peer assess each other’s work using the mark
scheme
How many marks would you give them and why
10 Mins