Chapter Summary for Chapter 21
Deviance is defined as non-conformity to a set of norms, whilst crime is the breaking of laws. Deviance is usually seen as negative, but Durkheim saw that it also has socially useful functions. Deviance can generate new practices and ideas and often promotes social change, but at the same time it identifies the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and thus contributes to social solidarity.
Using the ideal of the American Dream, Merton theorized a strain emerging between the general cultural value of material success and the strictly limited opportunities to achieve this in legitimate ways. Those groups which cannot succeed via legitimate means turn to a range of deviant adaptations including crime. Other American theorists of the 1960s stressed the importance of subcultural groups that encourage or reward deviant or criminal behaviour.
Interactionists, such as those adopting a labelling perspective, see deviance not as a property of individuals, social groups or specific acts, but of the meaning given to that act in interactions between ‘deviants’ and ‘non-deviants’. Labelling distinguishes primary from secondary deviance, the latter arising from social interactions often involving authorities. Secondary deviance can result in deviancy amplification and moral panic.
1970s ‘new criminology’ saw deviant behaviour as an active response to the inequalities of the capitalist system. Hall et al argued that episodes of moral panic, such as that associated with mugging in the 1970s, deflect attention away from serious socio-economic problems like rising unemployment and deepening inequalities, onto social groups that are used as scapegoats.
Left Realism criticizes the Marxist-inspired new criminology for romanticizing deviants as working-class heroes when, in fact, their behaviour often impacts badly on working-class communities which live in fear of crime. Right Realism is associated with zero-tolerance policing and target-hardening approaches which were first popularized in the USA. The ‘theory of broken windows’ holds that it is important to aggressively police small acts of vandalism and disturbance to prevent a slide into more serious social disorder in the area. Such pragmatic, preventative strategies are discussed under the umbrella terms situational crime prevention and environmental criminology.
The extent of criminal activity is hard to assess, as some crime is unreported and even more undetected. Victimization surveys attempt to assess the underlying prevalence of crime. Men commit the vast majority of reported crimes. Where women come into contact with the criminal justice system they may receive lighter treatment than men if they conform to stereotypical versions of femininity and ‘the good woman’.
Most crimes of domestic violence are committed by men against women and children. Gay men and lesbian women experience high levels of victimization and physical attacks. Levels of fear of crime are not directly correlated with the extent of crime: much fear comes from perceptions of anti-social behaviour, particularly by young people, which is not in itself criminal.
White-collar crimes are those committed to the disadvantage of companies, corporate crimes are those committed in the short-term interests of corporate profitability. Such crimes are largely invisible and lie within the domain of socially powerful groups, which are not policed to the same degree as other groups in spite of the very serious consequences of corporate crime.
Organized crime is becoming increasingly international in scale and involves drug trafficking, illegal gambling, smuggling, prostitution and large-scale theft. Such crime can be highly complex and difficult to prosecute.
The development of new technologies has created new opportunities for deviant and criminal behaviour, known as cybercrimes – criminal acts committed with the help of information technologies. Cybercrimes include identity theft, illegal interception of communications, computer hacking, telemarketing fraud and electronic money laundering. Wall argues that there have been first, second and now third generation cybercrimes.
Prisons are often expected to perform the possibly contradictory tasks of control, punishment and rehabilitation. A central concern of imprisonment is its apparent ineffectiveness, evidenced in very high rates of recidivism. Recent policy has seen a move towards restorative justice and community punishments though sociologists argue that we should not see these as simple solutions to the prevention of crime and deviance.
