Functionalist and subcultural explanations
- Merton's strain theory (1938): society sets goals (such as wealth) but not everyone has legitimate means to reach them, causing strain (anomie). People respond by conformity, innovation (crime to reach goals), ritualism, retreatism or rebellion.
- Cohen (1955): working-class boys who fail at school suffer status frustration and form delinquent subcultures, gaining status through deviant acts that reverse mainstream values.
Interactionist explanation: labelling
- Becker argued that deviance is behaviour that people label as deviant: an act isn't deviant in itself.
- Agents of social control, such as the police, may label some groups (such as working-class young men) as criminal. The label can become a master status and lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Marxist and feminist explanations
- Marxists: laws protect the interests of the ruling class, the working class is policed more heavily, and crimes of the powerful (white-collar and corporate crime) are less likely to be punished.
- Feminists: Heidensohn argued women commit less crime because they face more social control at home, at work and in public. Carlen argued some working-class women turn to crime when the "class deal" (a decent living from work) and the "gender deal" (rewards from family life) fail them.
Key terms
- Strain theory
- Merton's idea that crime results when people can't reach society's goals legitimately.
- Anomie
- A state of normlessness.
- Innovation
- Using illegal means to reach socially approved goals.
- Status frustration
- Cohen's idea that failing at school leads to frustration and delinquency.
- Labelling theory
- The idea that deviance is behaviour that has been labelled deviant.
- Master status
- A label that overrides all others, such as "criminal".
- White-collar crime
- Crime by middle-class people through their jobs, such as fraud.