Understanding Crime
Week 3 Lecture Notes
Structural Theories
Structural Functionalism
• Relies heavily on analogies with the human body.
• Theorist often disagreed- social structure theories vary in many ways.
• Still, all the theories we look at emphasise a common theme: certain groups of individuals are
more Leila to break the law because of disadvantages or cultural di erences resulting form the
way a society is structured.
• Emphasis on group di erences.
• Beginnings as early as the 1800s.
• Social structural models of crime have diminished in popularity, but there is much validity to
their propositions in numerous applications to contemporary society.
Early to Mid- 1800s
In uence from the industrial Revolution, American Revolution, and French Revolution.
August Comte Andre- Michel Guerry Adolphe Quetelet
• Social static are aspects of • Property crimes were higher in • Certain types of individual were
society that relate to stability wealthy areas, but violent more likely to commit crime.
and social order; they allow crime was much higher in poor
societies to continue and areas.
endure.
• Social dynamics are aspects of • Opportunity- the wealthy had • Relative deprivation- a
social life that alter how more to steal, and that is the condition quite distinct from
societies are structured and primary cause of property simple poverty.
pattern the development of crime.
societal institutions.
Durkheim
• Societal development largely based on economic and labour distribution.
• Societies are seen as evolving from a simplistic, mechanical society toward a multilayered,
organic society.
• Primitive mechanical societies- all members essentially perform the same functions.
• Leads to a strong uniformity in values- collective conscience.
• Mechanical solidarity- social structure with string collective conscience.
• In mechanical societies, law functions to enforce the conformity of the group.
• Organic societies mean a more speci ed distribution of labour.
• Laws have the primary function of regulating interactions and maintaining solidarity among the
group.
• When collective conscience weakens, the solidarity breaks down and creates a climate for
antisocial behaviour.
• Crime is not only normal but necessary in all societies.
- Crime serves several functions.
• Society provides the mechanism for limiting this insatiable appetite, having the sole power to
create laws that set tangible limits.
Anomie or Normlessness
• Anomie is a condition of society (not individual), usually prompted by rapid change, where the
norms and values of a society are in ux even partially destroyed.
• Societies in such anomic states experience increases in many social problems, particularly
criminal activity.
• Egosim- refers to normative phenomenon in which a value has been placed on the unrestricted
appetites of the individual conscious are no longer held in check (‘anything goes’): that is a
state of normlessness where appropriate norma are not in place to inhabit deviant behaviour.
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Week 3 Lecture Notes
Structural Theories
Structural Functionalism
• Relies heavily on analogies with the human body.
• Theorist often disagreed- social structure theories vary in many ways.
• Still, all the theories we look at emphasise a common theme: certain groups of individuals are
more Leila to break the law because of disadvantages or cultural di erences resulting form the
way a society is structured.
• Emphasis on group di erences.
• Beginnings as early as the 1800s.
• Social structural models of crime have diminished in popularity, but there is much validity to
their propositions in numerous applications to contemporary society.
Early to Mid- 1800s
In uence from the industrial Revolution, American Revolution, and French Revolution.
August Comte Andre- Michel Guerry Adolphe Quetelet
• Social static are aspects of • Property crimes were higher in • Certain types of individual were
society that relate to stability wealthy areas, but violent more likely to commit crime.
and social order; they allow crime was much higher in poor
societies to continue and areas.
endure.
• Social dynamics are aspects of • Opportunity- the wealthy had • Relative deprivation- a
social life that alter how more to steal, and that is the condition quite distinct from
societies are structured and primary cause of property simple poverty.
pattern the development of crime.
societal institutions.
Durkheim
• Societal development largely based on economic and labour distribution.
• Societies are seen as evolving from a simplistic, mechanical society toward a multilayered,
organic society.
• Primitive mechanical societies- all members essentially perform the same functions.
• Leads to a strong uniformity in values- collective conscience.
• Mechanical solidarity- social structure with string collective conscience.
• In mechanical societies, law functions to enforce the conformity of the group.
• Organic societies mean a more speci ed distribution of labour.
• Laws have the primary function of regulating interactions and maintaining solidarity among the
group.
• When collective conscience weakens, the solidarity breaks down and creates a climate for
antisocial behaviour.
• Crime is not only normal but necessary in all societies.
- Crime serves several functions.
• Society provides the mechanism for limiting this insatiable appetite, having the sole power to
create laws that set tangible limits.
Anomie or Normlessness
• Anomie is a condition of society (not individual), usually prompted by rapid change, where the
norms and values of a society are in ux even partially destroyed.
• Societies in such anomic states experience increases in many social problems, particularly
criminal activity.
• Egosim- refers to normative phenomenon in which a value has been placed on the unrestricted
appetites of the individual conscious are no longer held in check (‘anything goes’): that is a
state of normlessness where appropriate norma are not in place to inhabit deviant behaviour.
fl
ff flfi ff
