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Example research essay topic: Crime And Deviance Criminological Theories - 1,170 words

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... nly when the activity is brought to the public attention may the stigma become important (Study Guide p 17)... Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders (Howard Becker reading A 5). From this perspective deviance is not a quality of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an 'offender'.

The deviant is the one to whom that label has been successfully applied; deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label (Howard Becker reading A 5). In the case of Aboriginal drinking society attempts to control this problem by labeling people as deviants. The common response of society is to label deviant behaviour as problematic. Police enforcements often attack particular types of groups of deviance.

The degree to which an act will be treated as deviant depends on who commits the act (Aboriginals) and who feels he has been harmed by it (society). Deviance is not a quality that lies in behaviour itself, but in the interaction between the person who commits an act and those who respond to it (Howard Becker reading A 5). Today society is made up of a complex set of organisations which are highly differential along social class lines, ethnic lines, and cultural lines. Aboriginals generally find themselves treated unfairly in relation to rules made for them by whites. The rules created and maintained by labelling are not universally agreed upon and thus are the object of conflict and disagreement.

Becker states that treating a person as though they were generally rather than specifically deviant produces a self fulfilling prophecy. It creates a particular image of that person to themselves and to society. After being identified as a deviant, people are often cut off from participating in more conventional groups, leading to further isolation due to the publics reaction. For example, being a homosexual may not affect one's ability to do work, however to be labelled as a homosexual in a workplace can make it virtually impossible to continue working there. The homosexual who is deprived of a 'respectable' job by the discovery of his deviance may drift into unconventional, marginal occupations where it does not make so much of a difference (Reading A 6 Outsiders, pp 31 - 32). Becker illustrates how the process of creating deviance may result in an individual assuming a deviant role and 'career'.

Becker's emphasis is largely on those who do not intentionally deviate from the norm but who come to commit themselves to a non-conformist lifestyle or 'career'. Interested, in the person who sustains a pattern of deviance over a long period of time, who makes of deviance a way of life, who organizes his identity around a pattern of deviant behaviour (Becker, 1973, p. 30) (Howard Becker, Outsiders (excerpt), reading A 6). A majority of deviants have a self justifying rationale that operates to neutralise the traditional attitudes that deviants may find in themselves toward their own behaviour. Firstly, they provide the individual with reasons that appear acceptable for continuing the line of activity he has begun. Secondly, the individual learns how to continue his deviant activity with minimal trouble (Howard Becker, Outsiders, Reading A 6). Becker states that to be caught and be publicly branded as a deviant tends to become the dominant image of person's self conception.

The degree to which an act will be treated as deviant depends also on who commits the act and who feels he has been harmed by it. Rules tend to be applied more to some people than others. Deviant groups are often pushed into rationalizing their position. The homosexual community is one such group. Magazines and books for homosexuals contain articles on the biology and physiology of sex, designed to show that homosexuality is a 'normal's equal response. This material provides a working philosophy for the active homosexual, explaining to him why he is the way he is, that other people have also been that way, and that its alright for him to be that way (Howard Becker, Outsiders, Reading A 6).

Radical criminology aims not just to explain deviance, but to explain it in such a way as to develop a political evaluation of society. The emphasis is not only on theory but also on associated social practice that dramatically alter the social structures and institutions which are believed to create categories of deviance and crime. There exist two major goals in radical criminology. Firstly, to develop deviance theory beyond a preoccupation with individual behaviour in small scale social environment and to locate deviance and crime within the wider forces of social structure, politics and the economy. Secondly, is to interpret crime and deviance as inherently political activities which threaten the formal structures and institutions of power in our society (Study Guide pg 21). Richard Quinney developed a theory of crime and deviance which may be classified as a form of conflict theory.

The conflict approach is based the central assumption that the normal state of society is one of unrest and conflict between social groups and individuals. In Quinney's theory society is continuously experiencing a type of 'strain' produced due to the competition between different interest groups. Conflict theorists place conflicts of interests at the very center of human societies i. e. , competitions over money, status, and power. Conflict criminology argue the interests ultimately determine values.

Beliefs concerning goodness and righteousness and justice tend to be thin films that conceal personal gains and loses, personal costs and benefits (Criminological theories p 227). Even honest people are prone to believe that, if something benefits them personally, then it probably is good and right and just, and if something harms them personally, then it probably is bad and wrong and unjust. In reality conflict theorists argue that the organised states does not represent common interests, but instead represent the interests of those with ample power to control its operation. In 1970, Richard Quinney published his theory of 'social reality of crime " arguing that the legislative process of enforcing criminal laws occur in a political context in which individuals and groups pursue their own self interests. Quinney's theory reintroduces the concept of behaviour as a part of the criminological conflict approach: Behaviour labelled as criminal stems not only from conflicting values and interests but may also emerge as a consequence of the criminalization process itself (Deviance, Conflict, and Criminality p 76). Quinney discusses conflicts among 'segments' of society.

Segments are stated to be people who share the same values, norms, and ideological orientations, but who may or may not be organised in defence of those commonalities (Criminological theories p 232). Some segments include individuals such as women, poor people and recently homosexuals. As Quinney writes: By formulating criminal law... , some segments of society protect and perpetuate their own interests. Criminal definitions exist, therefore, because some segments of society are in conflict with others (Deviance, Conflict, a...


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