SOSA 1003 Study Guide - Final Guide: White-Collar Crime, False Advertising, Embezzlement
23 May 2018
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SOSA 1003 Final Exam
Chapter 7- Crime and Deviance
• Deviance and crime are socially constructed and defined
• Deviance: breaking a norm
o Deviance is necessary because it gives people the opportunity to define what is moral
and what is not, define moral boundaries
o Being deviant usually results in a punishment
o Informal punishment: may involve gossip, shaming or stigmatization
o Formation punishment: people breaking laws – usually punished by prison sentence
or community service
- Dimensions of crime and deviance:
o Severity of the social response: homicide and other forms of crime involve a serious
negative reaction, but slight deviations will only cause mild disapproval
o Perceived harmfulness: crimes such as rape are harmful whereas tattoos is not
▪ Perceived is important because with social standards our perceived harmfulness of
an act changes over time – for example cocaine was not always illegal
o Degree of public agreement: people disagree with what should be considered deviant, like
smoking marijuana – not everyone agrees especially with the medicinal benefits
▪ Inuit used to kill newborn babies if weather was harsh or resources were already
strained – there’s a perceived consensus about what is considered ‘okay’
- 4 types of deviance and crim:
o Social diversions: minor acts of deviance like wearing mini-skirts. Usually the reactions
from society are amusement or disdain
o Social deviations: serious acts that some people agree are harmful and are subject to
institutional sanction
o Conflict crimes: deviant acts that the state defines as illegal but controversial in the wider
society – maybe smoking weed
o Consensus crimes: widely recognized to be bad in themselves, generally wanted to be
punished with severe punishment
- Misconceptions of crime and deviance over time
- Social constructionism of some crimes that are not inherent – stigmatized laws and norms
- Constructed to best bestow the powerful members of society and disadvantages the less powerful
- Crimes against women:
o Women generally less powerful in all institutions
o crimes against women largely ignored
o the situation has improved
o why the change? A woman’s position in the economy, family and overall society
o women now have more autonomy
- White collar crime:
o Illegal acts committed by a respectable and high-status person
o Embezzlement, false advertising, tax evasion, inside stock trading, fraud,
infringement…etc.
o Underreported → up to the local law enforcement to report these crimes
o Most serious types of white collar crime fall under federal jurisdiction and are not
reported – Environmental crimes
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o White collar crime is costlier than street crime to society
o Governments also commit crime – punishing political leaders is extremely difficult
- Measuring crime:
o Some crime is more common but this varies amongst different social groups
o Crime is often not reported to the police
o Authorities and the public decide which criminal acts to report and to ignore
▪ Crack down on drugs means that more drug related crimes will be counted not
because more drug related crimes are going to occur
▪ Victimless crimes are often excluded – such as prostitution because no victim
steps forward to divulge information
o Self-reported surveys are especially useful – people who report their involvement
- Crime Rates
o Decline in crime
o 1990s put more police on the streets and communities established watch/patrol programs
o young men are most prone to crime – America is aging and the proportion of young men
has declined
o the economy booms
▪ crime rates fluctuate with unemployment rates
o crime decreased 20 years after abortion was legalized – unwanted children are more prone
to crime that wanted children
o social control: ways of enforcing conformity amongst society
- Criminal Profiles
o Gender and Age:
▪ 77% of all persons arrested in the US were men and 82% accounted for the violent
crime rates
▪ man is 3.3 times more likely to be arrested than a woman
▪ women are increasingly rising in # - the changing social controls inflicted on
women has been reduced
▪ most crime committed by people who have not reached middle age
o Race:
▪ Crime has distinct racial distribution
▪ African Americans account for almost 30% of the incarcerated but they account
for less than 13% of the population
▪ Disproportionately higher rates of arrest because of bias in the way that crime
statistics are collected, the low-class position of blacks in society and the racial
discrimination in the criminal justice system
• Bias: white collar crimes have less data collected and they are
disproportionately committed by whites
o Official crime indexes make it seem like crime is committed by
blacks
• Low-class standing means that they experience more unemployment, child
poverty and single motherhood
o Poverty is associated with elevated crime rates
o Worsened due to budget cuts on inner city schooling and welfare
aid
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find more resources at oneclass.com
• Criminal justice system efficiently searches out African American males
for arrest, more so than whites
o Less likely to be allowed to partake in a plea agreement, most can’t
afford to pay fines/bail
o War on drugs – targeting, arresting and imprisoning African
Americans
o Crime rates did not increase, but the imprisonment rate rose more
than 300%
- Explaining Deviance and Crime
o Gangs are prevalent
o What makes the gang lifestyle so appealing?
o Motivational theories: assume that people are good and that special circumstances are
required to make them bad, identify the social factors that drive people to commit
deviance and crime
• Durkheim’s Functional Approach: first sociologist to work on deviance
(stating that it was normal), deviance is necessary and therefore it exists in
all societies, deviance – moral boundaries are clarified, promotes the unity
of society and some deviance encourages healthy social change – today’s
deviance becomes tomorrow’s morality
• Strain Theory: absence of clear norms (anomie) can result in elevated rates
of suicide and other forms of deviant behaviour, cultures teach people to
value material success, don’t provide enough opportunities for everyone to
succeed equally, some people experience strain. Some people will try to
adhere to the social norms despite the strain (conformity). 4 ways for
people to react: retreat from society, reject the goals of society but
continue to follow its rules, alternative or illegitimate means of achieving
societal goals (criminals) or they may protest against the convention of
society.
• Subcultural theory: gangs are a collective adaptation to social conditions,
subculture with distinct norms and values, the members reject the
legitimate world they feel has rejected them.
o Different subcultures of crime:
▪ turn to different types of crime: organized crime (Mafia) or
create violent gangs
▪ members typically spin out a whole series of rationalizations
for their criminal activity (make them appear morally right),
deny personal responsibility – this is called techniques of
neutralizations: the rationality of their actions which
enables them to continue
▪ they are conformists when it comes to the norms of their
subculture, despite the depart from mainstream culture,
dress similar, same beliefs and adopt the same
mannerisms/speech patterns – deviance is strongly
discouraged within the subculture (paradoxically,
subcultures rely on internal conformity)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Inuit used to kill newborn babies if weather was harsh or resources were already strained there"s a perceived consensus about what is considered okay". 4 types of deviance and crim: social diversions: minor acts of deviance like wearing mini-skirts. Misconceptions of crime and deviance over time. Social constructionism of some crimes that are not inherent stigmatized laws and norms. Constructed to best bestow the powerful members of society and disadvantages the less powerful. A woman"s position in the economy, family and overall society: women now have more autonomy. Americans: crime rates did not increase, but the imprisonment rate rose more. Some people will try to adhere to the social norms despite the strain (conformity). This becomes his master status: overriding public identity: control theory: rewards of deviance and crime are many, if you could get away without consequences, most of us say we would commit criminal acts to get more valued things.
