Chapter 6 Chapter Summary

Chapter Overview

Sociologists define crime as any behaviour that breaks a law that is part of the Criminal Code. Laws are rules of conduct specifying what a society’s members may or may not do that provide punishment. Social order is created by obeying the rules. When people commit crimes, it undermines social order, creating social disorder. There are many different kinds of crime. Conventional crimes are uncommon offenses that people traditionally refer to as “crimes.” Crimes that fall under this category include homicide, the killing of one human being by another. Often, crimes are non-violent in nature. For example, white-collar crimes are crimes that are committed by workers during their job. There is an issue calculating how many crimes are committed because self-reporting is often inaccurate—for example, people who are victimized fear secondary victimization at the hands of the judicial system. One way of measuring the incidence of crime is through victimization surveys. These surveys sample how often a person has been victimized in a given period of time.

While crimes are committed by both genders, men are more likely than women to engage in criminal activity. Some sociologists claim that biology is at the heart of this discrepancy, but others believe it has to do with differential socialization. Differential socialization says that men are socialized to act in more aggressive ways than women. Many of the most disturbing crimes are interpersonal crimes, which means they happen between individuals. One common form of this is domestic violence, violence that occurs within a family. There are many problems associated with domestic violence. One significant problem is the cycle of violence it creates, where the abusive behaviour leads to remorse and then forgiveness which eventually turns back to abuse.

Each sociological framework has a different way of looking at crime. Functionalism sees crime as a natural occurrence in a society. Out of functionalism derives two theories: social disorganization theory and strain theory. Social disorganization theory, based on Durkheim’s Suicide, argues that crime is the result of a lack of social cohesion. Strain theory links crime to social inequality. Based off of the work of Robert Merton, strain theorists argue that everyone wants to attain something, and deviance is one way for those who lack the monetary means to do so to achieve their desired ends. Robert Agnew presents an extension of strain theory through general strain theory which looks at the negative emotions that result from social inequality as being fuel for deviant behaviour. Similar to strain theorists, conflict theorists believe that with more social inequality comes greater levels of crime. On the other hand, social constructionists are interested in how deviant behaviours come to be defined as deviant by society. Finally, differential association theory presents a functionalist’s view where crime is the result of processes of socialization.