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AQA GCSE Sociology 8192
The Sociological Approach
Families
Education
Crime and Deviance
Social Stratification
Crime and Deviance
- 5 subtopics
- 15 things to know
- Paper 2
What Crime and Deviance covers
Crime and Deviance is examined in Paper 2, The sociology of crime and deviance and social stratification. It covers social construction of crime and deviance, formal and informal social control, explanations of criminal behaviour, patterns of crime and public debates and crime statistics and the dark figure.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2
The sociology of crime and deviance and social stratification, 1 hour 45 minutes and 50% of the GCSE.
Check the AQA specification ↗The 5 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Social construction of crime and devianceCrime and deviance as social constructs, moral panics and folk devils, deviancy amplification, and Becker's labelling theory, master status and deviant careers.Open →
- Formal and informal social controlAgents of social control, the criminal justice system and types of offence, sanctions, surveillance, the four perspectives on control, and Heidensohn's control theory of women's conformity.Open →
- Explanations of criminal behaviourMerton's strain theory and five adaptations, Albert Cohen's status frustration and delinquent subcultures, and Carlen's interviews with women offenders on the class deal and gender deal.Open →
- Patterns of crime and public debatesCrime by class, gender, ethnicity and age, white-collar and corporate crime, the chivalry thesis, the Macpherson Report, sentencing, young offenders, prisons and media coverage of crime.Open →
- Crime statistics and the dark figurePolice recorded crime, reported and recorded crime, crime rates, the dark figure, the Crime Survey for England and Wales, self-report studies, and the perspectives on official statistics.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Key term
What is deviancy amplification?
Key term
What is a master status?
Key term
What is the criminal justice system?
Key term
How are indictable and non-indictable offences dealt with differently?
Who and when
How are women controlled at home, according to Heidensohn?
Who and when
What is a delinquent subculture, according to Albert Cohen?
Who and when
Why do some working-class women turn to crime, according to Carlen?
Key term
What is the link between social class, poverty and crime?
Key term
Why is violent crime a subject of public debate?
Key term
What is the debate over sentencing?
Numbers
What trend in crime has the CSEW shown since the mid-1990s?
Key term
Name three sources of data on crime in England and Wales.
Numbers
Who was Robert Merton, and when did he set out his theory of crime?
Key term
What are official crime statistics, and how are they collected?
Take Crime and Deviance further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Formal social control vs Informal social control
Formal social control: rule enforcement by official agencies such as the police and courts. Informal social control: everyday pressure to conform from family, friends and peers.
Reported crime vs Recorded crime
Reported crime: offences that victims or witnesses tell the police about. Recorded crime: offences that the police officially log in their figures.
White-collar crime vs Corporate crime
White-collar crime: offences by individuals in professional jobs for their own gain. Corporate crime: offences committed by a company or on its behalf.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is crime?
Model answer
Crime is behaviour that breaks the criminal law and can be punished by the state. Parliament, the UK's legislature, creates new crimes by passing legislation.
- 2
What is deviance?
Model answer
Deviance is behaviour that goes against the norms and values of a group or society. A deviant act need not be illegal, such as swearing loudly at a funeral.
- 3
What does it mean to say that crime and deviance are social constructs?
Model answer
A social construct is an idea whose meaning is created by society rather than fixed by nature. Deviance is socially defined behaviour, so the same act can be judged differently by different groups.
- 4
How do definitions of crime change over time and between places?
Model answer
Sex between men was illegal in England and Wales until the Sexual Offences Act 1967 partly decriminalised it. Drinking alcohol is legal in the UK but a crime in Saudi Arabia.
- 5
How do functionalists explain the social construction of crime and deviance?
Model answer
Functionalists argue that society's shared values decide what counts as deviant. Durkheim claimed some crime is functional because punishing it reminds everyone where the boundaries of acceptable behaviour lie.
- 6
How do Marxists explain the social construction of crime?
Model answer
Marxists argue that the ruling class shapes the law to protect its property and power. Crimes of the poor, such as shoplifting, are targeted more than crimes of the rich.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Crime and Deviance revision questions
- What does Crime and Deviance cover in AQA GCSE Sociology?
- 5 subtopics: social construction of crime and deviance, formal and informal social control, explanations of criminal behaviour, patterns of crime and public debates and crime statistics and the dark figure. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Crime and Deviance organised?
- By the AQA 8192 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Crime and Deviance, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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