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Crime and Deviance

Social construction of crime and deviance

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Crime and deviance as social constructs, moral panics and folk devils, deviancy amplification, and Becker's labelling theory, master status and deviant careers.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

What is a moral panic, and who are folk devils?

Key term

What is deviancy amplification?

Key term

What is a master status?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

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