Name:

Transition Work: ‘Beliefs in Society’

Write a paragraph for each question

1) Annotate the image to show which religion each

symbol represents

2) What are the top three major world religions? What percentage of the world

belongs to each of these groups?

3) Which are the top three most religious and least religious countries in the

world? Give possible reasons for this.

4) Give three examples of how religion influences life in the UK.

Name:

5) Write a definition of religion

6) What do you think is the function of religion in societies?

7) What do you think is the function of religion for individuals?

8) Do you think society needs religion? Explain your answer

9) What do you think is the future of religion in society?

Thank you for completing this transition work – it is hoped that these tasks will get you

thinking about the topic of ‘beliefs in society’ which will begin from September. Have a

great summer! Mr Coulson.

A2 Sociology Crime and Deviance

Functionalism & Marxism

Name: Class:

Specification:

Consider the following questions:

1. What is “deviant”?

2. What is a crime? 3. How can crime be functional to the wellbeing of society?

4. Who makes the laws in Britain/Vietnam?

5. Whose interests do they reflect? 6. Who breaks the law and why? 7. What is the relationship between the media and crime?

8. How has globalisation affected crime?

9. How can we punish offenders?

10. Does the death penalty work?

Defining Crime and Deviance

Sociologists argue that crime and deviance are therefore both socially

Constructed concepts. This means that our ideas concerning crime and

deviance vary from culture to culture and over different period of history.

We can therefore conclude that neither crime nor deviance is a natural or

universal category.

Our views of what is a crime and what is deviance are influenced by the

values and norms of the evidence. What we can deduct from this is that

definitions of crime and deviance are very flexible.

Subcultural Strain Theories

Antisocial crimes such as vandalism, graffiti, joyriding and violent

behaviour need to be considered using different concepts that Merton uses, and the key idea is the gang or subculture.

A.K Cohen (1955) was influenced by Merton and agreed with him over the structure of society producing unequal and therefore blocked life chances

and career opportunities which encouraged deviance (e.g. delinquency). However they took issue with his emphasis on deviance as an individual

response.

Cohen (1955) and Cloward & Ohlin (1961) understand deviance to be a collective solution by like-minded and like-situated individuals. They

equate a lower class position with crime and delinquency.

Cohen’s major insight was that although groups of working class youths

may originally accept the wider goals of society (getting on, career, possessions etc), their growing awareness of their inability to achieve these goals leads to Status Frustration where the goals are then rejected.

These goals become replaced by new and deviant goals and a delinquent

subculture is formed.

Cloward & Ohlin expand on Cohen’s ideas. They argue that as well as legitimate opportunities for the successful achievement of social goals

(getting on, career, possessions etc) being unequal, the chances to get

involved in illegitimate opportunities also vary. Thus some youngsters are

able to join a local gang, or take up a life of crime, but others lack even these choices. These individuals become double-failures, and often retreat

into a life of violence and drug abuse.

Cohen argued that gangs were formed when young men, who had initially

accepted the prevailing norms and values, turned these norms and values on their head. This was their collective solution to restricted opportunity

(Cohen called this reaction formation). Delinquent conduct is right by the

standards of his subculture precisely because it is wrong by the norms of the larger culture.

Note: the more up-to-date concept widely used in criminology for restricted opportunity is cultural deprivation.

In 100 words or less, summarise the Subcultural

Evaluation:

Walter B Miller (1962)

David Matza (1964)

Marxism sheet

Criminogenic Capitalism:

The state and the Law making:

Ideological functions of crime & Deviance :

Strengths Weaknesses

Marxism’s Theory on Crime &

Deviance