Social Control, Deviance and Crime

Social control refers to the methods which persuade or force individuals to conform to the main social
norms and values which are leared through early socialisation. This in turn prevents deviance. They can
be formal, through institutions like school and law enforcement or they can be informal, through peers
and family. Sanctions are a way of enfocring social control and can be good or bad, ranging all the way
from good sanctions being pocket money or a knight hood to bad sanctions being sitting in the corner or
life imprisonment.
Agencies of social control:
Formal social control;
These are agencies specifically set up to ensure that people conform. E.g. Police, courts. You
have to obey because of bad sanctions like prison time or fines.

Informal social control;

These are groups which sanction but are not primarly involved enfocring social control. E.g.
Parents, education system and workplace.

The social construction of crime:

Crime is whatever is against the law, as in, if it is against the law is to wake up at 7:59, then you are a
criminal if you wake up at that exact time. What is regarded as a crime is more often then not regarded as
devient.

Newburn (2007) says that crime is a label attached to certain forms of behaviour which are prohibited by
the state and have som elegal penulty agianst them. No act in itself is criminal, it is only criminal when it is
labled as a crime. Killing in itself is not criminal, it is dependant on the circumstance; for instance if you kill
someone by hit and run then it is criminal, but if you kill an enemy at war then it is not. As what is criminal
changes over both time and country it strengthens the idea that no act alone is criminal.
The social construction of deviance:
Deviance is essentialy deviation from rules/norms/beliefs/conformity and values of something. It could be
deviation from law, deviation from family, or even deviating around a pot hole when driving. It is very
difficult to define exactly what is deviant because many people disagree.

Downes and Rock (2007) suggest that ambiguity is a key feature as people dont really know what is
deviant and what isnt. A persons judgement on what is deviant will depend on loads of stuff about them
personally, and deviance in a speific setting will depend on the social norms and how others react to it.
For instance, wearing a t-shirt that has a swear word might be cool and accepted around friends, but not
in the work place or in front of the queen.

Plummer (1979) Societal and situational deviance:

Societal deviance:
This is just what is seen by other members of society as deviant, and they all have shared values
of what is allowed and what is certainly not allowed. For instance, murder, rape, child abuse and drink-
drivng will all be not allowed in the UK as a value.

Situational deviance:
This is all about the context like where it took place and how it affected those around it.

These both show that deviance can be agreed on across whole societies, but differ with other societies,
or even differ between groups in society. The following show how deviance and crime can change over
time, further proving that no act in itself is either deviant or criminal.
1. Non deviant crime: These are ware lots of people do them and over all the acts are quite
common, they an still be illegal but the stigma attached to the common activities is not so bad. For
example, parking offences, under age drinking, light cannabis use ect
2. The time: Deviance and crimes change over time, because the people deciding the laws and
values (wider society) change. For instance smoking was a widely accepted event in 1948 over 85%
of the population smoked, and now in modern times it had become a minority event with barely 24% of
the population smoking.
3. The society or culture: Whether the country or culture thinks it is deviant. For instance alcohol
use in Islamic countries is deviant as it goes against their religion.
4. The social group: Some things we do inside our social group are acceptable whereas not so in
the eyes of the law or wider society. For example, some groups of people like Rastafarians and people
who are not smoke cannabis, but it is regarded as deviant by adults.
5. The place or context: It is not acceptable to have sex in the street, but it is between consenting
adults in the bedroom. Also the difference between murder and manslaughter ect.