UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF LEGAL STUDIES,

PANJAB UNIVERSITY

CRIMINOLOGY, VICTIMLOGY AND

PENOLOGY
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME
PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. PURUSHOTAM GAUR SUBMITTED BY:
ANANYA GULATI
BCOM LLB SEM-10
ROLL NUMBER 122/18
SECTION – C

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special gratitude to Mr. Purushotam who gave

me the opportunity to do this wonderful project. Their guidance in the
course of making this project helped me to complete it with accurate
information and on the right time.
I am thankful and fortunate enough to get constant encouragement and
support from my friends who made it easier and the things possible for
me till the end.

Signature of the candidate:

Date: April 20, 2023

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 INDEX

S.NO. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1 Introduction 04

2 Theories of crime 05

3 Structural Functionalism 06

4 Social Strain Typology 08

5 Social Learning Theory 09

6 Conflict theory 10

7 Labelling theory 12

8 Bibliography 15

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Introduction

Criminology is the study of crime and punishment. Criminologists try to answer the question,
why do crimes happen? Just as Gemma is trying to figure out why crime is high in her city,
criminologists study crime rates and try to figure out the elements that make people turn to a
life of crime. To understand the theories of crime, it is important to understand what actually
constitutes a crime.

A legal definition of crime can be simple: crime is a violation of the law. However, the
definition of crime within sociology isn’t quite as simple. There are many different ways to
define crime, many different theories about the origins of criminal activity, and just as
many sociological theories of crime.

While there is no simple definition within the field of sociology, broadly speaking, you could
say that crime is the study of social deviance and violations of established norms. But why do
those norms exist? Some sociologists ask us to reflect on the creation of individual laws:
Whose interests are served by the law in question? Who benefits, and who pays the costs of
various behaviours that are classified as illegal? Sociological theories of crime need to
explain a diverse range of social phenomena.

Definitions of crime have implications for the kind of questions you ask, the kinds of data
you use to study criminal behaviour, and the kinds of theories applied. Some of the most
commonly defined types of crime in sociology include:

 Violent crime – A crime in which a person is harmed or threatened. Violent crimes

include murder, assault, rape, sexual assault, robbery, kidnapping, and harassment.

 Property crime – Property crime involves criminal activity that does not do bodily
harm to a person, but rather focuses on private property. This type of crime involves
burglary, theft, arson, defacement of property, motor vehicle theft, and more.

 White-collar crime – White-collar crime is the name for acts of fraud committed by
businessmen. Violent behavior is typically not associated with white-collar crime.
Rather, these types of crimes are committed to gain or avoid losing money or
property. Some examples of white-collar crimes include money laundering, corporate
fraud, mortgage fraud, Ponzi schemes, and embezzlement among others.

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  Organized crime – Organized crime refers to criminal activity committed by an
organized group of individuals at a local, regional, national, or international level.
Some groups commonly associated with organized crime include the mafia, terrorist
groups, and mobsters. Drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, and
counterfeiting are among some of the most prevalent illegal activities committed
under the banner of organized crime.

 Consensual or victimless crime – Consensual crime refers to crimes that do not

directly harm other individuals or property. Rather, individuals choose to participate
in risky behaviours that may be considered against the law. This includes indulging in
drug use, prostitution, or obscenity.

Outside of these five types of crime in sociology, you can find a wealth of different ideas. For
example, some sociologists would argue even apparently criminal acts can’t be called
criminal until a full evaluation of the situation has been made. For that reason, it’s important
to be able to understand patterns of crime in a sociological context.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIME

here are several different theories about why people commit crimes. On one hand, some
people believe that crime is a rational choice, and criminals weigh the pros and cons of
committing a crime before doing it. Others believe that criminals are biologically - or
psychologically - different from law-abiding citizens.

The one thing that both of these approaches have in common, though, is that they focus on
the individual. That is, they look at crime as an individual problem, not one that involves an
entire community. But sociological theories of criminology say that society creates
conditions under which a person commits a crime. That is, people are influenced by society to
commit crimes. The words 'sociological' and 'society' are linked, so you can remember that
sociological theories look at crime as a social problem, not an individual one.

1) STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

Structural Functionalism that is also referred to as Functionalism, lays its emphasis on the
large-scale social structures, social institutions, their interrelationships, and implications on

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society. In Structural Functionalism, the terms structure and function are not necessarily
complementary. One can study the structure of society without examining its functions,
similarly, functions of different social processes can be studied without being concerned with
its structural form.

The basic principles of Structural Functionalism can be comprehended in three simple terms:
maintenance of social stability, collective functioning, and social evolution. The social
structure of society consists of various components such as social institutions, social norms,
and values, that are interconnected and dependent on each other. Each component of the
structure has a specified role and altogether these social patterns contribute to the balanced
and stable functioning of society. Furthermore, social structure adapts to the changing needs
of society, if any part of the structure acts dysfunctional then society as a whole might
collapse.

According to the Structural Functionalists, any form of rapid social change is perceived as
something that arises when there is an occurrence of social tensions between different units of
society. For instance, a slight incompatibility between traditional belief systems and social
norms may result in a social change. Drastic changes in society are considered problematic
because these rapid changes disrupt the equilibrium and result in instability.1

Structural Functionalism is an explanatory theory primarily developed by Emile

Durkheim and Talcott Parsons.

Émile Durkheim would claim that deviance was in fact a normal and necessary part of social
organization. He would state four important functions of deviance:

1. "Deviance affirms cultural values and norms. Any definition of virtue rests on an
opposing idea of vice: There can be no good without evil and no justice without
crime."

2. Deviance defines moral boundaries; people learn right from wrong by defining people
as deviant.

3. A serious form of deviance forces people to come together and react in the same way
against it.

1
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 4. Deviance pushes society's moral boundaries which, in turn leads to social change.

When social deviance is committed, the collective conscience is offended. Durkheim (1897)
describes the collective conscience as a set of social norms by which members of a society
follow. Without the collective conscience, there would be no absolute morals followed in
institutions or groups.

Social integration is the attachment to groups and institutions, while social regulation is the
adherence to the norms and values of society. Durkheim's theory attributes social deviance to
extremes of social integration and social regulation. He stated four different types of
suicide from the relationship between social integration and social regulation:

1. Altruistic suicide occurs when one is too socially integrated.

2. Egoistic suicide occurs when one is not very socially integrated.

3. Anomic suicide occurs when there is very little social regulation from a sense of
aimlessness or despair.

4. Fatalistic suicide occurs when a person experiences too much social regulation.

Essentially, this theory hinges on the belief that the survival of society is dependent upon
institutional practices. This theory largely fell out of favour during the 1960s mainly because
the theory fails to recognize the influence of the individual on the society in which they live.

2) SOCIAL STRAIN TYPOLOGY

Social strain theory was developed by famed American sociologist Robert K. Merton. The
theory states that social structures may pressure citizens to commit crimes . Strain may be
structural, which refers to the processes at the societal level that filter down and affect how
the individual perceives his or her needs. Strain may also be individual, which refers to the
frictions and pains experienced by an individual as he or she looks for ways to satisfy
individual needs. These types of strain can insinuate social structures within society that then
pressure citizens to become criminals.2
2
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boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-crime-7/the-functionalist-perspective-on-deviance-
62/strain-theory-how-social-values-produce-deviance-375-6183/index.html#:~:text=Social%20Strain
%20Theory,-Five%20types%20of&text=achieve%20these%20goals.-,A%20typology%20is%20a%20classification
%20scheme%20designed%20to%20facilitate%20understanding,how%20to%20attain%20his%20goals.

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 In
his

discussion of deviance Merton proposed a typology of deviant behaviour that illustrated the
possible discrepancies between culturally defined goals and the institutionalized means
available to achieve these goals. A typology is a classification scheme designed to facilitate
understanding. In this case, Merton was proposing a typology of deviance based upon two
criteria: (1) a person's motivations or his adherence to cultural goals; (2) a person's belief in
how to attain his goals. According to Merton, there are five types of deviance based upon
these criteria:

 Conformity involves the acceptance of the cultural goals and means of attaining those
goals.

 Innovation involves the acceptance of the goals of a culture but the rejection of
the traditional and/or legitimate means of attaining those goals. For example, a
member of the Mafia values wealth but employs alternative means of attaining his
wealth; in this example, the Mafia member's means would be deviant.

 Ritualism involves the rejection of cultural goals but the routinized acceptance of the
means for achieving the goals.

 Retreatism involves the rejection of both the cultural goals and the traditional means
of achieving those goals.

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  Rebellion is a special case wherein the individual rejects both the cultural goals and
traditional means of achieving them but actively attempts to replace both elements of
the society with different goals and means.

What makes Merton's typology so fascinating is that people can turn to deviance in the
pursuit of widely accepted social values and goals. For instance, individuals in the U.S. who
sell illegal drugs have rejected the culturally acceptable means of making money, but still
share the widely accepted cultural value in the U.S. of making money. Thus, deviance can be
the result of accepting one norm, but breaking another in order to pursue the first. In this
sense, according social strain theory, social values actually produce deviance in two ways.
First, an actor can reject social values and therefore become deviant. Additionally, an actor
can accept social values but use deviant means to realize them.

Critics point to the fact that there is an ample amount of crime/delinquent behaviour that is
"non-utilitarian, malicious, and negativistic"), which highlights that not all crimes are
explicable using Merton's theory. Crimes such as vandalism, for example, can't be explained
by a need for material acquisition.

3) SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Social learning theory, introduced by psychologist Albert Bandura, proposed that learning
occurs through observation, imitation, and modelling and is influenced by factors such as
attention, motivation, attitudes, and emotions. The theory accounts for the interaction of
environmental and cognitive elements that affect how people learn.

The theory suggests that learning occurs because people observe the consequences of other
people's behaviours. Bandura's theory moves beyond behavioural theories, which suggest that
all behaviours are learned through conditioning, and cognitive theories, which consider
psychological influences such as attention and memory.3

According to Bandura, people observe behaviour either directly through social interactions
with others or indirectly by observing behaviours through media. Actions that are rewarded
are more likely to be imitated, while those that are punished are avoided.

3
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Bandura's theory believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of
learning.

For example, children and adults often exhibit learning for things with which they have no
direct experience. Even if you have never swung a baseball bat in your life, you would
probably know what to do if someone handed you a bat and told you to try to hit a baseball.
This is because you have seen others perform this action either in person or on television.

His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and
behaviours by watching other people. Known as observational learning, this type of learning
can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviours, including those that often cannot be
accounted for by other learning theories.

Social learning theory is a prevalent sociological theory in criminology which posits that
crime is learned and more likely to occur when individuals associate with people who are
criminally involved. Robert Burgess and Ronald Akers coined this theory and it has
withstood analysis through empirical conclusions made over time. The belief that the actions
and criminal behaviours of the community influence criminal activity is an element of social
learning theory.

4) CONFLICT THEORY

Over the years, theorists have studied the occurrence of crime within society to better
understand the motives behind it. The social conflict theory of criminology suggests that
criminal behaviour is caused by social inequality and limited resources on Earth, resulting in
a constant struggle between the rich and the poor. Most people, particularly the poor, see the
need for even and fair distribution of resources among all members of society. This cause for
equality will always be at odds with the cause of the rich and powerful, who will always seek
to maintain their riches and power within their own elite circle.

Wealthy people are in control of society's resources and have the financial means to own
corporations, factories, and the equipment within them. They are in charge of hiring working
class employees to work in the organizations they own and are in charge of delegating how
much pay their work is worth. Social conflict theory suggests that the wealthy owners in
society strive to keep their prestigious positions of power, and thus will never put the needs of

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the working class ahead of their own. They prefer to maintain their wealth and power without
allowing room for competition from the class that works for them.4

Two prominent contributors to the conflict theory of criminology were Karl Marx and C.
Wright Mills. Marx laid the groundwork for this theory that subsequent philosophers would
later expand on. He theorized that the societal conflict that leads to crime is caused by the
ongoing conflict between the working class (the proletariat) and the more powerful elite class
(the bourgeoisie). He believed that economic inequality is the driving factor behind the
proletariat's resentment, leading to rebellion and a demand for better treatment and pay. Marx
not only believed that these feelings of resentment lead to crime, but that they would
eventually lead to the overthrowing of capitalism in favour of communism. He believed that
capitalist societies give wealthier people more power and control over resources, leading
some to assume that communist societies have the potential to be fairer.

C. Wright Mills was one of the philosophers who expanded on Marx's social conflict theory.
He compared modern, industrial societies to societies of the past, asserting that industrial
organizations create an uneven balance of power based on a hierarchical ladder. He referred
to those at the top of the ladder as the power elite who are in charge of everyone in positions
under them. He believed this to be true for individual organizations, but claimed that the three
most powerful social groups include the government, the military, and those in charge of the
economy. The people who hold key positions in these areas maintain power within their elite
circle by ensuring that those they chose, usually their own families, receive the same
opportunities and privileges that they had access to.

Another aspect of conflict theory is the study of deviance, which is a violation of societal and
cultural norms. Breaking the law and committing crimes are considered deviant behaviours.
The conflict theory of deviance posits that deviance is punished more severely for those with
less power, or for those who attempt to interfere with capitalism. People are often labelled as
deviant based on their low level of power. The relatively small power elite in a society are
much less likely to carry the stigma of deviance than people of lower stature. For example,
government officials would not be considered deviant because of the power they hold in
society, while a homeless person would likely be labelled deviant simply for appearing
powerless.5
4
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Causes-of-Crime.pdf

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Gender is yet another aspect of conflict theory, in that women are theorized to experience
deviance and punishment differently than men. The feminist theory of crime suggests that
men hold the most power in patriarchal societies, and that female deviance is discouraged by
men's societal control. Stemming from this theory is the theory of double deviance, which
asserts that women who commit a deviant act actually commit two deviant acts at once. Not
only do they go against society's norms with a deviant act, but they also go outside of
society's norms specifically expected of women. Since society expects men to portray deviant
behaviour more often than women, they are often judged and punished more harshly for their
crimes than their male counterparts.

5) LABELLING THEORY

Labelling theory indicates that society's assigning of labels to individuals or certain groups
can have an effect on their behaviour. This theory, in relation to sociology, criminology, and
psychology, has shown that labelling someone as a criminal can lead to bad conduct. The
theory purports that society's establishing someone as a criminal based on deviant behaviour
(action perceived to violate society's normal standards) may lead others to mistreat the person
labelled as a criminal. In other words, individuals may face stigma , discrimination against
them because of the criminal label. Therefore, the person might become a criminal. Thus, the
focus of the labelling theory is to show that society's perception and treatment of others can
cause them to commit wrong acts. Therefore, the person might, in turn, become a criminal.

The origins of the labelling theory can be traced all the way back to Emile Durkheim. In his
research, Durkheim established that crime is not greatly related to breaking punishable laws,
but, rather, it is a construct that targets to disgrace society. In his book named Suicide,
Durkheim first indicated that labelling satisfies bad behaviour and the need of a community
to control it.

Frank Tannenbaum

Criminal literature relates the labelling theory to Tannenbaum's concept of "the dramatization
of evil." With this theory, Tannenbaum argued that labelling an individual, particularly a
child, as evil based on his committing an evil act would eventually lead to the labelling and
segregation of the individual. This would play a part in the individual eventually only
associating with those he believed to be like himself, others exhibiting criminal behaviour.

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Labelling Theory Examples

Example 1

A person can volunteer to remain at home and watch the children as their parents go out on a
date. However, if the person has been labelled as a child abuser, people might be suspicious
that they might do something bad to the children.

Example 2

A person running a busy shop might want to step out briefly. While they are outside the shop,
a friend could pass by and offer to watch the shop for them in order to allow them to leave.
However, if the person offering has been labelled as a thief, the shop owner might be
suspicious that they want to steal from their shop.

The labelling theory of deviance establishes that people possess deviant behaviours due to
others forcing that identity on them. This theory suggests that for this process to be
successful, stigmatization must be in play. In order to effectively apply a deviant model on a
person, others must disgrace them to make them realize the bad behaviour faster. Therefore,
this theory establishes how society plays a significant role in creating some behaviours in
individuals. In contrast, the control theory indicates how social ties limit an individual's
chances of getting into criminal activities since society depicts the issues of criminality.
Instead of making individuals criminals by labelling them, the control theory finds society
reduces destructive behaviours by highlighting their effects.

 Example of control theory

Amanda is a college student, and it has been getting tough for her to understand her lectures.
Her family is very keen on education, and her parents are university professors. Society
expects, based on her background and upbringing, that she will do well in school. Despite
wanting to dropping out of school, Amanda is forced to stay in school and struggle to pass the
courses so as not to be labelled as a "school dropout." Her society controls her behaviour and
choices.

Nevertheless, there are two deviances associated with the labelling theory of deviance. They
are discussed below.

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Primary Deviance

Primary deviance is a type of deviance that is unnoticed by the people in authority. Primary
deviance is the first stage of depicting deviance, and a person does not fully adopt a criminal
identity. However, when they are identified by their deviant behavior, this is when the
internalization process begins, and people identify themselves as deviant or reach secondary
deviance. Some examples of primary deviance include;

 Skipping school

 Running constantly late to work

Secondary Deviance

As already mentioned, when someone is referred to as deviant, they can internalize this
identity and end up adopting it. This behaviour can occur when a deviant individual is
stigmatized and publicly identified as a "criminal" or a "psycho." In this condition, the
deviant individual thinks of the identity as valid and acts the way he was described. Examples
of secondary deviance include;

 Drug addiction

 Homelessness

 Criminal behaviour

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Erikson, Kai T. (1962). "Notes on the Sociology of Deviance". Social

Problems. 9 (4): 307–314. . ISSN 0037-7791. JSTOR 798544.

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John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1–29, , ISBN 978-1-118-70138-6, retrieved 2021-11-05

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4. Heckert, Alex (2002). "A new typology of deviance: Integrating normative and
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Retrieved 2019-04-22.

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9. Paternoster, R.; Mazerolle, P. (1994). "General strain theory and delinquency: A

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