Task 2
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What do people mean when they talk about the nature/nurture debate?
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What is the tripartite system?
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What schools did the tripartite system create?
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What process decided which school a child went to?
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Identify and briefly explain two reasons why some politicians became critical of the tripartite system.
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In September I introduced you to the sociological concepts of stratification and social-class. Using the three links at the bottom of the page use the two sociological concepts to explain the social problems some people argue the tripartite system creates
Task 2
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What are the three methods used to record the incidence of crime in England and Wales?
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What are self–report studies?
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What is the British Crime Survey?
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What are official crime figures?
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What methodology is used in each respective statistical measure?
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Identify and briefly explain two problems associated with each statistical measure
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Why was Durkheim’s study of suicide significant for sociologists?
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Why do sociologists use quantitative and qualitative research methods when studying crime?
Task 1
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Create a definition which clearly illustrates the difference between crime and deviance
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Similarly, create a definition which clearly illustrates the difference between formal and informal social control
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What are ‘dark figures’ of crime?
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Identify and briefly explain three reasons why some crimes are ‘hidden crimes’
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Identify and briefly explain two reasons why the media might influence the general public’s perception of crime
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Identify and briefly explain three reasons for the increase in crime rates
Please answer the following questions and email them to me by 9-00am Monday 26th January
1. What is the curriculum in a school?
2. What did Durkheim argue that schools are?
3. How did Parsons view the role of school as being?
4. What is the difference between ascribed status and achieved status?
5. What is the difference between ‘particularistic values’ and ‘universalistic values’?
6. What do functionalist’s mean by the ‘division of labour’ ?
7. Define a functionalist perspective of the ‘hidden curriculum’
8. How do Functionalists value the concept of meritocracy within the education system?
9. What did Althusser see the main role of education being?
10. How did Althusser justify his argument?
11. What did Bowles and Gintis’ mean by the ‘long shadow of work?’
12. Identify several ways your own school life reflect Bowles and Gintis’ perspective of the hidden curriculum?
13. Indentify three significant differences between Marxist; Feminist and Functionalist perspectives of education
14. Identify and briefly explain the key differences between Marxist; Functionalist and Feminist (Feminist views of the hidden curriculum are less explicit, so you will have to think about this) views of the hidden curriculum
15. Identify and briefly explain why feminists place so much emphasis on gendered language, stereotyping and roles in education?
Lombroso is seen as being the first criminologist. Criminology is the study of crime and Lombroso sought to explain crime through scientific methods. Prior to this recidivism was simply seen as simply a sin borne out of an individual’s 
free will and choice. And the difference between a criminal and non-criminal person is the former chooses to be a good rather bad person.
However Lombroso studied (scientifically) the body shapes and sizes of executed criminals and concluded:
1.Offenders were born to be criminal
2.These offenders inherited certain criminal characteristics
3.Physically these criminals had more in common with primitive people
4.Criminals had distinct physiological features such as large jaws, high foreheads and powerful canine teeth
Lombroso wasn’t alone with these ideas, as other academics of the period extended these arguments which Lombroso 
identified certain behavioural or physiological anomalies or abnormalities which separates the criminal from the non-criminal.
What is important to appreciate is how recidivism in these ideas is seen to be in individual failings. However sociological approaches stress the significance of social factors in the causes of crime. And this is where we now progress to as the rise of sociology left Lombroso in the background for sometime but not completely!
Back to ‘perspectives’ listing
At AS level you learnt all about the different research methods used by sociologists. However that was the simple bit and you still need to know all that stuff as you’ll be using it in the subsequent exam questions.
You also need to know all about the different philosophies behind the two main research principles – quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Durkheim established the rules in social science research and this is why sociology is seen as a social science. This is because Durkheim said he was using scientific methods to measure the social world. His starting point was that society is influenced by social facts.
Social facts are the institutions, beliefs and values in society which impose themselves on people. For example the family is a social fact because it forms part of our consciousness. The family is a mechanism which affects the way we think and behave. The family provides us with a set of values which influences our behaviour.
The best way of understanding this, is to think or gravity. Gravity is a physical force which limits the type of things people do every day. And in the same way the family exists outside the individual (like gravity) and influences the behaviour of individuals. Therefore the influence of the family can be measured by sociologists using quantitative research methods (like questionnaires to produce graphs and charts) in the same way gravity is measured by scientific instruments.
Durkheim’s reasoning for this came from his study of suicide. You will now need to examine Durkheim’s study of suicide in a more depth at this page. Go to the first slide show and ONLY read up to and including slide 5 and then return to this text.
Durkheim used statistical evidence to study the different rates of suicide in different European countries. And so in the same way Durkheim studied different suicide rates, the crime module you’re looking at studies different crime rates using Durkheim’s principles, that crime is a social fact which exists external to the individual.
Task – please complete the remaining questions in this section. You will need to read through all the suggested areas to source the answers
Therefore in the same way Durkheim concluded that different types of societies created different rates of suicide. Similarly different societies have different rates of crime. In the same way this moved the idea of suicide as being an act of individual pathology to one of societal influences, crime could no longer been seen as an act of individual pathology but one created by the society a person lives in.
The first slide show provides a broad overview of why we have different research methods.
This second slide show provides a more detailed overview of why we have different research methods. Back to Crime Statistics page or functionalist views on crime
The image below provides an overview of the different sociological studies of suicide. Beneath that is a slideshow taking you through the different sociological studies in more detail.
Durkheim was the main architect of the functionalist perspective of crime. However before you examine this perspective you will need to familiarise yourself with functionalist social theory. However before you look at that, it might be useful to refresh 
yourself with the AS level principles of functionalism here before moving into most complex areas of the theory.
Durkheim reasoned that crime was endemic to all societies in the same way suicide was. (It is important to note here that Durkheim’s study of suicide effectively gave sociology its academic status, because he found suicide was the result of societal conditions rather than individual pathology. Follow this link to understand Durkheim’s study on suicide). As you’ll have discovered the apparently individualistic decision to take one’s own life was dependent on wider social and economic conditions. Durkheim found rates of suicide rose not only in times of severe economic hardship but also in periods of rapid prosperity. This is because such turbulent times produce anomie as people’s normal expectations become deregulated.
From Durkheim’s position crime is a social fact (social facts are the values, cultural norms, and social structures existing outside the individual and are capable of exercising social constraints). Therefore a social fact is a feature of society rather than individuals.
Durkheim argued as crime was evident to all societies it must be seen as a normal endemic feature. Therefore crime is not abnormal, it is simply a part of normal industrial societies where people live in complex social organisations. (His research into suicide also pioneered sociological research methods into measuring crime. Please examine this here if you missed it in the earlier lessons or if you don’t feel you have yet understood the connection between suicide and crime statistics!)
Most importantly Durkheim reasoned, crime and the subsequent punishment provides a positive social function as it establishes and maintains a social consensus about what is and isn’t deviant behaviour. Therefore crime is a normal aspect of a healthy society; as a society without any crime must be extremely repressive and dysfunctional.
Durkheim argued that a society without deviance is impossible as people wil naturally deviate from any social norms or ideals. But this deviance becomes a positive function as it helps society establish a social consensus about what is right and wrong.
He also noted that society should be just as concerned when crime rates fell below that society’s average. As what might been seen as social progress is in fact the sign that there’s some social disorder afoot. So we can see that crime is also an expression of individual freedom (as too little crime indicates an oppressive society) and a sign of social change. So the rate at which individuals start deviating from the norm is relative to the cohesiveness of that society.
For example the credit crunch caused a massive economic crisis and any increase in the number of suicides can be explained by the lack of regulation in that society. This is because society encourages individualism and unlimited aspirations, the credit crunch means these aspirations can no longer be achieved and a state of anomie (normlessness) causes personal crises for the individual. The cure for this state of anomie comes from society imposing new regulations on aspirations. Any failure to regulate behaviour will increase the tendency for suicide. To listen to a more detailed explanation of anomie and ‘regulation’ please listen to this BBC Thinking Aloud clip
Merton extended Durkheim’s ideas on anomie even further. Although a functionalist like Durkheim, Merton questioned dominant functionalist ideas that all institutions produced positive functions. Merton took Durkheim’s concept of anomie and said it wasn’t useful in explaining suicide but anomie could be used to explain all deviance in society! Merton came up with his idea of society creating a ‘strain to anomie’ which you can learn about here.
Back to ‘perspectives’ listing
As with all the sociology you’ve studied so far there have been different perspectives of education, the family, media and power. Similarly there are different perspectives of crime and deviance. The only difference with the crime and deviance module is there’s a lot more perspectives to learn. On top of this you have to learn and understand the philosophy which supports each perspective. This is known as social theory.
The good thing is you’ve been learning all these different social theories all the way through your studies. The only difference is you have to make a more conscious use of these different social theories when explaining the reasons people commit any crime or deviance! The reason is they are the second synoptic link you need to consider.
Below is a list of all the different perspectives you have to learn. When you click on each perspective you are taken to a page which explains the perspective as well as the ‘ideas’ (social theory) which ‘supports’ that perspective.
It’s worth mentioning here that the order the different perspectives are presented below is chronological and it’s easier if you remember them in this order!!
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Post-Modern
As you will have learnt in sociology there are several strengths and weaknesses for every argument. The following student presentations take the strengths of each argument to find the weaknesses in another!
Class 13A – presentation 22/4/2011
Class 13B – presentation 22/4/2011
Now you start your final unit Crime and Deviance. At the bottom of the page is the link which will start you on your final course or lessons. But before we commence the unit I want you to keep something in mind.
This unit also examines you on Research Methods (in the context of crime & deviance), Research Methodologies and Social Theory. All three will at some point need to be referred to in your final exam.
However, as they say, “Rome wasn’t built in day”, so we’ll concern ourselves with the more demanding aspects of the unit much later. First you have to learn the content of the unit in the same way you’ve learned all your other sociology units!
Lessons start here
sociologytwynham.com 