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Sociology Factsheet
................................
www.curriculum-press.co.uk # 223
Social Construction of Crime and
Deviance
This Sociology Factsheet will look at the social construction of Different societies at different times give different meanings to
crime and deviance and explore why crime and deviance and deviant and criminal behaviour, therefore one action or behaviour
official crime statistics are socially constructed. The Factsheet can be interpreted very differently in different societies at
includes Exam Hints to help you to use your knowledge to gain different times. Different societies have different laws – and laws
maximum marks, while the activities give you the opportunity to often change - so what is considered crime is relative to time and
apply what you have learned and will help you develop your skills place.
in this area. Whether something is considered a crime will depend on many
Words in bold are explained in the glossary and a reference list is factors including:
included at the end of the Factsheet. Place Where the act took Example:
place Being naked on a
The examiner will expect you to be able to: nudist beach as
1. Demonstrate your understanding of the how and why crime compared with at a
football match
and deviance are socially constructed.
2. Explain how official crime statistics may be socially
constructed
3. Effectively use the key terms in an answer on crime and Time When the act took Example:
deviance. place Smoking in public
4. Demonstrate your understanding by using appropriate places in the UK is
examples. now illegal but was
not a crime before
5. Evaluate the concept of the social construction of crime and the law changed in
deviance. July 2007
Introduction Culture Different cultures Example:
have different Using cannabis in
In order for any group to live together, a set of rules and laws are expectations on some Arab states is
needed (norms) in order to maintain peace and harmony. Social how to behave legal while alcohol
order is maintained when individuals conform to these shared use is a serious
norms. Deviancy occurs when people step outside these rules or crime
norms. In some cases, when the deviancy is considered serious Social situation The context in Example:
enough, it will be seen as a crime. Actions that are viewed as which the act takes Waving a flag in
crimes attract state sanctions such as fines, prison etc. place church compared
There is no act that is itself criminal or deviant – an act only with waving a flag at
becomes criminal or deviant when a particular label has been a rugby match
applied to it and this will depend on several different factors. This
Factsheet will explore the different factors involved in determining
what is criminal and deviant behaviour.
Definitions of crime and deviance change over time and from Activity:
place to place. Whether an action is seen as criminal or deviant 1. Take each of these points and think of another example
can depend on the time, place, social situation and culture in for each one.
which it occurs. Sociologists therefore argue that crime is 2. See if you can apply homosexuality to each of these four
socially constructed. points.
Social Construction of Crime Crime covers a wide range of behaviour, from acts like shoplifting
Crime is the term used to describe behaviour which is against to very serious crimes like murder. Even with an act that appears to
the criminal law. Nothing is a crime until a law is made against a be against the law, the police and other criminal justice agencies
particular act or behaviour.
© Curriculum Press 2020 Sociology Factsheets, 2019/20 Series, Issue 3 of 3, April 2020. ISSN: 1351-5136 1
Sociology Factsheet 223 - Social Construction of Crime and Deviance
have to interpret whether it was against the law. If the police do Becker suggests the identification of deviant acts and application
decide to define the act as criminal, it does not necessarily mean of deviant labels is not consistent across the whole population. The
they will do anything about it in terms of recording the offence or police do not have enough resources to identify and prosecute all
prosecuting the offender. Crime therefore is socially constructed criminal behaviour and the police use pre-existing conceptions
because there is no act that is, in itself criminal – it depends on and stereotyping of what they believe is a criminal type and this
how other members of society see it. influences their responses to criminal behaviour when they see
it. Certain groups may be targeted by the police and will then
Social Construction of Deviance focus their attention on this group. For example, black youths are
more likely to be targeted by the police than middle aged white
Deviance is even harder to define than crime because what men. As police will be focussing on this group, individuals in this
members of any society or group regard as deviant behaviour group are more likely to be singled out by the police, stopped
will differ depending on the society or group. and searched, arrested and charged with a criminal offence. This
Downes and Rock (2007) suggest that whether an act is seen labelling means that individuals are singled out as deviant, given
as deviant or not depends on the context in which the act occurs, a deviant label whereas other individuals who may commit the
who the person is, what they know about them and what their same act are not identified and labelled.
motives might be. What is defined as deviance will depend on the
social expectations about what constitutes ‘normal’ behaviour Labelling theory focusses on the following:
and whether something is defined as deviance or not will depend 1. Who makes the laws? Those responsible for enforcing the
on how others react to it. law – the police and courts have a significant role in the
social construction of crime because they decide what is
Activity: Swearing loudly may be considered deviant. and isn’t a crime.
2. Why rules are selectively enforced and the response to law
breaking is not always the same.
3. Why only some individuals/groups and some acts are defined
as deviant or criminal, while others carrying out similar acts
are not?
4. The consequences of being labelled deviant. How does the
labelled individual respond and how do others in society
Think about the following places and decide whether you respond to the person who is labelled?
would consider swearing as deviant or not:
In the classroom. The following quotation from Becker sums up this situation:
In a place of worship. ‘Social groups create deviance by making the rules and by
In your room with friends. applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as
outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of
In the supermarket. the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the
At a football match. application by others of the rules and sanctions to an offender.
The deviant is one to whom the label has successfully been
applied.’
Now think about people and consider whether swearing
would be deviant or not: Activity: Do some research on stop and search statistics.
A teacher swearing in the classroom. What do they show?
A teenager swearing in their room with friends. Write a summary of how the findings support:
A priest swearing in a church. 1. Labelling theory.
The Queen swearing when giving a speech. 2. The social construction of crime.
Based on this, it is clear to see that
Exam Hint: Using everyday examples to illustrate your points official crime statistics are regarded as
is a good way to show you understand what you have written. social constructions, showing only an
unrepresentative group of offenders who
have been caught and publicly labelled
Therefore, the same behaviour can be labelled differently as ‘criminal’ because of the stereotypes
depending on the time, place, culture, social situation and is also and explanations that the police and
dependant on the person carrying out the act. other social control agencies themselves
believe give rise to crime.
Becker (1963), an interactionist, argues that society has rules Police statistics are a record of all crimes reported to the police
and anyone who acts outside of these rules is a deviant. He and can show how many of these are resolved. These statistics
suggests that an act only becomes deviant when others perceive shape our understanding of crime because they determine the
and define it as deviant and whether or not a deviant label is crime rate, meaning they inform the public how much crime is
applied to the act
© Curriculum Press 2020 Sociology Factsheets, 2019/20 Series, Issue 3 of 3, April 2020. ISSN: 1351-5136
2
Sociology Factsheet 223 - Social Construction of Crime and Deviance
happening, and what types of crimes are increasing or decreasing. References
If the statistics are wrong, then the public’s understanding of Becker, H. 1963. Outsiders. New York: The Free Press.
crime is likely to be wrong also.
Official crime statistics do not include all crime. They only include Downes, D.M and Rock, P.E 2007. Understanding Deviance.
crime that is: Oxford University Press.
Detected Not all crime is detected. If a crime is Glossary
observed and identified as a crime, the
police may be informed. Many crimes go Crime: Any form of action that results in breaking a written,
undetected and are not included in official
statistics e.g. £5 is missing from your wallet/ formal rule in society for example murder. A crime is an act that
purse – did you lose it or was it stolen? breaks the law.
Reported Not all crime is reported to the police for Crime rate: A measure of the level of criminal activity in society
many reasons e.g. family loyalty, too private, based on crimes recorded by the police.
too sensitive
Deviance: Is behaviour that does not conform to the dominant
norms of a specific society. If a person behaves in a way that is
Recorded Police decide whether crimes reported are seen as deviant and this is discovered, it could lead to negative
recorded. Some reported crimes may be sanctions, such as being told off.
seen as too trivial and there may not be
enough evidence. Labelling: A label applied to an individual influencing both their
behaviour and the way others respond to them.
Official crime statistics: Government statistics on crime.
Official crime statistics, therefore, do not give an accurate picture Recorded crime: Crime that is reported and recorded by the
of crime as statistics only represent a tiny minority of all crimes. police.
This distorts the public’s understanding of crime. Official crime
statistics are seen as socially constructed. Reported crime: Crime that is reported to the police – not all
reported crime is recorded.
Conclusion Social Construction: When something is given meaning by the
In conclusion, the police and courts inevitably have a role in the society in which it exists.
social construction of crime and the way in which they respond
to criminals and record crimes can help shape the views of the
public. But it is the wider public themselves, influenced by the
mass-media, that perhaps have a more significant role. This
means that it is impossible to single out one or two agents in
society for socially constructing crime as it is something that is
done by the whole of society.
Exam Hint: Using the information in this Factsheet,
answer the following questions:
1. Outline two ways in which crime and deviance are
socially constructed.
2. Outline ways in which the criminal justice system may
discriminate against some minority groups.
3. Discuss the view that official crime statistics may not
provide a valid picture of the patterns of crime in society.
Acknowledgements: This Sociology Factsheet was researched and written by Rosie Bath and published in
April 2020 by Curriculum Press. Sociology Factsheets may be copied free of charge by teaching staff or students,
provided that their school is a registered subscriber. No part of these Factsheets may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
© Curriculum Press 2020 Sociology Factsheets, 2019/20 Series, Issue 3 of 3, April 2020. ISSN: 1351-5136
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