Sociological theories describe crime related issues in the society
Introduction
Various sociological theories describe crime related issues in society. Most of these theories describe the normal social interactive lives of people. Most scientists have tried to explain and expound the reasons behind some behaviors that emerge in the community. They have also tackled reactions and results of these actions in society just as discussed below.
Anomie theory explains how crime and divergent behaviors are influenced by social conditions in society. Some of the things that lead to these behaviors include; lack of commitment in following rules, regulations, and values in the society, which leads to an intermediate condition that causes social disorganization.
General strain theory gives a distinctive explanation of misconduct and criminality. Whereby unlike other theories it focuses on negative treatment and highlights the role of negative emotions in the causes of offending. These negative emotions include; frustration, depression, despair, and anger, which are in turn said to create pressure that, enhances corrective action, with crime being one possible action.
Lower class reaction theory elaborates delinquent reactions of lower-class youths against middle-class dominated systems in society. These reactions are as a result of unintentional discrimination by society to their lower-class values. These youths reject middle-class values such as responsibility, academic achievement, nonviolence, and ambition, in the name of seeking self –esteem.
Cloward and Ohlin`s differential opportunity explains how the working-class teenage gang will choose another type of delinquent gang depending on illegal opportunity structures in the locality. Cloward and Ohlin highlight the importance of the presence of illegal opportunity, which may be as well limited depending on society. Illegal opportunities depend on criminal traditions found in society.
General Strain Theory comes first as it is the most effective and should be applied to human behavior. This is because the negative behaviors are already present in society and according to this theory those behaviors are used to transform those who do them into doing good morals due to their impact. Hence, this GST theory should be successfully applied to my community. Followed by Anomie theory that can be applied to my community since it is based on existing behaviors that contribute to crime. Through this theory, these behaviors can be eliminated by enhancing strict discipline measures in the community. Then next is the lower class reaction theory that portrays delinquent reactions by the youths due to frustration and low self-esteem, this theory can be applied to my community to help mitigate insecurity reasons. Lastly, we have the Cloward and Ohlin’s differential opportunity that will help my community when applied to human behavior in eliminating juvenile gangs and criminal traditions in society.
Cohens lower-class reaction theory
The above theory addresses the issue of insecurity of the lower-class youth and their resulting reaction to the middle-class values (Chan, 2016). The application of this theory enables the community to embrace sub-cultural differences and non-discriminate different social classes. This helps the youth from the lower-class feel accepted in the community.
Through the theory in question, society understands the reasons behind crimes committed by juvenile delinquents. Therefore, instead of harsh reactions due to their rebellious behaviors, they embrace them by accepting them in the community (Sykes, 2017). This helps to tone down the low-esteem issues among the lower-class youth.
Critics of cohen`s lower-class theory
Cohen concentrates too much on the lower-class youths criminal activities not considering the religious background, ethnicity, the family set up and even educational background, therefore, this can seem as he is encouraging some of the juvenile criminal activities (Brownfield, 2018). Therefore, this may seem like he is defending the juvenile delinquents. Cohen’s assumption that lower-class youths are interested in middle-class values through rebellion depicts middle-class values in society as inciting (Pearl, 2017). This view interferes with the morals of the middle-class youth as they feel they negatively impact other people’s lives in the community.
Conclusion
These theories explore various delinquent issues in society and some of the factors that lead to these criminal activities. This majorly focuses on the youth subgroups since society is majorly influenced by the actions of the youths. Generally, these theories define societal values through behavioral approaches. Surrounding plays a big role in one’s behavior.
References
Brownfield, D. (2018). Subcultural theories of crime and delinquency. In Criminological Controversies (pp. 99-124). Routledge.
Na, J., & Chan, M. Y. (2016). Subjective perception of lower social-class enhances response inhibition. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 242-246.
Pearl, A. (2017). Youth in lower-class settings. In Problems of Youth (pp. 89-109). Routledge.
Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (2017). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. In Delinquency and Drift Revisited, Volume 21 (pp. 33-41). Routledge.