Why do people commit crime and deviance?
The main sociological explanations of crime and deviance, including the influence of inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures, and labelling, set against biological and psychological explanations.
A focused answer on explanations of crime and deviance for WJEC GCSE Sociology: sociological explanations including socialisation, poverty, subcultures and labelling, set against biological and psychological explanations.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point covers the explanations of crime and deviance: why people offend. You need to describe the main sociological explanations (inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures, and labelling) and set them against biological and psychological explanations, while stressing that sociologists focus on social causes. Presenting several explanations and weighing them is what lifts a "discuss" answer.
Sociological explanations: socialisation and conditions
Sociological explanations: subcultures and labelling
Biological and psychological explanations
Try this
Q1. Identify two sociological explanations of crime. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Any two of: inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures that approve of offending, and labelling leading to a deviant career.
Q2. Explain how labelling can lead to further crime. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Once a person is labelled a criminal, others react to the label and may treat them as an offender, the person may come to see themselves that way, and this can lead to a deviant career in which they continue to offend because the label is hard to escape.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC (Component 2)4 marksDescribe two sociological explanations of crime.Show worked answer →
A describe question (AO1). Reward two distinct, developed explanations.
Poverty and social conditions. Crime can be linked to poverty, unemployment and a lack of opportunity, which may push some people towards crime.
Labelling. Once a person is labelled a criminal, they may find it hard to escape the label and may offend again, in a deviant career.
Top band. Two clearly different sociological explanations, each developed with how it leads to crime.
WJEC (Component 2)8 marksDiscuss sociological explanations of crime and deviance.Show worked answer →
A discuss question (AO1, AO2 and evaluation). Reward several explanations and a judgement.
Sociological explanations. Inadequate socialisation, poverty and social conditions, subcultures that value offending, and labelling that creates a deviant career.
Other explanations. Biological and psychological explanations argue some people are predisposed to offend, but sociologists stress social causes.
Judgement. Sociological explanations show crime is shaped by social conditions and reactions, rather than being simply individual, though several factors interact.
Related dot points
- The definitions of crime and deviance and how they vary by time and place, and how crime is measured through official statistics and victim surveys, including the problem of the dark figure of unrecorded crime.
A focused answer on crime, deviance and crime measurement for WJEC GCSE Sociology: the definitions of crime and deviance, how they vary, and measuring crime through official statistics and victim surveys, including the dark figure.
- The patterns of crime and victimisation by social group, the link between social characteristics and crime statistics, and why these patterns must be treated as patterns in the statistics rather than facts about individuals.
A focused answer on patterns of crime for WJEC GCSE Sociology: who appears in crime statistics and who are the victims, by age, gender, class and ethnicity, and why these are patterns in the data, not facts about individuals.
- Social control through formal agencies such as the police, courts and law, and informal agencies such as the family, peer group and media, working through positive and negative sanctions to maintain social order.
A focused answer on social control for WJEC GCSE Sociology: formal control through the police, courts and law, informal control through the family, peers and media, and how sanctions maintain social order.
- The process of socialisation: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through the agencies of education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace, and how each transmits norms and values.
A focused answer on socialisation for WJEC GCSE Sociology: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through education, peers, media, religion and the workplace, and the agencies that transmit culture.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Sociology (Wales) specification (C200QS) — WJEC (2017)