GCSE Sociology Revision - Theories of Crime (Episode 20)

Hello everybody! Welcome to my 20th revision video for GCSE Sociology! Today’s episode is on sociological theories of crime and deviance and it’s a fairly long one (sorry!). Specifically, it focuses on the functionalist, Marxist, feminist, New Right, Interactionist and Subcultural theories of crime, looking at the key concepts and sociologists you need to know for each.

In this video, I cover the following things:
- Functionalism – with a focus on Merton’s strain theory – 01:08 – 08:47
- Marxism – with a focus on Chambliss’ differential enforcement of the law – 08:48 – 12:49
- Feminism – with a focus on McRobbie and Oakley’s ideas around gender socialisation and Carlen’s view of female poverty and ‘crimes of the powerless’ – 12:50 – 19:26
- The New Right – with a focus on Murray’s views on the links between crime and the underclass – 19:27 – 22:46
- Interactionism – with a focus on Beck’s labelling theory – 22:47 – 26:10
- Subcultural theory – with a focus on Albert Cohen’s status frustration and Stan Cohen’s ideas around media representation and deviancy amplification – 26:11 – 31:15
- 10 key terms to know – Strain theory, Innovation, Differential enforcement of the law, Capitalism, Gender socialisation, Female poverty, Culture of poverty, Labelling, Status frustration, Moral panics – 31:16 – 36:17
- A word on exams, with a 15 mark essay question and answer walkthrough – ‘Merton’s strain theory offers a complete explanation for why crime occurs. Do you agree?’ – 36:18 – 42:30
- Recap and Outro – 42:31 – 44:12

The video is aimed at GCSE Sociology Eduqas students but will also be useful to those studying different exam boards, e.g. AQA Sociology and/or those studying at a higher level, particularly if you’re newer to the subject.

If you have questions about anything I’ve covered in this episode, just drop them in the comments and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. If you’ve learnt something, be a pal and like and share it with someone else :-)

If you’re that way inclined, you can also find me on insta, twitter, facebook, spotify and iTunes by searching 'allsociology', or if you fancy buying me a beer, you can do so by dropping me a super like in the comments, or by going over to patreon.com/allsociology

My next video will be my last on the topic of Crime & Deviance and will consider the key patterns of crime, by exploring how and why crime is linked to class, age, gender and ethnicity.