A-Level Sociology: ethnicity, victims and control
Two content areas of Crime and Deviance in A-level Sociology (for example, AQA A-level Sociology 7192, Paper 3) are the social distribution of crime by ethnicity, and 'crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system and other agencies'. This material covers both, complementing the category's material on theories of crime, gender and crime prevention.
On ethnicity, the quiz sets Lea and Young's left realist argument that some differences in offending are real, caused by relative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture, against Gilroy's neo-Marxist 'myth of black criminality' and Hall et al's analysis of the 1970s mugging panic. You then weigh evidence from self-report surveys against official statistics, and judge what an invented sentencing study says about institutional racism in the criminal justice system.
On victims, you distinguish positivist victimology and the idea of victim precipitation from critical victimology, which asks who has the power to be recognised as a victim, using a workplace death blamed on the worker. A victim survey case shows how victimisation is concentrated among the poor and among repeat victims.
On control and punishment, you apply Foucault's contrast between sovereign and disciplinary power and the panopticon, Mathiesen's synoptic surveillance and Feeley and Simon's actuarial justice to invented cases, and identify restorative justice among the aims of punishment.
Every quiz question is an invented case with one defensible answer, and each explanation adds the criticism or counter-argument you need for an essay.
The material offers four formats. The 12-question quiz explains each answer. The 16-card flashcard deck covers the key concepts, from the myth of black criminality to Durkheim's retributive and restitutive justice. The printable written work sets eight open questions, from outlining two explanations of ethnic differences in the statistics to assessing Foucault's view of surveillance, with ruled space for handwritten answers that are then checked. The oral exam puts you in front of an examiner who asks one question at a time, follows up on your reasoning and gives brief feedback at the end.
Use it after studying the main theories of crime, to prepare extended answers on ethnicity and on the control, surveillance and punishment of offenders.
- Compare left realist and neo-Marxist explanations of ethnic differences in crime statistics
- Evaluate official statistics and self-report evidence on ethnicity and crime, including the role of the criminal justice system
- Distinguish positivist and critical victimology and describe patterns of victimisation
- Apply Foucault's ideas of sovereign and disciplinary power, synoptic surveillance and actuarial justice
- Explain the justifications for punishment, restorative justice and sociological views of punishment
Practice material written by Zestly, based on the Crime and Deviance topic of A-level Sociology specifications (for example AQA A-level Sociology 7192, specification version 1.2, section 4.3.1: the social distribution of crime and deviance by ethnicity; crime control, surveillance, prevention and punishment, victims, and the role of the criminal justice system).
Sample question
An invented sociologist argues that differences in recorded offending between ethnic groups partly reflect real differences in offending, caused by some young people experiencing racism and unemployment, feeling relatively deprived, being marginalised from politics and forming delinquent subcultures. Which approach is this?
- Labelling theory
- Right realism
- Left realism (Lea and Young)
- Neo-Marxism (Gilroy)
See the answer
Left realism (Lea and Young)
Lea and Young, left realists, argue that ethnic differences in statistics reflect real differences in offending, caused by relative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture, although police racism plays some part. Neo-Marxists such as Gilroy argue that the statistics mainly reflect racist stereotyping and policing. Critics of left realism argue that it underestimates the role of the criminal justice system in producing the figures.