What Did Durkheim Mean When He Called The Collective...

1) What did Durkheim mean when he referred to the Collective conscience ? Why did he think this was important for understanding Crime and deviance. 2) Describe Merton s theory of Strain as an explanation of crime and deviance in society. Strain theory refers to when people turn to crime and deviancy when they feel unable to achieve socially approved goals through legitimate means. (Agnew, 1992). Featherstone and Deflem (2003) outline five routes that individuals could take in order to achieve their goals, according to Merton’s theory. The first is the ‘conformist’ route where individuals adhere to achieving goals and means in a legitimate way, and this does not lead to crime and deviance. The second route they discuss is the†¦show more content†¦The rebellious route leads to groups forming such as the ‘skinheads’ and the Ku Klux Khan. This route can also lead to deviant behaviour and crime. 3) Why did Shaw and Mckay think that delinquency was concentrated in particular geographical areas? Shaw and McKay (1942) believed that delinquency was concentrated in particular geographical areas, which came about from some research they conducted in Chicago using maps to examine the residential location of juveniles referred to Chicago courts, where they found that rates of crime were not distributed evenly throughout the city. They found that crime was concentrated on particular areas and those areas had a steady crime rate despite the movement of people moving in and out and different races taking over. They then focused on these areas with high crime rates and compared to those with low crime rates. Shaw and McKay found that the neighbourhoods with high crime rates were in low socio-economic status and economically deprived. These neighbourhoods were viewed as socially disorganized because these areas had high rates of movement where there was a continuous flow of immigrants. In these areas, institutions such as the family and schools were unable to regulate the behaviour of the youth because they were weak, which in turn leads to higher crime rates. They looked at the result of social disorganisation in relation to crime and found that it affected many things, mainly the social institution of