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Functionalist, And Conflict Theories Of Crime

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Crime is a phenomenon prevalent in history around the world. Even in first world countries, such as the United States, crime is still a widely accepted social norm that creates problems within society. Many sociologists have dedicated their time to trying to uncover why crime exists in this world. By using functionalist, Interactionist, and Conflict theories many crimes can adequately be explained. Nevertheless, these theories have yet to constitute solutions to crimes such as murder, assault, and property theft. Therefore, this essay shall summarize how American society can actively prevent some of certain crimes through detailed explanation as to why these crimes occur. From a functionalist perspective, crime most likely occurs due to a …show more content…

Through differential association theory and social learning theory crime can be explained as behaviors that individuals learn. American criminologist Edwin Sutherland developed differential association theory in order to explain why certain individuals choose to participate in criminal behavior. The theory suggests that crime is a learned behavior, and is more likely to occur if one surrounds themselves in it. To clarify, the theory proposes that those with close connections to criminals have a greater likelihood of committing a crime. Subsequently, Ronald Akers created the social learning theory to elaborate further on Sutherland's theory (Carl, John D. 192). Social learning theory uses psychologist Albert Bandura's study on aggression in young children to further prove that crime is learned 'skill'. Bandura's study concluded that children could learn aggressiveness through basic modeling. Therefore, social learning theory suggests that abstract and direct learned behaviors play a key role in how individuals act. Both theories suggest that crime can not be stopped without behavior modification of individuals within the United …show more content…

One conflict theorist, Jeffery Rienman, noticed how actions of the rich are often times ignored while actions of the poor are penalized. One major example of this idea is white-collar crimes. White-collar crimes often include tax evasion and embezzlement, two crimes that are often ignored by the justice system and committed by Americas most wealthy individuals. Yet, if an employee steals a small sum of money they will most likely be penalized immediately. Furthermore, criminologist Willem Bonger suggests that poor Americans are constantly on the 'loosing side' of capitalism creating resentment towards the rich. This ideology turns crime into “a way to combat social injustice”, providing a reason to commit crime (Carl, John D.

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