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AQA Sociology crime and deviance - synoptic links

As the synoptic part of this test is crucial I was wondering if we could make some links - to other aspects of the course.
For example, I'll start... :rolleyes:

A.K Cohen comments on how working class boys are less likely to achieve an education and this makes it harder to achieve in the world. This leads to status frustration which in turn leads to delinquent subcultures forming.

Thx

Reply 1

friendsfreak88

Deviancy is not always criminal. For example, joining a religious sect goes against the norms of society but is not criminal.

Reply 2

blahdeblah

OP

Also, another one from that point...
Wallis and classifications of NRMs -World Rejecting movements - hostile towards society - could be viewed as deviant by some.

Reply 3

blahdeblah

OP

lol - doing most of this thread myself now but, just looking thorugh my notes - not sure if this is a valid link or not but..
EDUCATION - Mitsos and Browne - talk about something known as the culture of masculinity - boys want to appear macho ad tough n are therefore likely to develop anti-education, anti-learning subcultures, where achool work is seen as 'unmacho'. Therefore again this is the whole issue of subcultures being perceieved as deviant, especially by the teachers.

Reply 4

Moondust

Another link from the top of my head is to FAMILY. Charles Murray (new right). He argued that there was an underclass in society that had deviant values and passed these on to new generations. Underclass is made up of single-parent families where there is a lack of a father to discipline children and act as role model to boys to work hard rather than commit crime/be dependant on the state.

Reply 5

8owman

1

Functionalists believe that religion socialises people into a code of morality which stops them from giving into deviant impulses.

Teachers label black/working class kids.

My teacher told me you could still get a B without putting synoptic links in? Strange lol. Apparently he went to an exam meeting and they told him that. He also said that you only need a couple of lines on synopticity to fulfill the requirement. This is contrary to what i was told initially. I thought you had to link everything so some other area of the course.

Reply 6

friendsfreak88

Another link to the family:

Bowlby after conducted his 44 thieves study suggested that separation from the mother resulting in the development of a psychpathic personality (eg a person who does not know the difference between right and wrong who is therefore likely to commit crime). This can be criticised for being too deterministic. However, this does not explain why not all children that may suffer abuse or the death of a parent are not deviant.

Reply 7

tis_me_lord

14

8owman

Functionalists believe that religion socialises people into a code of morality which stops them from giving into deviant impulses.

Teachers label black/working class kids.

My teacher told me you could still get a B without putting synoptic links in? Strange lol. Apparently he went to an exam meeting and they told him that. He also said that you only need a couple of lines on synopticity to fulfill the requirement. This is contrary to what i was told initially. I thought you had to link everything so some other area of the course.

Thank God, because I have a tonne of new material, and only a few synoptic links...

Reply 8

*starry_eyed_*

14

By synoptic links, you do mean in the essay don't you? :o:

Reply 9

Chris.Livesey

10

One of the nice(?) things about AQA is that they make it very clear about how you're expected to make synoptic links:

(a) Identify and briefly explain two problems in using official crime statistics in the study of crime and deviance. (8 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and sociological methods.

(b) Examine the extent to which the study of two or more of the following areas can throw light on deviance in society: families and households; health; mass media; education; wealth, poverty and welfare; work and leisure; power and politics; religion; world sociology. (12 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and other substantive topic(s) you have studied.

(c) Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches to an understanding of crime and deviance. (40 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and sociological theory.

You can make the links explicit in a variety of ways - through your use of examples, appkication of theoretical ideas and so forth.

Reply 10

*starry_eyed_*

14

Chris.Livesey

One of the nice(?) things about AQA is that they make it very clear about how you're expected to make synoptic links:

(a) Identify and briefly explain two problems in using official crime statistics in the study of crime and deviance. (8 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and sociological methods.

(b) Examine the extent to which the study of two or more of the following areas can throw light on deviance in society: families and households; health; mass media; education; wealth, poverty and welfare; work and leisure; power and politics; religion; world sociology. (12 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and other substantive topic(s) you have studied.

(c) Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches to an understanding of crime and deviance. (40 marks)

This part of the question includes assessment of your understanding of the connections between Crime and Deviance and sociological theory.

You can make the links explicit in a variety of ways - through your use of examples, appkication of theoretical ideas and so forth.

just a side note, how would you go about answering this question? my marxism notes are really patchy :redface:

Reply 11

tis_me_lord

14

If they ask for substantive areas in the 8 or 12 marker do you still need to use some in the 40 marker?

Reply 12

*starry_eyed_*

14

if its relevant, i don't see why not. I always worry that I'm trying to hard and putting topics in that won't necessarily get me the marks i need :frown:

Reply 13

Chris.Livesey

10

just a side note, how would you go about answering this question? my marxism notes are really patchy

This is basically a "kitchen sink" question in the sense that you can introduce all kinds of "Marxist persepctives" - from traditional forms of instrumental marixsm (Quinney, for example), through radical criminology, to cultural criminology ("resistence through rituals") to New Left Realism.

It's a "good question" because it not only allows you to throw in all kinds of Marxism but you can draw on a range of other perspectives for evaluation.

If they ask for substantive areas in the 8 or 12 marker do you still need to use some in the 40 marker?

It certainly doesn't hurt (when you use illustrative material in your answer use examples from different substantive areas), but the examiner's clearly looking for a more-sophisticated treatment of synopcicity in the 40 markers. There have been illustrations in various posts where you can draw synoptic links by applying different theories in interesting ways.

Reply 14

blahdeblah

OP

*starry_eyed_*

By synoptic links, you do mean in the essay don't you? :o:

yea. And also my teacher said that whenever you make a synoptic link in the essay then you should try and emphasis it by higlighting or underlying it - has anyone else been told this.?? :confused:

Reply 15

Rachelhale15

blahdeblah

yea. And also my teacher said that whenever you make a synoptic link in the essay then you should try and emphasis it by higlighting or underlying it - has anyone else been told this.?? :confused:

really? that sounds like quite a good idea.
Also do you have to say like... "this is a link to ... education"