Module Code - Title:
SO4006
-
THE SOCIOLOGY OF CRIME DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
N
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The purpose of this module is to explore the manner in which society seeks to control particular ways of behaving, being and thinking. The broad framework of both informal and formal sanctions will be adopted, but the module will focus in particular on the latter. A critical approach to the ideas which underpin the criminal justice system, its remit and functioning, will be encouraged. Questioning will be facilitated through introducing students to sociological theories of crime and deviance, through their application to contemporary case studies and through comparison to other cultural and historical contexts. Particular attention will be given to inequitable experiences of criminal justice including on the basis of social class, gender, ethnicity and racialized identities, sexuality and legal status.
Syllabus:
The social construction of deviance and crime; Theories of deviance; Informal social control; Formal social control; The law and social change; Social hierarchies of victims and offenders; Hate crime; Social stratification and the Criminal Justice System - Policing, Sentencing, Incarceration, White collar crime; Sociological perspectives on restorative justice; Victimisation as social control.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
Be able to draw conceptual distinctions between crime and deviance.
Have a familiarity with sociological theories of deviance.
Be able to critically interrogate the objectives and effects of formal sanctions.
Be aware of inequities within the criminal justice system.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
The student will appreciate the significance of social inequalities to experiences of the criminal justice system.
The student will appreciate the value of interrogating common sense assumptions regarding key social institutions.
The student will appreciate the social and individual impact of both victimisation and labelling.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
Findings in the Subject are Included:
The module will be taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials. The approach will encourage students to clarify their understanding through application of their newly acquired knowledge to real world examples. The ethos of the module will encourage critical thinking and civic awareness, while the methods will encourage confident and articulate self-expression.
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
The module will be taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials. The approach will encourage students to clarify their understanding through application of their newly acquired knowledge to real world examples. The ethos of the module will encourage critical thinking and civic awareness, while the methods will encourage confident and articulate self-expression.
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Downs, D. and Rock, P. (2012)
Understanding Deviance
, OUP
Tonry, M. (2011)
The Oxford Handbook of Crime and Criminal Justice
, OUP
Roach Anleu, S. L. (2009)
Law and Social Change
, Sage
Other Relevant Texts:
Curra, J. (2014)
The Relativity of Deviance
, Sage
Perry, B. (2003)
Hate and Bias Crime
, Routlege
Pogrebin, M. (2012)
About Criminals: A View of the Offenders' World
, Sage
Waters, M. (2014)
Hate Crime and Restorative Justice
, OUP
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
BAHPSSUFA - History, Politics, Sociology and Social Studies
BAJOHOUFA - JOINT HONOURS
BAPPADUFA - Politics and Public Administration
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Spring
Module Leader:
Amanda.Haynes@ul.ie