SOC10110 Sociology of Crime & Deviance

Academic Year 2022/2023

The aim of this module is to introduce students to a broad range of theoretical and substantive debates about different aspects of crime and deviance. Crime is a hugely prominent aspect of social life but public and political debate surrounding it often emphasizes the extreme or the atypical, and as a result our understanding of these issues does not always reflect the full social context or dynamics involved. How and why we define behaviour as deviant or criminal can reflect a variety of factors – including morality, tradition and power relations – and defining behaviour in that way can have very significant consequences for those directly involved as well as for wider society. Because of this, it is important to understand the factors involved in criminalising particular activities, why people engage in behaviour that breaches social norms or criminal laws, why such behaviour is more likely to occur under particular conditions, and how these issues affect different groups in society.

In this module we consider some of these important issues – how we define behaviour as deviance, how and why some actions are criminalised, and the impact that crime/deviance has on society generally. The module examines the nature of crime in Ireland and situates this within a wider historical and comparative context. We consider different theoretical frameworks that have been developed to explain crime and deviance. We examine the social dimensions of crime, including its impact on different groups of people. We also explore the nature of various forms of crime, highlighting the need to consider the specific circumstances and meanings associated with each.