PARSONS
EVALUATE SEXSOCIOLOGICAL
ROLE THEORY EXPLANATIONS CONTRL
FOR WHY THEORY- FEMINISM-
MEN COMMIT HEIDENSOHN
MORE CRIME
Functionalists-
THAN WOMEN gender differences in crime Women commit fewer crimes because they’re
stem from traditional gender socialisation controlled: home/work/public sphere
-boys are encouraged to take risks, be -monitored at home- link to McRobbie-
aggressive, while girls are socialised into bedroom culture
nurturing and conformist behaviour -work- stained glass ceiling
Murray: the absence of male role models in -public sphere- fear of male violence- 54% of
matrifocal families seek masculine identities women scared to go out after night
in delinquent subcultures -eval: assumes women passively accept
Eval: biologically deterministic as girls are control (argue that this isn’t true)
socialised to be assertive and masculine
characteristics
MASCULINITY AND CRIMINAL JUSTIC SYSTEM HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
Pollak: chivalry thesis- police/ courts more Messerschmidt- males are socialised into
lenient towards women, seeing them less behaviours that lead them to increased levels
dangerous of criminality and deviate from norms of
-example to use: Sarah Everard case society= crime= commit due to pressures to
-eval: Heidensohn- ‘double deviance’- women express hegemonic masc
are treated more harshly if they deviate from w/c men turn to violence/ gang crime as a
gender norms e.g. being a bad mother or way to demonstrate toughness/ control.
sexually promiscuous White collar= m/c men to assert dominance
-heg masc= the dominant/ socially accepted
form of masculinity that men are expected to
live up to- authority, physical strength,
aggression, success in work, heterosexuality-
bordering misogyny)
-this image is reinforced by the media,
showing what a ‘real man’ should be like e.g.
the rock + toys- GI Joe
-leads men to react to challenges to their
behaviour in education/ employment + home
e.g. DV
RISING FEMALE CRIME AND CHANGING
GENDER ROLES
Feminists + post mods argue that the gender
gap in crime is narrowing as women’s roles in
society change
Adler- liberation thesis= greater involvement
in crime
Denscombe- found that teenage girls are now
adopting risk-taking, assertive identities
similar to boys
e.g increase in women in gang activity
eval: changes in police practices may explain
rising female arrests + men still dominate
, crime stats
Brief explanations of sociological theories/ typologies/
sociological perspectives:
Parsons sex role theory:
Parsons (1937) argued that because females carry out the ‘expressive
role’ in the family which involved them caring for their children and
looking after the emotional needs of their husbands, that girls grew up to
internalise such values as caring and empathy, both of which reduce the
likelihood of someone committing crime simply because a caring and
empathetic attitude towards others means you are less likely to harm
others.
The child caring role also means that women are also effectively more
attached to their families and wider communities than men – It is
traditionally women who keep in touch with relatives and get to know their
children’s friends families and thus bond local communities together. In
terms of bonds of attachment theory (Hirschi) , women are thus more
attached to wider society and thus less likely to commit crime.
Similarly, because traditional female gender roles involve women being
busier than men, especially since they have taken on the ‘dual burden’
(Oakley) and ‘triple shift’ (Duncombe and Marsden) in recent decades, this
reduces the opportunities for women to commit crime.
Control theory:
One explanation for gender differences in criminality is the idea that
women and girls are controlled more than boys and men are. Part of the
canalisation of gender roles during primary and secondary socialisation
has historically been the comparative freedom that boys enjoy, staying
out later and generally being under less informal surveillance than girls.
According to Frances Heidensohn, girls are controlled by fathers and other
relatives until they are married when they come under the control of their
husbands. The fact that boys and young men spend more time away from
older or otherwise authoritative figures could account for their higher
levels of criminality, especially anti-social behaviour.
EVALUATE SEXSOCIOLOGICAL
ROLE THEORY EXPLANATIONS CONTRL
FOR WHY THEORY- FEMINISM-
MEN COMMIT HEIDENSOHN
MORE CRIME
Functionalists-
THAN WOMEN gender differences in crime Women commit fewer crimes because they’re
stem from traditional gender socialisation controlled: home/work/public sphere
-boys are encouraged to take risks, be -monitored at home- link to McRobbie-
aggressive, while girls are socialised into bedroom culture
nurturing and conformist behaviour -work- stained glass ceiling
Murray: the absence of male role models in -public sphere- fear of male violence- 54% of
matrifocal families seek masculine identities women scared to go out after night
in delinquent subcultures -eval: assumes women passively accept
Eval: biologically deterministic as girls are control (argue that this isn’t true)
socialised to be assertive and masculine
characteristics
MASCULINITY AND CRIMINAL JUSTIC SYSTEM HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
Pollak: chivalry thesis- police/ courts more Messerschmidt- males are socialised into
lenient towards women, seeing them less behaviours that lead them to increased levels
dangerous of criminality and deviate from norms of
-example to use: Sarah Everard case society= crime= commit due to pressures to
-eval: Heidensohn- ‘double deviance’- women express hegemonic masc
are treated more harshly if they deviate from w/c men turn to violence/ gang crime as a
gender norms e.g. being a bad mother or way to demonstrate toughness/ control.
sexually promiscuous White collar= m/c men to assert dominance
-heg masc= the dominant/ socially accepted
form of masculinity that men are expected to
live up to- authority, physical strength,
aggression, success in work, heterosexuality-
bordering misogyny)
-this image is reinforced by the media,
showing what a ‘real man’ should be like e.g.
the rock + toys- GI Joe
-leads men to react to challenges to their
behaviour in education/ employment + home
e.g. DV
RISING FEMALE CRIME AND CHANGING
GENDER ROLES
Feminists + post mods argue that the gender
gap in crime is narrowing as women’s roles in
society change
Adler- liberation thesis= greater involvement
in crime
Denscombe- found that teenage girls are now
adopting risk-taking, assertive identities
similar to boys
e.g increase in women in gang activity
eval: changes in police practices may explain
rising female arrests + men still dominate
, crime stats
Brief explanations of sociological theories/ typologies/
sociological perspectives:
Parsons sex role theory:
Parsons (1937) argued that because females carry out the ‘expressive
role’ in the family which involved them caring for their children and
looking after the emotional needs of their husbands, that girls grew up to
internalise such values as caring and empathy, both of which reduce the
likelihood of someone committing crime simply because a caring and
empathetic attitude towards others means you are less likely to harm
others.
The child caring role also means that women are also effectively more
attached to their families and wider communities than men – It is
traditionally women who keep in touch with relatives and get to know their
children’s friends families and thus bond local communities together. In
terms of bonds of attachment theory (Hirschi) , women are thus more
attached to wider society and thus less likely to commit crime.
Similarly, because traditional female gender roles involve women being
busier than men, especially since they have taken on the ‘dual burden’
(Oakley) and ‘triple shift’ (Duncombe and Marsden) in recent decades, this
reduces the opportunities for women to commit crime.
Control theory:
One explanation for gender differences in criminality is the idea that
women and girls are controlled more than boys and men are. Part of the
canalisation of gender roles during primary and secondary socialisation
has historically been the comparative freedom that boys enjoy, staying
out later and generally being under less informal surveillance than girls.
According to Frances Heidensohn, girls are controlled by fathers and other
relatives until they are married when they come under the control of their
husbands. The fact that boys and young men spend more time away from
older or otherwise authoritative figures could account for their higher
levels of criminality, especially anti-social behaviour.
