Deviance And Crime Caused By Poverty - 1922 Words

Deviance and Crime Caused by Poverty in Contrast to Wealth As I take a look back to everything I have learned in Sociology 101 an area of sociology I chose to explore further was deviance and crime in Canada. Deviance and crime seemed to interest me because it could help me deeply understand the different factors which cause low class societies to be deviant and criminal compared to their counterparts, high class, deviance and crime. With intentions of further exploring this area I concluded that the macro-level conflict theory, founded by Karl Marx, would be most useful in making conclusions of the different types of deviance and crimes resulting from being very needy in contrast to being very wealthy. Karl Marx helps distinguish between†¦show more content†¦Hugh Segal, a well known Canadian Senator, helps me justify in a Toronto Star article that the majority of inmates in our jails come from the small percentage of low class Canadians in our societies: While all those Canadians who live beneath the poverty line are by no means associated with criminal activity, almost all those in Canada’s prisons come from beneath the poverty line. Less than 10 per cent of Canadians live beneath the poverty line but almost 100 per cent of our prison inmates come from that 10 per cent. There is no political ideology, on the right or left, that would make the case that people living in poverty belong in jail. (Segal 1) This passage by Segal also asserts that circumstances of poverty do not call for deviance and crime rather cause low class groups of Canadians, which Merton’s strain theory does help me understand, may be put into strain and may start to become innovators who rely on criminal activity to earn money for themselves without accepting the usual and legal way of earning compensation. Innovators may cause deviance and crime for more money even though they already may have some money to invest for a better income. These low class Canadians may also recruit from cultural goals as well as refrain from taking part in institutionalized means causing a restrain on themselves, which eventually never takes them out of poverty. This is the counterpart ofShow MoreRelatedThe Link Between Poverty and Crime1654 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Many people living in poverty do not want to be living in poverty. 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