Criminology: The Study of Crime and criminals

Question 1 

The difference between critical theory and mainstream theory is that critical theory criticizes society and culture through reflective assessments and tries to challenge the existing power structures. The theory associates the current social problems with power structures and believes that more of the social problems are enhanced by power structures and not by psychological and individual factors. On the other hand, the mainstream theory defines an economic system that never experiences any crisis because the amount of money in circulation is under the control of monetary authorities, and banks work as intermediaries without creating any risk. 

Question 2 

Gender/feminist criticism 

Race theory 

Post-colonial critical theory 

Deconstruction theory 

Structuralism theory 

Question 3 

The strength of labeling theory includes the fact that it outlines the law as a flexible system that people need to explain its construction as it is not just a set of fixed rules. The theory explains the discriminative manner in which the law gets enforced, and it outlines criminal activities as actions that are controlled by law enforcement agents and not individuals. 

The weaknesses are that it is deterministic and does not provide an explanation for the reason behind the urge for people to commit primary deviance before they get labeled. 

Question 4 

Structural inequality is a source of conflict according to conflict theory. The theory works on the assumption that there are inequalities of power that exist between social structures and human relationships. This is true because some people in society have more power than others. Such people are powerful and get more rewards because of their position in society than the other group of people. 

Question 5 

Peacemaking theory connects to conflict theory in a way that it is based on the aspect that violence enhances more violence, just like in conflict theory, which has way as one of its components. 

Question 6 

While conflict theory highlights the competition that exists in society due to limited resources, the Marxist theory views society to be divided into economical groups that consist of the ruling and working class. 

Question 7 

The rational cause theory of crime explains that a criminal offender’s decision to commit a crime is a decision that is made on purpose. I agree with this theory because most people who commit crimes do it with the purpose of gaining something out of the action. 

Question 8 

I agree with the theory of crime. The theory outlines factors that push people to engage in criminal activities. The problem of crime from the perceptive of a criminal theory depends on social and biological factors.