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GCSESociologyAQARevision NotesExam Guidance & SkillsExam Paper Guidance & StructureKey Terms and Concepts: Crime & Deviance & Sociological Perspectives

Key Terms and Concepts: Crime & Deviance & Sociological Perspectives (AQA GCSE Sociology): Revision Note

Raj Bonsor

Written by: Raj Bonsor

Reviewed by: Lucy Vinson

Updated on

Key terms and concepts: crime & deviance & sociological perspectives

  • In both Paper 1 and 2, you will be asked to define selected key terms as used by sociologists

  • You will also need to make use of appropriate specialist language in your answers to the exam questions

  • Apart from the terms listed here, you will not be expected to be familiar with any other key terms related to the crime and deviance topic

  • Knowing these key terms and concepts will:

    • make it easier for you to understand the subject content across the entire GCSE course

    • help you draw links across the topics so that you can answer the extended writing questions effectively

Crime and Deviance and Sociological Perspectives

agenda setting (media)

agent of social control

alienation

anomie

antisocial behaviour

chivalry thesis

community service

conformity

consensus

continuity

control theory (women)

corporate crime

crime

crime rate

criminal justice system

criminal subculture

dark figure of crime

delinquency

deviance

deviancy amplification

deviant career

discrimination

economy

established (state) church

ethnic diversity

ethnic group

ethnic minority

ethnicity

expectations

feminism

feminists

folk devils

functionalism

functionalists

functionally important roles

fundamentalism

gender

gender and criminality

gender deal

gender roles

identity

identity theft

image

indictable offence

injustice

institutional racism

interactionism

judiciary

labelling

law

legislation

legislative process

legislature

life chances

magistrate

male domination

Marxism

Marxist

mass media

master status

media amplification

media stereotype

miscarriage of justice

moral panic

national curriculum

news value

non-indictable offence

norms

official crime statistics

pluralism

police caution

popular press

poverty

prison system

privatisation

probation system

propaganda

quality press

racial discrimination

racism

recorded crime

reported crime

right of appeal

role conflict

roles

rural

sanctions

scapegoat

self-fulfilling prophecy

sex or gender discrimination

sex or gender equality

sexism

social change (of attitudes)

social class

social cohesion

social construct

social control

social convention

social exclusion

social order

social stigma

social stratification

socialisation

socially defined behaviour

society

status

status frustration

stereotype

subculture

surveillance

technological change

terrorism

theoretical perspective

trend

unwritten rules

urban

value consensus

values

victim survey

welfare scrounger or benefit cheat

white collar crime

world view

youth crime

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    Author
    Reviewer
    Raj Bonsor

    Author: Raj Bonsor

    Expertise: Psychology & Sociology Content Creator

    Raj joined Save My Exams in 2024 as a Senior Content Creator for Psychology & Sociology. Prior to this, she spent fifteen years in the classroom, teaching hundreds of GCSE and A Level students. She has experience as Subject Leader for Psychology and Sociology, and her favourite topics to teach are research methods (especially inferential statistics!) and attachment. She has also successfully taught a number of Level 3 subjects, including criminology, health & social care, and citizenship.

    Lucy Vinson

    Author: Lucy Vinson

    Expertise: Psychology Subject Lead

    Lucy has been a part of Save My Exams since 2024 and is responsible for all things Psychology & Social Science in her role as Subject Lead. Prior to this, Lucy taught for 5 years, including Computing (KS3), Geography (KS3 & GCSE) and Psychology A Level as a Subject Lead for 4 years. She loves teaching research methods and psychopathology. Outside of the classroom, she has provided pastoral support for hundreds of boarding students over a four year period as a boarding house tutor.