AQA A-Level Crime and Deviance: KO

This A-Level Sociology Crime and Deviance Knowledge Organiser provides a comprehensive summary of the entire topic in one structured, exam-focused resource. Designed for AQA A-Level Sociology, it condenses key theories, studies and concepts into clear, accessible sections to support revision and retrieval practice.

What is included?
The organiser covers all major perspectives and contemporary debates, including:

• Functionalism
• Durkheim – social solidarity, anomie and functions of crime
• Merton – strain theory and the five adaptations
• Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, Miller – subcultural theories
• Interactionism and Labelling Theory
• Becker – deviance as a social construct
• Lemert – primary and secondary deviance
• Cicourel – negotiation of justice
• Deviance amplification and moral panics
• Braithwaite – reintegrative and disintegrative shaming
• Marxism and Neo-Marxism
• Criminogenic capitalism
• Law making and ruling class power
• White collar and corporate crime
• Hall et al – mugging and hegemony
• Crimes of the Powerful
• Corporate crime
• Occupational crime
• Box – factors enabling corporate crime
• Gender and Crime
• Chivalry thesis and critiques
• Heidensohn – patriarchal control
• Adler – liberation thesis
• Messerschmidt – masculinity and crime
• Ethnicity and Crime
• Institutional racism
• Macpherson and Scarman reports
• Gilroy – myth of black criminality
• Left realist perspectives
• Left and Right Realism
• Relative deprivation, marginalisation and subculture
• Broken windows theory
• Rational choice theory
• Routine activity theory
• Media and Crime
• News values and distortion
• Moral panics
• Cultural criminology
• Cybercrime
• Green Crime and State Crime
• Transgressive criminology
• Global risk society
• Zemiology
• Culture of denial
• Globalisation and Crime
• Transnational organised crime
• Global corporate crime
• Glocal crime
• Global risk and insecurity

Why this resource?
Clear summaries of complex sociological theories
Key sociologists linked directly to concepts
Includes definitions, examples and evaluation
Ideal for revision, retrieval practice and exam preparation
Suitable for Year 12 and Year 13 students
This knowledge organiser helps students strengthen AO1 knowledge, develop AO3 evaluation and make clear links between theory and contemporary examples in 10, 20 and 30 mark essays.