Social Evaluation - Gender Socialisation Flashcards
Evaluate the chivalry hypthesis…
Suggestes that woem wommit more crime than official statistics suggest, as police, magistrates and judges all tend to be men; act in a more chivalrous manner towards women
Otto Pollak (1950) stated that men in the criminal justice system tended to have a protective attitude towards women, meaning they were less likely to be arrested, charged, prosecuted or convicted
Suggests it is not only the gender of the person demonstrating the behaviour, but also the ‘gender’ of the criminal justice system
Evaluate how men are less likely to be punished…
Criminal justice system is biased against females
Pat Carlen (1997) said that when a women is perceived as a ‘good’ mother she is less likely to be prosecuted than a women with children in care, and that it’s the assessment of the woman’s character that determines the sentence, not the sverity of the offence
Males are let off comparatively lightly as they’re only overstepping expectations set for their gender, challenging the chivalry hypothesis, suggesting that the difference between men and women in terms of criminality is greater than imprison rates suggest
Evaluate hormones in males…
Gender difference can be explained in terms of biology through the production and levels of certain hormones, where testosterone is shown to be secreted by men at a much higher level, and is linked to aggressive behaviour
James Dabbs et al (1987) found that 9 out of 11 inmates with the lowest testosterone levels committed non-violent crimes, while 10 out of 11 inmates with the highest testosterone levels committed violent crimes
Suggests testosterone is related to increases aggression and that differences in socialisation and that social control may not be the only differences responsible for the criminal behaviour
Evaluate hormones in females…
Females may be less likely to demonstrate criminality due to having higher levels of female hormones, where oestradiol is shown in much higher levels in females, and is thought to promote empathy, which is lacking criminals
Peter Eriksson et al (2003) comopared hormone levels of males with histories of alcohol related aggression with a group of 44 men with no such history, where alcohol related aggression showed a negative correlation between oestradiol levels and testosterone aggression
Suggests male and female hormones play a role in atleast some criminal behaviour
