✅Is Crime A Working Class Activity

Question 1

Introduction -yes it is a working class activity

Answer 1

New right Wilson -crime is caused by the breakdown of informal social control in working class areas 
Statistic -90% prison population is working class 
Rosenbaum -problem communities consist of people living in poverty

Question 2

Introduction -no crime isn’t a working class activity

Answer 2

Marxist Chambliss -WC targeted by police and courts as seen in his roughnecks and saints study

Critic NR for ignoring the real crime, white collar crime

Statistic- tax evasion last year cost uk £1.7 billion (HMRC)

Question 3

Sociologists to be discussed for new right realism

Answer 3

1. Wilson
2. Friedman
3. Farrington and West
4. Van den Hagg
5. Etzoni

Question 4

What does Wilson argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 4

1) crime flourished when informal social control breaks down (in WC areas)
2) need re moralisation of the WC to reduce crime
3) Wilson and Heirnstein argue that some people have a predisposition towards crime and this combined with a lack of socialisation (occurring in SPF in the underclass Dennis) perpetuates WC crime.

Question 5

What does Friedman argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 5

Blames welfare state for increase crime as working class no longer take individual responsibility for family :: more likely to risk criminal activity as they will be supported regardless

Question 6

What does Farrington and west argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 6

Longitudinal study of 411 boys born in 1953, found by age 25 1/3 of cohort had a criminal record, and that 5% of cohort was responsible for over 50% of crimes, establishing link between poorer members of cohort and crime.

Question 7

What does Van den Hagg argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 7

In capitalist societies it’s inevitable that poor ‘losers’ will attempt to cheat the system and turn to crime, and hense the majority of crime are committed by WC

Question 8

What does Etzoni argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 8

Decisions in society have been pushed away from the working class (90% of judges are white middle class) and therefore people feel it’s the polices responsibility to minimise crime not theirs (communitisation) increasingly the likelihood of WC crime.

Question 9

What are the Marxists who discuss whether crime is a working class activity

Answer 9

1. Quinney (1977)
2. Neocleous (2000)
3. Box
4. Bonger
5. Tombs and Whyte

Question 10

What does Quinney argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 10

States that the law is used to oppress the working class, largely ignoring white collar crime which exists

Question 11

What does Neocleous argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 11

Police have been used as a tool of capitalism since they were first established

Question 12

What does Box argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 12

It’s difficult for poorer groups to get political representation in today’s social structure :: laws rather the working class unfairly e.g about protecting property

Question 13

What does Bonger argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 13

Poor people are driven to crime by their desperate conditions

Question 14

What does Tombs and Whyte argue about crime being a working class activity?

Answer 14

Corporate crimes are rarely considered newsworthy, moral panics scapegoat etc etc

Question 15

New left sociologists paragraphs

Answer 15

1) Young and Lea (1984)
2) Jock young
3) Blair (1995)
4) perry pre school project

Question 16

What did young and Lea (1984) argue about whether crime is a working class activity

Answer 16

Three main reasons for crime
1) relative deprivation (deprived compared to others, bulimic soviety (jock young) where Were constantly hungry for more material goods. Rich kids of insta

2) subculture (subcultures develop due to marginalisation -link to strain later on)
3) marginalisation (political marginalisation where where nobody to represent interests)

Question 17

What is the positive evaluation with young and lea?

Answer 17

Gilroy ‘ain’t no black in the Union Jack’ :: ethic minorities (poorest in population in terms of Bangladeshis and Pakistanis driven to commit more crime)

Hirschi social bonds positive evaluation also

Question 18

What does Blaire (1995) argue about whether crime is a WC activity?

Answer 18

We should be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime and :: employ more programmes e.g operation headstart and compensatory education to decrease WC crime and abandon police tactics such as stop and search unfairly targeting WC

Question 19

Describe what the perry pre school project found out about whether crime is a working class activity

Answer 19

Two groups of children aged 4 from disadvantaged backgrounds were chosen, one group with education support and frequent visits from social workers and the other nothing. By the age of 27 the group with the interventions had half the number of arrests as the group without

Question 20

What are the new left realist points to consider?

Answer 20

1. Taylor, Walton and Young
2. Why they commit crimes
3. Environmental theory
4. Stuart Hall ‘policing crisis’

Question 21

What does Taylor, Walton and young argue about whether crime is a WC activity?

Answer 21

Published the ‘new criminology’ which explains that capitalism, competition and greed are all causes for crime, not exclusive to blue collar but large influences on white collar crime.

• they believe blue collar theft is necessary for property redistribution as a Robin Hood motive
• Socialism would cut crime

Question 22

What negatively evaluated Taylor Walton and Young

Answer 22

Environmental theory, states that people steal from zones of proximity and :: WC steal from WC areas affecting those also in poverty not the rich

Question 23

What did Stuart Hall argue about whether crime is a WC activity?

Answer 23

That ‘policing crisis’ are used to distract from political problems (e.g economic crisis or social inequality). 
In 1973 reportings of muggings led to an 129% increase in the crimes over a 4 year period. This was due to moral panic, but also governments unfairly promoting WC crime to demonise young black working class males

Question 24

What are the subculturalists you should discuss?

Answer 24

Merton
Cohen
Miller

Question 25

What does Merton (1950s) argue about whether crime is a WC activity?

Answer 25

When people were denied the opportunity to achieve success the traditional way, they turned to crime. This was seen in the 1920s where those who became deprived/unemployed in the Wall Street crash turned to gang activities e.g alcohol production under prohibition to influx profits

Question 26

What does Sumner say to positively evaluate merton?

Answer 26

Merton has uncovered the main cause of crime in modern societies (strain causes by disillusion under the impossible goals of capitalism)

Question 27

What does Cohen argue about whether crime is a working class activity?

Answer 27

Boys who could not achieve society’s goals became status frustrated leading to the development of subcultures of which delinquency is a part. This increases the proportion of working class Male crime.

Question 28

What does miller argue about whether crime is a working class activity?

Answer 28

Suggested deviancy is linked to the culture of working class males as they have different focal concerns to overconform to toughness and hence commit proportionally more crime than those without strain as successful middle class males show their status in work.

Question 29

What does David Matza day to negatively evaluate subculturalism?

Answer 29

Subculturalist theory is over deterministic, just because a working class boy is in a subculture, doesn’t explain why he commits crime, why he stops committing crime or why some wc boys don’t join subcultures

Question 30

What do you end with?

Answer 30

End with the link between gender and crime and why some could say it’s more prevalent

Question 31

What do you put in your conclusion?

Answer 31

Include the fact that crime is omnipresent, can be committed by people from all walks of life etc etc