Crime And Deviance: Realist Theories Of Crime Flashcards
Left realism criticising other theories
They criticize Marxist + Neo-Marxist approaches for:
• romanticizing w/c criminals as ‘robin hood’ characters fighting against social inequality
• Blaming selective law enforcement / capitalism / labelling for the reasons why w/c commit crime
• Failing to take victimization seriously, and the fact that most victims were the poor and deprived
• Having no practical policies to reduce crime
LR argue particular groups are at risk of being a victim
It is not the rich who are the usual targets of muggers or thieves, but the poor, minority ethnic groups and inner-city residents
Lea and Young (1984)
• E.g. in some of the poorer areas of London, the chances of being mugged are 4x the average for the city as a whole
• In the USA, black men and women are more likely to be murdered than to die in a road accident
Key LR beliefs
They feel that structural inequality in society is largely to blame for crime occurring
For crime to be reduced, there needs to be greater social equality and a stronger sense of community
They believe we need to focus on the causes of crime
LR causes of crime
Lea and Young (1984) identify three causes of crime:
- Relative deprivation
- Marginalisation
- Subculture
LR causes of crime: relative deprivation
They identify how deprived someone feels in relation to others, or compared with their own expectations
This can lead to crime when people feel resentment that others unfairly have more than them and resort to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled to
Identified a paradox that today’s society is more prosperous and crime-ridden. Although people are better off, they are now more aware of relative deprivation due to the media, which raises everyone’s expectations for material possessions. Those who cannot afford them may resort to crime instead
Causes utilitarian and non utilitarian crime
LR causes of crime: subculture
Similar to the views of Merton, Cloward and Ohlin and Cohen
For Left Realists, a subculture is a group response to relative deprivation
AO2:
Pryce - 2 subcultures emerged amongst the African-Caribbean community as a result of poverty:
Delinquency and Rastafarian (more religious)
For left realists, criminal subcultures still subscribe to the values and goals of society such as materialism and consumerism
= but due to blocked opportunities they turn to crime to achieve these goals
LR causes of crime: Marginalisation
Marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests
Groups such as workers have clear goals and organisations put pressure on employers and politicians. As such, they have no need to resort to violence to achieve their goals.
Unemployed youths are marginalised. They have no organisation to represent them and no clear goals, just a sense of resentment and frustration.
Being powerless, they express their frustration through criminal means such as violence
LR: What does Young say has caused social exclusion and crime
Late modernity
Golden age (1950s-60s):
Stability - full employment
Security - comprehensive welfare state
Social inclusion - low divorce rates
(Leads to strong collective conscience and sense of community)
Society today:
Stability - increased unemployment
Security - weakened welfare state
Social inclusion - high divorce rates
(Dog eat dog, consumerist, individualism and weak collective conscience)
LR - cultural inclusion and economic exclusion
- Media-saturated society promotes cultural inclusion: even the poor have access to the media’s materialistic messages
- Similarly, there is a greater emphasis on personal consumption and immediate gratification and leads to higher expectations of life. Growing individualism
- At the same time, despite the ideology of meritocracy, the poor are systematically excluded from opportunities to gain the cultural things
Young’s contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion is similar to Merton’s idea of anomie- that society creates crime by setting cultural goals, while denying people the opportunity to achieve them by legitimate means.
LR: what society are we living in
Young: bulimic society
People want the latest products - culture of consumption
When they can’t afford to - they feel deprived
This results in a bulimic society - draws people in culturally and expels them economically though insecure employment
AO2:
Lewis et al - looters were living in a bulimic society during the 2011 riots - no choice but to loot to get the things they couldn’t afford
What is relative deprivation downwards
where the M/C (who ‘work hard’) resent the W/C who they see as irresponsible, and living off the state (political correctness)
Can lead to hate crimes / more crimes from the upper class
Less of a public consensus on right and wrong – boundary blurred
Evaluation of left realism
Strengths:
Draws on a range of theories, such as Marxism and the importance of social inequalities, Merton’s concept of strain and anomie, Cohen’s ideas of status frustration, subcultural theories, labelling and growing individualism and consumerism in a late modern society. It produces a fuller explanation for crime than the other theories
Has impacted social policies – especially Labour govts between 1997-2010
Weaknesses:
Interactionalists argue that, because left realists rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, they cannot explain offenders’ motives. Instead, we need qualitative methods to reveal their meanings.
Postmodernists: deterministic - relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not all those who experience it commit crime. The theory over-predicts the amount of crime.
Marxists argue that it fails to explain corporate crime, which is much more harmful even if less visible
Postmodernists: their use of subcultural theory means that left realists assume that value consensus exists and that crime only occurs when this breaks down
LR solutions to crime
Improve policing and control
Tackling structural causes
LR solutions to crime - policing and control
Kinsey, Lea and Young - police spend too little time investigating crime. The police depend on the public to provide them with information. However with the police losing support, the flow of information dries up and the police have to rely on military policing such as using random stop and searches. This alienate communities who see the police as victimising local youth
Left realists argue that policing must therefore be made more accountable to local communities. The police need to improve their relationship with local communities by spending time investigating crime and involving the public in policing policies.
Left realists also argue that crime control cannot be left to the police alone - a multi-agency approach is needed. This would involve agencies like local councils as well as voluntary organisations, as well as the public.
LR solutions to crime - tackling the structural causes
Causes of crime lie in the unequal structure of society and major structural changes are needed if they want to reduce levels of offending
We must become more tolerant of diversity and cease stereotyping whole groups of people as criminal
