Evaluate sociological explanations of the relationship between social class and offending. Flashcards
(11 cards)
How do Marxists explain the link between social class and crime?
Crime is a result of capitalist exploitation, which creates inequality, poverty, and consumer greed, leading the working class to commit crime out of necessity or frustration.
What did Chambliss (1975) argue about crime and class?
Laws mainly protect the rich, focusing on property crimes while ignoring corporate crime.
Example: White-collar crimes like tax evasion and corporate fraud cause more harm than street crime but are rarely prosecuted.
What are the criticisms of the Marxist view on social class and crime?
Left Realists (Lea and Young, 1984) argue that Marxists ignore that working-class people are the main victims of crime.
Not all poor people commit crime, showing that other factors (e.g., socialisation) influence criminality.
How does Merton’s Strain Theory (1938) explain crime?
Crime occurs when people cannot achieve society’s goals (wealth, success) through legal means, leading them to adopt alternative routes, such as crime (innovation).
How does Merton’s five adaptations to strain explain class-based crime?
Innovation: Working-class individuals turn to crime (e.g., theft, fraud) to achieve material success.
Retreatism: Some turn to drug use and alcoholism due to blocked opportunities.
Example: Drug dealers and fraudsters engage in crime because they lack legitimate opportunities to earn wealth.
Why is Strain Theory useful in explaining working-class crime?
Explains why working-class crime is often economic (theft, fraud, burglary), as offenders seek financial success.
Highlights how capitalist values create pressure to succeed, pushing people into crime.
What are the limitations of Strain Theory?
Doesn’t explain violent crimes (e.g., vandalism, gang fights), which do not provide financial gain.
Ignores corporate crime – rich people also commit fraud and tax evasion but have different motivations.
How does Labelling Theory explain the relationship between social class and crime?
Crime statistics do not reflect actual offending but rather bias in law enforcement, where the working class is more likely to be labelled as criminal.
What did Cicourel (1976) find about class and police bias?
Police officers use typifications (stereotypes) that lead them to target working-class boys more than middle-class youths.
Middle-class offenders are more likely to be let off with a warning, while working-class offenders face harsher punishment.
Example: Stop-and-search disproportionately targets working-class and ethnic minority males, reinforcing criminal stereotypes.
How does labelling affect future criminal behaviour?
Labelling leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy: Once labelled a criminal, individuals struggle to reintegrate into society, leading them to commit more crime.
Deviant careers: Being labelled as a criminal makes it harder to find a job, leading to further offending.
What are the criticisms of Labelling Theory?
Fails to explain why people commit crime initially – only focuses on the reaction to crime.
Realist criminologists argue that working-class crime is real, not just a label, and negatively affects disadvantaged communities.
