Left realism Flashcards
overview
Left realism developed as a response to two main factors. The need to take the rising crime rate seriously and produce practical solutions. 2. the influence of right realism on government policy. Like Marxists, they see society as an unequal capitalist one. However, they are reformist rather than revolutionary, they believe in gradual social change rather than a violent revolution to shake up the capitalist system as such they believe the explanations of crime should be properly developed so that it will lead to practical strategies for reducing crime. They think of official stats to be true as it explains why the disadvantaged commit more crime.
key sociologists
Lea and Young
Pryce
causes of crime
Relative Deprivation
Marginalization
SUbculture
The rising anti-social behaviour rate
relative deprivation
This refers to how deprived someone feels in relation to or compared to others or their own expectations. For Lea and Young, crime has its roots in deprivation. They identified a paradox that today’s society is more prosperous and crime-ridden, although people are better off, they are now more relatively deprived due to the media. The media raises everyone’s expectations for material possessions. This can lead to crime as people resent others for unfairly having more than them and resort to crime to obtain what they feel entitled to. Media-saturated modern society has made the poor develop access to materialistic images at the same time despite the ideology of meritocracy the poor are systematically excluded from opportunities to gain wealth broadcasted. This leads to crime as society’s shared goals are broadcasted by the media but deny’s opportunities to achieve them legitimately
marginalisation
Marginalized groups lack both clear goals and organizations to represent their interests, unemployed youths are marginalized according to Lea and Young, they find themselves politically and economically on the edge of mainstream society and face social exclusion due to being unemployed, all they have is a sense of resentment and frustration. They are powerless and unable to use political means to improve their position so they express their frustration through criminal means like violence and rioting. For example, the house of commons summary found that 78% of the rioters involved in the 2011 manchester riots were claiming unemployment benefits
subculture
The left realist view of criminal subcultures is similar to that of subcultural functionalists. For Left Realists, a subculture is a group’s collective solution to their problems of relative deprivation. Some WC groups according to Pryce may turn to subcultures to close the deprivation gap, those SC may also be a breeding ground for and act as a motivation for crime and because they subscribe to the mainstream goals of society, this may lead to crime. For left realists, criminal subcultures still subscribe to the values and goals of mainstream society, young argues that there are neighborhoods in the USA where there is full immersion in the American Dream. However, opportunities to achieve these goals legitimately are blocked so they resort to street crime
rising anti-social behaviour rate
Crime surveys show a high level of public concern about ASBOs. Young sees this as a result of ‘defining deviance up’. Since the 1990s governments have aimed to control ASBorders. These measures include - Blurring the boundaries of crime - so incivilities become crimes. Breaching ASBO is itself a crime, thus manufacturing more crime
- Subjective Definition - ASB has no objective meaning it is in the eye of the beholder
- Flexibility - ASBOs have been used against people wearing hoodies, making noise etc. The subjective definition means that the net can be constantly widened to generate more crime
Thus, while the crime rate has fallen since the 1990s, the government has created a new wave to replace it
evals
Henry and Milovanovic (1996) argue that it accepts the authorities’ definition of crime as being street crime committed by the poor, instead of defining the problem as being one of how powerful groups do harm to the poor. Marxists argue that it fails to explain corporate crime, which is much more harmful.
• Interactionists argue that, because left realists rely on quantitative data from victim surveys, they cannot explain offenders’ motives.
• Their use of subcultural theory means left realists assume that value consensus exists and that crime only occurs when this breaks down.
• Relative deprivation cannot fully explain crime because not all those who experience it commit crime. The theory over-predicts the amount of crime.
• Its focus on high-crime inner-city areas gives an unrepresentative view and makes crime appear a greater problem than it is.
Solutions
Military Policing
Tackling the structural causes
Government policy
Sociologist behind solutions
Kinsey, Lea and Young
Policing and Control
Kinsey, Lea and Young argue that police clear up rates are too lot to act as a deterrent to crime and that police spend too little time actually investigating crime. They argue that the public must become more involved in determining the police priorities and style of policing
Military policing
The police depend on the public to provide them with information about crimes (90% of crimes known to the police are reported to them by the public). However, the police are losing public support, especially in the inner cities and among minority ethnic groups and the young. As a result, the flow of information dries up and police come to rely instead on military policing, using random stop and search tactics. This alienates communities and results in a vicious circle: locals no longer trust the police and don’t report crime, so the police resort to military policing, and so on.
Left realists argue that policing must be made accountable to local communities and deal with local concerns. Routine beat patrols are ineffective and stop and search tactics cause conflict. Police need to improve their relationship with local communities by spending more time investigating crime, changing their priorities (they over-police minor drug crime, but under-police racist attacks and domestic violence) and involving the public in making policing policy.
Left realists also argue that crime control cannot be left to the police alone - a multi-agency approach is needed. This would involve agencies such as local councils’ social services, housing departments, schools and leisure services, as well as voluntary organisations and victim support, and the public.
Tackling the structural causes
However, left realists do not see improved policing and control as the main solution. In their view, the causes of crime lie in the unequal structure of society and maior structural changes are needed if we want to reduce crime.
We must deal with inequality of opportunity and the unfairness of rewards, tackle discrimination, provide decent jobs for everyone, and improve housing and community facilities. We must also become more tolerant of diversity and cease stereotyping whole groups as criminal.
Government policy
their views have strong similarities with the 1997-2010 New Labour government’s stance of being ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. For example, New Labour’s firmer approach to policing hate crimes, sexual assaults and domestic violence, along with anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), echoed left realist concerns to protect vulnerable groups from crime and low-level disorder. Similarly, New Labour’s New Deal for unemployed youth and their anti-truanting policies attempted to reverse the exclusion of young people at risk of offending.
Eval of government policy
However, ASBOs did not recreate a sense of community. Young also criticises the record of governments, including New Labour. He argues that they have largely just addressed the symptoms, such as anti-social behaviour - they have been tougher on crime than on its underlying causes, such as the insecurity, inequality and discrimination that produce relative deprivation and exclusion.
