Left realism Flashcards
(16 cards)
Left realist sociologists
Young, Lea and Matthews
What do left realists believe the victims of crime are more likely to be?
Poor and disadvantaged
Increase or decrease in working class crime?
Increase
Three key factors that explain why crime exists:
Relative deprivation (Runciman)
Subculture (Cohen)
Marginalisation
What is meant by relative deprivation?
The poor feel deprived compared with others in society and so turn on to utilitarian crime to overcome status frustration, explaining how a more prosperous society can become crime ridden
What is meant by subcultures?
Subcultures develop when members cannot achieve mainstream goals and have legitimate opportunities. Poor joins gangs to close the deprivation gap and adopt own norms and values that offer money and status
What do left realists believe we are living in a period of?
Instability, insecurity and exclusion that makes the problem of crime worse
Gap between the ____ and the _____ has grown
Rich , poor
According to Young, what has increased the sense of relative deprivation?
Greater inequality between rich and poor, the spread of free market values encouraging individualism
A source of relative deprivation
Media saturation of late modern society promoting cultural inclusion, even the poor have access to the medias materialistic consumerist cultural messages
2 sources of relative deprivation
Cultural inclusion and economic exclusion
Relative deprivation in late modernity
Become generalised throughout society rather than being confined to those at the bottom
Relative deprivation downwards
Where the middle class resent the stereotypical underclass as lazy, irresponsibile, and living off undeseved state handouts
Solutions to crime: policing and control
Kinsey, Lea & Young argues the police are losing public support and rely on military policing that involve random stop and search tactics
Police need to improve relationships with local communities
The general public must become more involved in supporting the police through neighbourhood watch schemes, pcsos..
Solutions to crime: tackling the structural causes
Reducing levels of poverty, inequality and exclusion in society
Includes addressing discrimination and unemployment whilst improving housing and community facilities
Solutions to crime: influencing government policy
Left realism has had a big impact on the new labour government through a firm approach to policing hate crimes, sexual assaults and anti social behaviour
