Social class and crime Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is the functionalist view of why the w/c may appear to commit more crimes?
Those who break the law have not been adequately socialised into the value consensus.
They suggest that due to different social classes they may have developed their own norms and values.
What does Functionalist Miller state?
The lower class subcultures norms and values clash with the mainstream culture, which is why they have a higher crime rate.
Their norms and values are based on behaviours such as toughness which conflicts with the law. So don’t see their actions as wrong.
What is the Strain Theories view on the explanation of why the w/c may appear to commit moe crimes?
The w/c can’t achieve success through legitimate means and goals so turn to crime.
E.g. Merton’s innovation theory.
Explains why w/c have higher crime rate of utilitarian crime than m/c, due to OS.
What is the Subcultural Theories view on the explanation of why the w/c may appear to commit more crimes?
W/c commit more crimes due to being unable to achieve secession legitimately, due to cultural deprivation and lack of socialisation into the m/c mainstream culture.
Cohen: leads to members to invert mainstream values so turn to non-utilitarian crimes to gain status from their peers.
What is the labelling theories view on why the w/c may appear to commit more crimes?
Reject OS.
They focus on how and why the w/c are labelled as criminal.
Such as issues like stereotyping of law enforcement and the power of these agencies over the ‘powerless’.
What does Sutherland say about ‘crimes of the powerful’?
Identifies the term ‘White collar crime’ and ‘Corporate crime’.
White collar crime: crime committed by employees simply for personal gain. E.g. Fraud, cyber crime and money laundering.
Corporate crime: crime committed by companies against employees/ the public. E.g. Post office scandal and environmental crime (shell). Bernie Ecclestone.
Crime is not w/c phenomenon.
What do Ditton and Mars state about occupational crime?
Found that many employers thought it was a ‘perk’ of the job and legitimately steal from her workplace.
E.g. Accountants committing forgery and dentists claiming payments from the NHS for treatments not carried out.
The most famous case being from the GP Harold Shipman.
How well is occupational crime represented in official statistics?
Not represented in OS because these crimes are abuse of power, which others don’t want to be made public.
28% of all business premises had been victim of any crime.
What do Slapper and Tombs say are the six main types of corporate crime?
- Paperwork ad Non-compliance.
- Labour law violation.
- Unfair trade practices.
- Financial Offences.
- Manufacturing Offences.
- Environmental ‘green’ crime.
Why do some corporate crimes fall into the dark figure of crime?
The media limits the coverage of corporate crime compared to street crime, reinforcing the stereotype that crime is committed by w/c.
What does Box state about corporate crime?
Corporations as criminogenic as legitimate opportunities for profit are blocked so thy have to resort to illegal techniques.
E.g. Nestle and Shell.
What does Nelken state about corporate crime?
M/c are able to negotiate their label, businesses are both able to de-label so they can avoid negative labels.
E..g from the media.
What does Box state about corporate crime, regarding a Marxist and status frustration view?
Mystification.
What does Sutherland state with the ideology of differential association?
Crime is behaviour learned from others in social context.
He argues the less we associate with people who hold those attitudes favourable with the law, the more we associate with people with criminal attitudes.
E.g. When an individual works at a company where people carry out illegal activities, they are more likely to do so.
