Why do Men Commit Crime?

Question 1

Describe how masculinity can explain men’s higher rate of offending

Answer 1

• Messerschmidt argues that masculinity is a social construct and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others.
• Men commit crime to appear more masculine, e.g. responding to a perceived with violence is a way for men to show toughness.

Question 2

What is hegemonic and subordinate masculinities?

Answer 2

• Messerschidmt argues different masculinities co-exist within society, but hegemonic masculinity is the dominant from that most men wish too accomplish
• Some men have subordinate masculinities which includes gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as WC and some minority ethnic group men who lack the resources to do so.

Question 3

Describe how class and ethnic differences among youths lead to different forms of rule breaking to show masculinity

Answer 3

• White MC youths have to subordinate themselves to teachers to achieve MC status, leading to an accommodating masculinity in school. Outside of school, their masculinity takes an oppositional form, e.g. drinking.
• White WC youths have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school. It made around sexist attitudes and being tough
• Black lower WC youths may have few expectations of a reasonable job due to racisms and may use gang violence to express their masculinity

Question 4

Give criticisms of Messerschmidt

Answer 4

• Masculinity isn’t an explanation of crime, it’s just a description of male offenders (e.g. tough)
• He over-works the concept of masculinity to explain all male crime, from hacking to murder

Question 5

Describe how globalisation has affected job opportunities

Answer 5

• Globalisation shifted modern industrial society to a postmodern de-industrial society. This led to the loss of many traditional manual labour jobs, which threatened the masculine identity of WC men, who used hard physical labour to show their masculinity
• However at the same time, there has been an expansion in the service sector (clubs, pubs and bars) which, for WC men, has provided a combination of legal employment, lucrative criminal opportunities and a means of expressing their masculinity

Question 6

Describe Winlow’s study of bouncers in Sunderland

Answer 6

• Sunderland is an area of de-industrialisation and unemployment. Working as bounces in the pubs and clubs have men paid work and the opportunity for illegal business (drugs etc), and a way to show they masculinity through violence
• Winlow argues that society shifted from having a conflict based subculture during modernity, to a criminal subculture group under postmodernity (drawing from Cloward and Ohlin)

Question 7

Describe what is meant by bodily capital

Answer 7

• In postmodernity, violence is just not a way to display masculinity but a commodity with which to earn a living. To maintain their reputation and employability, men must use their bodily capital (their body as a symbol of their masculinity).
• Winlow notes that bodily capital is just a matter of using violence to win fights but a vital sign to discourage competitors from challenging them. This reflects the idea that in postmodernity, signs taken on a reality of their own, independent of the thing they supposedly represent

Question 8

How is Winlow’s study important?

Answer 8

• It shows how the expression of masculinity changes with the move from a modern industrial society to a postmodern de-industrialised one.
• At the same time this change opens up new criminal opportunities for men who are able to use violence to express masculinity by creating the conditions for the growth of an organised criminal subculture