5.social class and crime (c&d) Flashcards
statistics on social class
-social class is an identity based on shares socio-economic status. this is approached differently by different sociological approaches
-crime stats show us that a large proportion of crime committed in the uk is by w/c
-particularly young w/c males of white and black ethnicities living in w/c neighbourhoods who commit most crime
w/c crime explained by theories
-hirschi’s control theory- w/c more likely to experience weak bonds
-morton’s strain theory- strain between goals & means of achieving them. w/c more likely to have ‘blocked legitimate opportunities’
criticisms
-they don’t give reasons as to why not all w/c people commit crime
-evidence to suggest members of other social classes committing crime, but they just go undetected or unrecorded, suggesting w/c stats are exaggerated
w/c crime explained by theories
-marxism- crimogenic society- w/c commit crime as a rational response to inequality, social deprivation & poverty. they are forced into it as a means to survive. selected law enforcement- only against w/c, meaning they show up more on crime stats
-labelling theory- w/c more likely to be labelled as a criminal and have the law selectively enforced against them. since they are targeted more, they appear more in crime stats
new right: underclass
-analysis of criminal underclass who are jobless & welfare dependent, led new right journalist Melanie Philips to blame labour party for 2011 london riots, arguing they had conducted ‘social experiment’ undermining family values & discouraging moral code based on christian teachings
-vast majority of rioters prosecuted had previous convictions, might only be because these were the rioters police could identify
sutherland (1983)
-first sought to show crime was not simply a w/c phenomenon, but was widespread through all sections of society.
-he introduced the ideas of white collar crime & corporate crime to describe the offences committed by the most affluent in society
white collar & corporate crime
-pearce (1976)- “crimes of the powerful”. white collar crime is committed by m/c individuals who abuse their work positions for personal gain
notable types of white collar crimes
-ponzi schemes- popularised by Charles Ponzi in the 1920s, they involved pocketing investing money rather than actually investing it
-embezzlement- using funds for a different purpose than intended
-insider trading- buying or selling stocks with info that isn’t available to the public
-money laundering- process of making large amounts of money generated by a criminal activity to appear to have come from a legitimate source
corporate crime
-offences by large companies or individuals acting on behalf of those companies which directly benefits the company- often involves inc profits or survival of organisation
examples of corporate crime
-paperwork & non compliance-permits or licenses not obtained
-environmental crime- damages to environment either deliberately or negligence
-manufacturing offences-incorrect labelling, misrepresentation of products
-labour law violations-neglect of health & safety regulations etc
-unfair trade practices-false advertising, price fixing etc
-financial offences-tax evasion, concealment of losses & debts
control theory
-individuals who carry out corporate crime driven by socialisation
-involves taking illegal shortcuts but not regarded as doing wrong
-nelken (2012- some are successful people who have material goods associated with success, but got into financial difficulties trying to maintain lifestyle
evaluation
-study of white collar crime & corporate crime contributes to understanding of social construction of crime stats, & relative over-representation of w/c crime
-fail to give reasons why not all individuals or corporations turn to crime to resolve their problems
-marxist explanations which see corporate crime as inevitable part of search for profits in competitive crimogenic societies, donest explain why in some countries where there was no pressure doe profitably there was still corporate crime
