7. Feminism and Postmodernism theories of C&D Flashcards
Feminists: Malestream sociology & invisibility of women in early sociology
-Sociology is male dominated
-Gender issues and female offending ignored previously
-Little attempt to explain female offending
-Female victimisation ignored
What studies of crime are paid little attention to?
Studies of W/C crime are paid little attention to the fact W/C women in the same social position as men commit far less crime
What reasons does Heidensohn suggest are reasons for invisibility of females?
-Researchers are predominately men
-Lower levels of female crime and the often invisible nature of the offenses committed by women.
-Male stream sociologists preoccupied by male WC deviance
What is female criminology?
Focus on female offending, women’s treatment by the justice system, victimisation and the gender gap in offending
What are female offenders seen as?
‘Double deviants’ they break the law but also breach traditional gender roles too. So offenses are more stigmatised.
What might conceptions of femininity and gender roles lead to?
Might lead women to be less deviant than men, but also why men are more deviant than women, male crime and violence can be a means of ‘accomplishing masculinity’
What are some contributions of feminist’s to study of C&D?
-New focus on female offending
-New focus on various types of victimisation suffered by women
-Challenge to misconception that women enjoy ‘chivalry’ from CJS
-Raised questions about control theory & labelling theories
What do Postmodernists argue?
-Crime socially constructed based on a narrow legal definition reflecting outdated laws which don’t reflect the diversity of postmodern society.
-Necessary to develop a transgressive approach which goes beyond defining crime as simply law breaking.
The Transgressive approach: Crime as a social harm
-Crime should be reconceptualised as people using power to show disrespect for causing harm to others.
-2 forms of harm
What is a hate crime?
Those which are perceived by the victim of any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a persons ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
What are the two forms of harm?
Harms of reduction - power is used to cause a victim to experience some immediate loss or injury
Harms of repression - power is used to restrict future human development.
What do Postmodernists say are causes of crime?
-Marginalization
-Relative deprivation
-Anomie & strain
-Inadequate socialization
-Subcultural values
-Weakened social bonds
Postmodernism: What are peoples identitys replaced by?
-Identity’s that integrate them into society replaced by uncertainty & choice
-Individuals increasingly focus on themselves which requires constraints over committing crime
-Individualism of identity means social causes of crime are undiscoverable, each crime becomes a one off event motivated by a number of causes
What is Katz’s ‘Edgework’?
-Individuals comitting crime for the excitement and thrills they get from risk-taking involved and from ‘living life on the edge’
-Crime may just be one more way in which people set about constructing their identity
Strengths of the postmodernists approach to C&D?
-Recognizes there are other dimensions to the causes of crime beyond structural theories.
-Offers other explanations for non-utilitarian crime with no material benefit.
-Provides a fuller picture of the pattern of crime than the traditional provided of the transgressive conception of crime as ‘harm’
