C&D- CLASS & CRIME

Question 1

Why do police expectations of hooliganism and delinquency not fit with upper-class examples?

Answer 1

Police expectations of hooliganism and delinquency are often associated with working-class individuals, which doesn’t align with upper-class behavior.

Question 1

Why are middle-class individuals treated differently by the police?

Answer 1

Middle-class individuals are not typically labeled as ‘troublemakers,’ and police tend to deal with them differently based on how they are dressed, their body language, etc.

Question 2

What does selective enforcement of the law mean?

Answer 2

It refers to the different treatment that middle and upper-class delinquents receive from the police, as they are less likely to be charged or arrested.

Question 3

How do middle and upper-class individuals manipulate the criminal justice system?

Answer 3

They use their cultural capital to deal with the police in a conciliatory manner, such as apologizing or offering to pay for damages, making justice more negotiable.

Question 4

Why are crimes committed in the course of a person’s occupation hard to detect?

Answer 4

These crimes are often hidden, such as when patients die due to illness, making them difficult to identify as criminal acts.

Question 5

Why don’t employers prosecute their employees for fraud?

Answer 5

Employers avoid prosecuting employees for fraud to prevent negative publicity or loss of public confidence.

Question 6

Explanations for Working-Class Crime
How does Merton’s Functionalist strain theory explain working-class crime?

Answer 6

Merton argues that the working class faces barriers in achieving success through legitimate means, leading them to turn to crime to achieve societal goals.

Question 7

How does Cohen’s Functionalist subcultural theory explain working-class crime?

Answer 7

Cohen suggests that working-class individuals suffer from status frustration, which leads them to join subcultures that may engage in criminal behavior.

Question 8

How do Cloward & Ohlin explain working-class subcultures and crime?

Answer 8

Cloward & Ohlin argue that subcultures form in working-class neighborhoods where legitimate opportunities are scarce, which leads to criminal behavior as a means of success

Question 9

What is Murray’s explanation of crime in the underclass?

Answer 9

Murray argues that the underclass is unable to socialize their children properly, leading to delinquency and criminal behavior.

Question 10

How does traditional Marxism explain working-class crime?

Answer 10

Marxists argue that the working class breaks the law due to exploitation and frustration, committing both utilitarian and non-utilitarian crimes.

Question 11

What is the New Criminology view on working-class crime?

Answer 11

Taylor, Walton, and Young argue that the working class chooses to break the law as a pro-revolutionary action against the ruling class.

Question 12

How do Lea and Young explain working-class crime in Left Realism?

Answer 12

Lea and Young argue that relative deprivation and marginalization push working-class individuals to join subcultures, leading to criminal behavior.

Question 13

How does Interactionism explain working-class crime?

Answer 13

Interactionism suggests that the working class is more likely to be labeled as criminal due to police stereotyping, leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy and secondary deviance.

Question 14

Why aren’t middle-class crimes typically labeled as criminal?

Answer 14

Middle-class individuals are less likely to be labeled as criminal, so the self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) of criminality does not occur for them.

Question 15

Explanations for Middle-Class Crime
How does Traditional Marxism explain middle-class crime?

Answer 15

Marxists argue that competition for profit in capitalism leads the ruling class to use corporate crime (CC) to maximize profits.

Question 16

How does Box combine Marxism and Merton’s strain theory to explain corporate crime?

Answer 16

Box suggests that corporations may resort to criminal acts when their legitimate opportunities for profit are blocked, innovating to achieve profit goals illegally.

Question 17

What does Clinard and Yeager’s study show about corporate crime?

Answer 17

Clinard and Yeager’s study shows that when profits fall, law violations by large companies increase, showing a willingness to innovate to achieve profit goals.

Question 18

What are some criticisms of Marxism and Box’s theories on business crime?

Answer 18

Nelken argues that the need to maintain goodwill with other companies prevents corporations from committing crimes, and Marxists over-predict crime in capitalist states.

Question 19

How does Left Realism explain middle-class crime?

Answer 19

Young suggests that relative deprivation is spreading to the middle class in late modernity, leading to crime, such as hate crimes.

Question 20

How does Differential Association (Sutherland) explain middle-class crime?

Answer 20

Sutherland argues that crime is learned through social interactions, particularly in workplaces where individuals may be socialized into criminal behavior.

Question 21

How do Sykes and Matza explain deviant behavior in middle-class crime?

Answer 21

Sykes and Matza argue that individuals justify their deviance through techniques of neutralization, such as saying they were just following orders or victim blaming.

Question 22

What is de-labelling in relation to white-collar crime (WCC)?

Answer 22

De-labelling refers to the process where middle-class crimes are not treated as criminal offenses, allowing perpetrators to avoid prosecution and maintain their reputations.

Question 23

White-Collar Crime (WCC) and Corporate Crime (CC)- What does Sutherland say about white-collar crime?

Answer 23

Sutherland defines white-collar crime as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation.

Question 24

What is the scale and impact of corporate crime?

Answer 24

Corporate crime has a huge impact, causing physical harm (e.g., deaths, injuries), environmental harm (e.g., pollution), and economic harm (e.g., consumer loss, taxpayer burden).

Question 25

What types of corporate crimes are there?

Answer 25

Types of corporate crime include financial fraud (e.g., tax evasion, bribery), crimes against consumers (e.g., unsafe products), crimes against employees (e.g., discrimination, health and safety violations), and crimes against the environment (e.g., pollution).

Question 26

What is state corporate crime?

Answer 26

State corporate crime occurs when the government collaborates with businesses to pursue its goals, often leading to abuses of trust and public harm.

Question 27

Why is corporate crime often invisible in official crime statistics?

Answer 27

Corporate crime is under-represented because it receives limited media coverage, lacks political will to address it, is complex to investigate, and is often de-labelled as a civil offense rather than a criminal one.

Question 28

What is the penalty for white-collar crime compared to street crime?

Answer 28

White-collar criminals receive lighter sentences, averaging less than 36 months in prison, while first-time non-violent drug offenders receive 64 months on average.

Question 29

What is the financial cost of fraudulent unemployment benefit claims compared to healthcare fraud?

Answer 29

Fraudulent unemployment benefit claims in the UK amount to £3 billion, while fraud within the NHS by employees amounts to £6 billion.

Question 30

How does corporate crime relate to the 2008 economic crisis?

Answer 30

Since the 2008 economic crisis, corporate crime has become more visible due to the activities of organizations like Occupy, UK Uncut, and the work of whistleblowers and journalists.

Question 31

What is the impact of corporate crime on consumers?

Answer 31

Crimes against consumers include making and selling unsafe products, such as the Ford Pinto in the 1970s (which caused between 500 and 700 deaths) and Thalidomide in the 1960s, which led to the birth of thousands of physically disabled babies due to fraudulent testing.

Question 32

What is the impact of corporate crime on employees?

Answer 32

Crimes against employees include sexual and racial discrimination, violation of wage laws, and breaches of health and safety laws, which can lead to work-related deaths. Tombs argues that 1,100 work-related deaths a year are due to employers breaking the law.

Question 33

What are crimes against the environment in corporate crime?

Answer 33

Crimes against the environment include illegal disposal of waste and pollution, which harms both the environment and the public.

Question 34

How does Tombs describe corporate crime’s impact on society?

Answer 34

Tombs argues that corporate crime has widespread and routine harm, doing far more damage than street crimes in terms of physical, environmental, and economic consequence