Class and Statistics Flashcards
Is data directly gathered for crime and social class?
What relevant data is used instead?
What is the issue with this?
-NO.
-Instead police statistics record the postcodes where crimes occur.
-The social class of the prison population.
-The problem is it indicates the social class of people living near where the offence occurred rather than necessarily the social class of the offender.
What do statistics show regarding class and crime?
What do sociologists disagree about regarding these statistics?
-Working class individuals are significantly more likely to commit crimes than middle class individuals.
-Middle class people are more likely to commit fraud, embezzlement, tex evasion.
-Working class people more likely to commit personal crimes or theft.
-Sociologists disagree about whether these statistics reflect reality or instead are a social construct created by police priorities.
What theories can be used to explain working class crime?
-Strain theory, subcultural theories, Marxist and Neo-Marxist theories or the New Right.
What approach does Charles Murray take?
What does he argue is the problem with gov’t social policy?
What do gov’t policies create?
Whilst some blamed relative deprivation and poverty for the 2011 riots what did Melanie Phillips blame?
-A New Right approach.
-Charles Murray argues perverse incentives provided by the welfare state encourage people to remain on benefits.
-Murray argues the welfare state has created a welfare-dependent underclass who socialise the next generation with dysfunctional values.
-Melanie Phillips blamed welfare policies and the underclass.
Why do Marxists argue statistics are inaccurate?
What is the difference between white collar and blue collar crime?
What is white collar crime according to Sutherland? How does he typify this?
-Marxists argue that the rich get away with their crimes.
-White collar crime: crimes committed by middle class. Mostly attributed to crimes such as Fraud.
-Blue collar crime is working class crime.
-Sutherland argues white collar crime is commited by a person high status in the course of his occupation: occupational crime(for personal gain) or corporate crime(for the company).
Why is white collar crime less likely to be convicted?
What do Marxists argue is the real reason for this?
-Less likely to be convicted because:
Victims are diffused(may be thousands of victims of fraud rather than one.)
-Victims are remote(crime is committed from a distance, perhaps from a computer, rather than face to face).
-Gives illusion of being victimless. People are less likely to report. Less likelly to have witnesses.
-Marxists argue that these crimes go unprosectued because the bourgeoise protects itself, and the police are only there to control the working class.
What is corporate crime? Give examples?
Are convictions common?
How are these issues dealt?
What do Marxists blame these lack of convictions on?
-Crime committed by companies.
-These crimes can be fraud, tax evasion. Have been cases of corporate manslaughter.
-NO. Convictions are rare.
-Companies are held to account often outside of the CJS(e.g. re: tax evasion, companies and gov’ts reach agreements about sums of money).
-Marxists argue the lack of convictions is because the authorities are not interested: the law exists to protect the bourgeoisie and control the proletariat.
