Crime And Class Flashcards
Robert Merton - strain theory (functionalism)
Crime has increased when there was a strain between society’s success goals and the available opportunities to achieve those goals through legitimate means - this imbalance between goals and the ability to achieve them ‘anomie’
Crime is higher among the working classes because they had fewer opportunities to achieve material success through legitimate means and were thus more likely to adopt innovative cultural responses in order to achieve material success through criminal means
Crime is a response to achieve material wealth - the American dream encouraged individuals to pursue a goal of success and the pressure to achieve this dream even if it’s through illegitimate means
Albert Cohen : status frustration and working class subcultures ( functionalism )
Working class boys strove to emulate middle class values and aspirations but lacked the means to achieve success. This led to status frustration They resolved their frustration by rejecting socially acceptable values and patterns of acceptable behaviour and because there were several boys going through the same experiences, they end up banding together and forming delinquent subcultures… This delinquent subculture reversed the norms and values of mainstream culture, offering positive rewards to those who were the most deviant : status was gained by being malicious, intimidating others, breaking school rules or the law
Cicourel :labelling theory
The meanings held by police officers and juvenile officers that explained why most delinquents come from working class backgrounds First stage= decision by the police to stop and search an individual is based on the meanings of unusual Second stage = young person is handed to a juvenile delinquent officer … When M/C delinquents are arrested they are less likely to be charged with the offence as they don’t fit the typical delinquent and their parents are more likely to present themselves as respectable and reasonable .
Marxist : David Gordon
Capitalist societies are ‘ dog eat dog societies’ in which each individual company and each individual is encouraged to look out for their own interests before the interests of others - we learn that it’s acceptable to harm others
Marxist : Zygmunt Bauman
The super wealthy effectively segregate themselves from the wealthy, through living in exclusive gated communities where they send children to private schools
The visible evidence of massive inequalities give people at the bottom a sense of injustice and frustration
Marxist : William chambliss
Economic crime represents rational responses to the competitiveness and inequality of life in capitalist societies
Laureen Snider
The cost of white collar crime and corporate crime to the economy far outweighs the cost of street crime by typical criminals
Right realism: Charles Murray
Attributes the growth of crime because of a growing underclass who are defined by their deviant behaviour and fail to socialise third children properly. The children of the underclass fail to learn self control and also fail to learn the difference between right and wrong Increasingly generous welfare benefits since the 1960s have led to increasing numbers of people to become dependent on the state. This has led to the Decline of marriage and the growth of lone parent families because women can now live off benefits According to Murray lone mothers are ineffective agents of socialisation and the absent fathers mean that boys lack paternal discipline and appropriate male role models and so they turn to other delinquent role models on the street to gain status.
Lea and Young
Crime has its roots in deprivation, but it’s not directly responsible for crime
Runciman
Relative deprivation helps to explain the apparent paradox of increasing crime in the context of an increasing wealthy society. Although people are better off today, they have a greater feeling of relative deprivation because of the media and advertising
Marginalisation
Marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests. Groups such as workers have clear goals and organisations to represent them.
By contrast, unemployed youth are marginalised which results in feelings of resentment and frustration- having no access to legitimate political means to pursue their goals, frustration can become expressed through violence
Interactionist : labelling theory
Becker (1963)- the working class is unfairly targeted by the CJS. They are also less likely to negotiate their way out of justice. The police discriminate against them by patrolling working class areas more intensively, resulting in more working class crime in the crime statistics.
Neo Marxism ( the new criminology . Taylor, Walton and young
The working class deliberately choose to commit crime as a political response to their perceived exploitation. Street crime is therefore a political act aimed at redistributing wealth from rich to poor
