Feminist Crime Flashcards
Society is _______ - it discourages _______ amongst women and _______ crimes by men _______ women.
This is social ________.
a) patriarchal
b) crime
c) generates
d) against
e) control
How are women often deemed invisible regarding crime and deviance research?
Gender issues, female offending & female victimisation have been ignored in the malestream sociological environment.
Heidensohn (1996) found that sociology is malestream and women are ‘invisible’.
How?
(3)
Researchers are mainly men.
Malestream middle-class sociologists hyperfocus on working-class ‘macho’ men.
There’s less female crime to study & its nature more trivial & less detectable.
How has feminist criminology grown?
Focuses on study of gender identity & expression, moving from structural explanations towards individuals at a micro level.
What did Dobash and Dobash (1979) find?
Used informal interviews with domestic violence victims & people who worked with them to find the extent of abuse was because men used the facade of family to gain control over women.
Why was Dobash and Dobash’ (1979) study radical?
Previously, theorists ask the perpetrator, not the victim.
Give 2 statistics put forward by Woman’s Aid (2009).
¼ women will be a victim of domestic violence
1 incident of domestic violence is reported to police every minute
How do left realists/modern feminists consider how each aspect of crime influences each other?
‘The square of crime’
What is Adler’s liberation theory? (3)
Women were in domestic sphere, limiting legitimate & illegitimate opportunities.
After WW2, more (illegitimate) opportunities were available due to more independence; liberation.
Confidence to challenge stereotypes increased & began socialising differently.
What is Adler’s liberation theory evidenced by?
The number of women involved in crime with the rise of 2nd wave feminism.
What is a criticism of Adler’s liberation theory?
Overstates impact of 2nd wave feminism as women’s role is still submissive (in gang culture) & working-classes are still restricted to gender roles.
Carlen’s theory of ‘the deals’:
Female _______ is a result of women ________ socially ________ ________.
The ____ deal gives women stable __________, rewarding them with ______ goods, but _______ to ________ & _________ to ________.
The _______ deal means women accept the traditional role of _______/_______, rewarding them ________ but subjecting them to _______ dependence.
a) criminality
b) rejecting
c) approved pathways
d) class
e) employment
f) material
g) subject
h) obedience & passivity to employers
i) gener
j) housewife/mother
k) emotionally
l) financial
What does Carlen’s theory of ‘the deals’ reject?
Adler’s ideas of liberation as women are still controlled through formal and informal mechanisms, eg behaviours based on society’s expectations.
What is Carlen’s theory of ‘the deals’ evidenced by?
Studying the backgrounds of women in prison; 1 in 5 had no permanent resident and there was high levels of unemployment.
What are criticisms of Carlen’s theory of ‘the deals’?
3
There’s increasing pressure on women to conform to both deals, increasing the level of control on them.
Postmodernists - there’s more choice and the class deal is diverse, with different pathways of getting material rewards. Emotional rewards aren’t limited to caring for children.
The patriarchy is overstated as there’s more opportunities to financial success and it fails to explain why working or married women turn to crime.
