How does the media cause crime Flashcards
How might the media increase crime
Desensitisation - becoming less shocked by things due to repeat exposure
Imitation - deviant role models and copycat behaviour, young people and children
Glamorising offending
Moral Panic - deviance amplification spiral
What are two evaluation points of how the media might increase crime
Most studies show exposure to media violence has minimal effect on people going to commit crime
Livingstone - media does not cause children to commit crime, it is a part of moral panic
What is one positive point for the explanations of how the media has increased crime (brief explanation)
Media must have some form of effect on behaviour - how else do we explain restricted viewing
What are three sociological explanations for crime
Left Realism - Relative Deprivation
Cultural Criminology - commodification of crime
Labelling - Moral Panic
What do Lea and Young say for Relative Deprivation as a cause of crime
Media makes expensive lifestyles visible and make us feel like we need to conform and buy the latest products - cultural inclusion through apps like TikTok but many people are living in poverty = economic exclusion
Which other functionalist theory links to the LR Relative Deprivation
Merton - Strain Theory and innovators
What is an example of how the LR theory on Relative Deprivation is causing crime
Reports from save the children and family action show more families are living in poverty, meanwhile the media continue to create a desire for unaffordable lifestyles
1 in 6 parents cannot afford xmas presents (2024) for their children - rise from 1 in 7 last year
What is the idea of Cultural Criminology - The commodification of crime
The media encourages people to consume crime - everyone wants to ‘buy into it’
(exaggerated in post-modern where we cannot tell difference between reality and simulacra)
Media shows criminals as having material wealth - ‘Gangster rap’ show media imagery of crime and consumerist success - crime glorified
What do Fenwick and Hayward say
Crime has become a package
What is Brandalism
Companies use crime (words associated with it) in their marketing to sell to youth market - ‘Black Opium’ perfume
What is an example of crime being a package deal in Drill music
Junior Simpson did lyrics about knife attacks before he and others stabbed a 15-year-old to death - father described drill music as a ‘demonic mindset’
What is an evaluation for the Drill music example of causing crime
Could be argued as a modern-day moral panic
What is the third way media causes crime
Labelling Theory: Moral Panic
What is a moral panic
An exaggerated over-reaction by society to a received problem, usually driven or inspired by the media
What is a folk devil and how are the media related to them
Person/group who is threatening societies values
The media identify the folk devil, media distorts the event out of proportion and predict further problems will happen
