Left realism

Question 1

How can we compare left realists to marxists ?

Answer 1

Like Marxists, left realists see society as being unequal and capitalist

However, unlike Marxists, left realists believe that society can be reformed

Question 2

What other sociologists do left realists criticise for not taking crime serious ?

Answer 2

Marxists
Neo-marxists
Labelling theory
Young (1997)

Question 3

What do left realists see as the causes of crime ?

Answer 3

Relative deprivation
Subcultures
Marginalisation

Question 4

What is relative deprivation ?

Answer 4

How deprived someone feels in relation to others or compared to their expectations

Question 5

what does Young (1999) say is also a factor ?

Answer 5

Individualism (a concern with the self and one’s own rights)

Question 6

For Left realists what are subcultures ?

Answer 6

Group solution to the problem of relative deprivation

Question 7

What is marginalisation ?

Answer 7

Where marginalised groups lack the goals and organisations to respond to their oppression in society

Question 8

Young’s contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion is similar to what ?

Answer 8

Mertons anomie and strain theory

Question 9

What do Kinsley, Lea and Young (1986) argue ?

Answer 9

That the police are not effective enough to be a deterrent to crime and military style policing has resulted in the alienation of communities

Question 10

What reduces the sense of deprivation, frustration and marginalisation felt by many working-class and ethnic minority groups ?

Answer 10

Reductions in inequalities in wealth, opportunities, housing and community facilities