left realism

Question 1

Lea and young (relative dep)

Answer 1

-Unemployment doesn’t cause crime, it’s the awareness of the inequality in relation to others and the desire to do smth abt it (relative dep)
-crime is the combination of expectations of what they’re entitled to and the fact social groups don’t have the economic resources to reach these
-society is media saturated, everyone is included in the consumer culture; raising expectations
-this creates a bulimic society

Question 2

Background to left realism

Answer 2

-they criticise marxism for romanticising wc criminals as ‘Robin Hood’ Characters fighting against injustice. They fail to take victimisation seriously
-They argue that crime is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with
-The poor are at highest risk of becoming victims
-structural inequalities are still major causes of crime

Question 3

Bulimic society

Answer 3

-ppl gorge themselves on media images of lavish lifestyles but are forced to vomit out their expectations. Increasing frustration
-(factors of late modernity) growing individualisation, weakening of informal controls & growing economic inequality and change (globalisation) intensifies this

Question 4

Edgework

Answer 4

-these factors of late modernity generate crime as they have no other outlets for anger
-thill seeking behaviour explores boundary between legal and illegal
-eventually can lead to crime

Question 5

Leah & Young’s 3 key concepts

Answer 5

-subcultures: emerge as group solution to relative deprivation. They act as motivators for crime
-marginalisation: when a group are ‘on the edge’ of mainstream society it creates a feeling of powerlessness. This and relative dep can cause anti-social behaviour etc as have few ways to express anger
-relative dep (see other card)

Question 6

square of crime

Answer 6

-crime is produced through interaction between:
>1=offender (what they do and the social reaction to this)
>2= public (informal reactions)
>3= state (formal reactions)
>4= victims (they are the ones that initially decide whether an action is illegal & should be reported)

Question 7

left realism and policy

Answer 7

New Labour adopted some policies to decrease ineduality e.g. minimum wage help reduce relative dep

Question 8

young’s policing policy

Answer 8

-important to have democratic control of the police, supported measures to reduce stop and search powers to reduce marginalisation

Question 9

similarities between left & right realism

Answer 9

-see crime as a real and growing issue
-concentrate on street crime in poor, inner-city, high crime areas
-tried to influence actual policies
-acknowledge that informal and formal social control is needed
-fear of crime is a big issue

Question 10

differences between left & right realism

Answer 10

-opposing sides of political spectrum
-right focus on rational choice and deterrence, left focus on inequality as a cause of crime
-right focus on harsher justice system, left look at tackling underlying issues
-right looks at motivations, left looks at structural issues

Question 11

Hughes (etv)

Answer 11

-left realism fails to explain causes of street crime (neg)
-no empirical data on motives thus lacks direct evidence(neg)
-too focused on victims, give little info on offenders (neg)
-idea of relative dep is useful to see how crime increases despite rising living standards(pos)
-useful suggestions on policing (pos)
-role of victims in defining criminality (pos)
-street crime can have harmful effects upon weak members of society (pos)

Question 12

Jones (etv)

Answer 12

-doesn’t explain why not all relatively deprived ppl are criminals
-over predicts amount of crime that takes place in consumer society
-hasn’t explained why officially recorded crime has fallen
-Ruggiero= neglected corporate and organised cirme