Left Realism - Causes of Crime

Question 1

What are the 3 causes of crime identified by Lea and Young?

Answer 1

• Relative deprivation
• Subcultures
• Marginalisation

Question 2

Describe relative deprivation as a cause of crime

Answer 2

• Refers to how deprived someone feels in relation to others, which can lead to crime when people resent others
• Lea and Young explain that today’s society is more prosperous and crime-ridden, as although people are better off, they’re more aware of relative deprivation due the media, making us more materialistic so those who can’t afford them may resort to crime

Question 3

What in combination with relative deprivation leads to crime?

Answer 3

• For Young, ‘the lethal combination is relative deprivation and individualism’. Individuals cause crime by encouraging the pursuit of self-interest at the expense of others
• For left realists, individualism has disintegrated communities by undermining the values of selflessness that they’re based on. This weakens the informal controls that these groups exercised over people, creating more crime

Question 4

Describe subcultures as a cause of crime

Answer 4

• For lefts realists, a subculture is a group’s collective solution to the problem of their opportunities being blocked
• But, different groups produce different subculture solutions to the problem, e.g. some may turn to crime while others find spiritual comfort

Question 5

Describe religious subcultures

Answer 5

• Pryce studied black communities and found a range of subcultures formed when opportunities are blocked, such as saints and ‘respectables’
• These groups helped them to cope with life in a racist society

Question 6

Describe criminal subcultures

Answer 6

• Criminal subcultures still subscribe to the values and goals of mainstream society, such as consumerism
• Young notes some American neighbourhoods have ‘full immersion’ the in the American Dream. But opportunities to achieve these goals are blocked, so they resort to street crime

Question 7

Describe the procedure of Perry Pre-school project

Answer 7

• The project provided high quality pre-school education to 3-4 year old African-American children in poverty.
• The children were divided randomly into 2 groups, where 1 received the pre-school programme and the others were a control group.
• The pre-school programme emphasised active learning where the children engaged in decision making and problem solving activities, and had home visits designed to involve the mother in the educational process

Question 8

Describe the findings of the Perry Pre-school project

Answer 8

• Overall, the group who received the pre-school programme had better life prospects, such as 29% earned $2,000 a month compared to 7% of the control
• The control group turned to crime due to poor socialisation, 35% had 5 or more arrests compared to 7%

Question 9

What are the weakness of the Perry Pre-school project?

Answer 9

• There was no long term impact, the government hasn’t implemented a similar programme in schools that could help children as it’s too expensive
• The study was unethical as it impact children’s future, the control group was neglected who led them to turn to crime

Question 10

Describe marginalisation as a cause of crime

Answer 10

• If you’re marginalised then you’re pushed to the outskirts of society. Which leads to marginalised groups lacking clear goals and organisation to have a voice of society.
• Young argues that unemployed youths have no organisation to represent them and no clear, which creates a sense of resentment and frustration. As they’re powerless, they express their frustration through criminality. (supported by how more WC, ethnic minorities and young people commit more crime statistically)

Question 11

Describe how the shift of late modernity has promoted instability

Answer 11

• Young argues that in late modernity, instability, insecurity and exclusion makes crime worse.
• De-industrialisation and loss of unskilled jobs have increased unemployment, especially for young and ethnic minority groups, and many jobs are now short term or low paid.
• These changes have destabilised family life and as government policies have cut welfare spending, this can increased exclusion

Question 12

What has the greater inequality between the rich and poor in late modernity created?

Answer 12

• Has encouraged individualism and increased the sense of relative deprivation. Young also notes the growing contrast between cultural inclusion (having the same materialistic goals) and economic exclusions (the WC can’t achieve those goals)
• The media promotes cultural inclusion as even the poor has access to the media’s consumerist messages, but the poor are still denied opportunities to gain these goals

Question 13

Describe relative deprivation ‘upwards’ and ‘downwards

Answer 13

• Despite cultural inclusion and economic exclusion, we’re forced to believe we live in an ‘meritocracy’.
• This has led to relative deprivation ‘upwards’ (resenting the richer within society) and relative deprivation ‘downwards’ (resenting the ‘dependency culture’ of the WC - benefits)

Question 14

How has exclusion in society affected crime?

Answer 14

• The amount and types of crimes are changing in late modernity. Crime is increasingly found throughout the social structure not just at the bottom, such as hate crimes as a result of relative deprivation ‘downwards’
• Reactions to crime is also changing. Late modern society is more diverse so there’s less consensus on right and wrong, so the boundaries have become blurred. At the same time, informal agents of social controls (family) have become weaker. This leads to the public need harsher punishments, leading to high crime rates and low tolerance within society