left realism explanations of crime Flashcards
key areas
- Conditions of late modernity (Young)
- Relative deprivation (Lea and Young)
- Subcultures
- Marginalisation (Lea and Young)
- Left Realist Focus on Tackling crime
Conditions of late modernity
Young
- 1950-60 was the ‘Golden Period’ of capitalism - a strong consensus as what was right and wrong - crime low
- late modern society - instability and exclusion
- decrease in unskilled jobs = insecurity = marginalisation
Young - contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion as a source of relative deprivation
- Media saturated society promotes cultural inclusion - poor have access to material media messages
- Greater emphasis on consumption and immediate gratification which leads to higher expectations of life
- despite ideas of meritocracy the poor are systematically excluded from opportunities to gain the ‘glittering prizes of a wealthy society.
Bulimic society
Young - cultural inclusion was combined with social and economic exclusion, creating a ‘bulimic society’
- a society that both draws people in culturally (to consumerism) and at the same time expels them economically through increasingly poorly paid and insecure employment
- Lewis - desire to consume by looting what was otherwise denied to the looting in English cities 2011
what does Young argue is the making relative deprivation worse
- growing individualism
- Weakening of informal social controls
- Growing economic inequality and economic change
- m/c resent the underclass as ‘benefit scroungers’
- crimes have become more widespread and intense (corporate, racist attacks)
Toxic mix
late modern features such as greater risk , more uncertainty etc with less formal control and little frustration outlet
more likely to partake in ‘edge work’ activities e.g thrill - seeking and boundary testing - anti social behaviour
Conditions of late modernity eval
Downes and Rock - there are actually trends towards inclusion rather than exclusion such as minimum wage, child benefits
- doesn’t explain why most deprived w/c youth don’t turn to crime and why crime rates have been decreasing in recent years.
- gov creating a new anti-social crime wave - public are concerned with anti-social behaviour, crime has become subjective
(Introduction of ASBO’s 1998)
Relative deprivation
Lee and Young
- crime is rooted in relative deprivation
- Runciman - relative deprivation is how deprived someone feels in comparison to others or own expectations - resentment and crime
- Lea and Young - society is more prosperous and there is more crime - media promotes false needs = relative deprivation
- Young and Lea - relative deprivation + individualism (looking after own interests) = crime
- Individualism + decline in community values = weakening of informal social controls = crime
relative deprivation eval
Marxists argue Left Realists fail to pay much attention to white collar crime and corporate crime (have the most impact in deprive areas.
Subcultures
- left realist view of criminal subcultures is similar to Merton’s Cohen’s and Ohlin and Coward’s concept of block opportunity and subcultural reaction to the failure to achieve mainstream goals
- subculture are group solution to relative dep.
- some ppl turn to crime to close dep. gap, some turn to religion to understand a ‘theodicy of dispriveledge’
ken Pryce - hustlers (criminal), rasafarians, ‘Saints’ and working class ‘respectables’ - subcultural responses
- for left realists criminal subcultures still subscribe to mainstream goals (materialism and cosnumersim) (Gucci, etc in the ghettos of the US)
- legitimate opportunities blocked so they turn to crime
Marginalisation
Lee and Young
- unemployed youth are marginalised in society
- lack clear goals and don’t have organisations to represent interests such as unions
- sense of powerlessness, resentment and frustration - expressed through criminal means to achieve goals e/g violence
- explains hostility towards Police and confrontations with authority
Marginalisation Eval
Ignores other responses to relative dep. and marginalisation apart from crime.
- Merton argued ‘retreats’ and ‘ritualism’ are ignored
(however ‘rebellion’ is acknowledged by LR’s)
Tackling crime
- The Square of Crime - to understand and tackle crime - Lea and Young - argue the necessity of examining relationships between the 4 elements of the square of crime (how they interact
How they influence each other
offenders
Victims
The public and the extent of informal social control
social structural influences and formal control by the state
- Improving policing
Kinglsey, Lea and Young- police clear up rates are too low to act as a deterrent form crime - we need public intervention to get the police to do better
decreasing support from the public for the police = fewer crimes committed
- this leads to military style policing (e.g heavy stop an search tactics) = victimisation and targeting
police must listen to local communities and build a relatioship to involve public in policing
a multi-agency approach is needed - police, local councils, social services, schools etc
- tackle the structural causes of crime
- gov policy
- LR have had more imfluence on gov policy than most
“tough on crime, tough on. the causes of crime”
New Labour policies such as - clamping down on hate crime sexual assault, domestic violence etc are needed to protect venerable groups from crime and low -level disorder
- try to reduce marginalisation of youths at School - more prone to offending
- Young states many of these ideas attempt to recreate the golden 1950s and 60s 0- they won’t create a stronger communtiy
New Labour doesnt tackle the roots of criminality - they only try to stop anti social behaviour - no insight into insecurity, inequality etc
Analysis of left and right realism
LR - look at cause and the person who offends - relative deprivation, unemployment (long term)
RR - look at preventing the burglar - doorbells, CCTV - displaces crime to softer areas (short term)
