Left Realist causes

Question 1

Relative Deprivation

Answer 1

For Lea & Young, crime has its roots in deprivation. However, deprivation in itself if not directly responsible for crime

Left realists use the concept of relative deprivation to explain crime. This is how deprived someone feels in relation to others, or compared with their own expectations which can lead to crime when people feel resentment that others unfairly have more than them & resort to crime to get what they feel they are entitled to.

Lea & Young explain the paradox that today’s society is both more prosperous & more crime-ridden. Although people are better off, they are now more aware of relative deprivation due to the media & advertising – those who cannot afford the material possessions they see may resort to crime instead.

People are culturally included (have access to the media’s materialistic messages) but economically excluded (they do not have the money to gain the ‘glittering prizes’).

Question 2

subcultures

Answer 2

The left realist view of criminal subcultures owes much to Merton, A.K. Cohen & Cloward & Ohlin, especially their concepts of blocked opportunity & subcultures as a group’s reaction to the failure to achieve mainstream goals. For left realists, a subculture is a group’s collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation.

For left realists, criminal subcultures still subscribe to the values & goals of mainstream society, such as materialism & consumerism. However, opportunities to achieve these goals legitimately are blocked, so they resort to street crime instead.

Question 3

Marginalisation

Answer 3

Marginalised groups such as unemployed youth lack both clear goals & organisations to represent their interests. Due to this, they feel a sense of resentment & frustration. Being powerless to use political means to improve their position, they express their frustration through criminal means such as violence & rioting.

Question 4

A03

Answer 4

Relative dep: Over-predicts the extent of working class crime. Everybody feels relatively deprived in some way, but most people do not commit crime. linking left realist ideas on relative deprivation to Merton’s notion of the strain to anomie.

marginalisation: realists only use quantitative data from victim surveys which they can be criticised for. They have not gathered empirical data about offenders’ motives & the theory therefore lacks direct evidence about the reasons for committing crime.