male crime Flashcards
messerschmidt - masculinity
masculinity is a social contrast or accomplishment, and men have to constantly work at constructing and presenting it to others
hegemonic masculinity - work in the paid labour market, the subordination of women, heterosexism and the uncontrollable sexuality of men
subordinated masculinity - include gay men, who have no desire to accomplish hegemonic masculinity, as well as lower class and some ethnic minority men, who lack the resources to do so
forms of rule breaking to demonstrate masculinity
white middle class youths - subordinate themselves to teachers to achieve middle class status, leading to an accommodating masculinity in school. outside school, their masculinity takes an oppositional form, through drinking, pranks and vandalism
white working class youths - have less chance of educational success, so their masculinity is oppositional both in and out of school. constructed around sexist attitudes of being tough and opposing teachers authority
black working class youths - may have few expectations of a reasonable job due to racism and may use gang membership and violence to express their masculinity, or turn to serious property crime to achieve material success
criticisms of messerschmidt
is masculinity an explanation of male crime or just an explanation? in danger of a circular argument, that masculinity explains crime because crimes are committed by males
doesn’t explain why not all men use crime to accomplish masculinity
over works the concept of masculinity to explain virtually all crimes, from joy riding to embezzlement
winlow
as a result of globalisation, may traditional manual jobs have decreased in which working class men could express their masculinity through
there has been an expansion in the service sector including clubs, which has provided legal employment and lucrative criminal opportunities and a way of expressing masculinity
study of bouncers in sunderland - provided young men with paid work and an opportunity for illegal business ventures in drugs, duty free tobacco and alcohol and the use of violence to demonstrate masculinity
winlow - bodily capital
many bouncers seek to develop their physical assets by bodybuilding
maintains the value of their bodies to discourage competitors from challenging them - signs of masculinity become an important commodity in their own right - reflects the idea that in post modern society, signs take on a reality of their own independent of the thing they represent
study shows how the expression of masculinity changes with the move from a modern industrial society to a post modern de industrialised one
this change opens up new criminal opportunities for men who are able to use violence to express masculinity
katz
most theories ignore the pleasure in committing crime
search for pleasure - links to status and control over others and success
doing evil is motivated by the quest for a ‘moral transcendence’ in the face of boredom.
different crimes = different thrills (sneaky thrills = shoplifting or murder ‘righteous slaughter’
robbery involves much that is masculine - superiority over the victim, making a fool of the victim
gender socialisation
parsons
· boys are raised to be active/aggressive/risk taking
. boys reject feminine gender roles in nuclear family
. boys role model is breadwinner - outside home
compensatory compulsory masculinity - aggression and anti-social behaviour to prove they are men!
cohen - lack of male role model - so boys turn to street
gangs for masculine identity (toughness etc)
new right (dennis/murray) - absence of father figure - boys turn to gangs for status
social control
boys are less controlled than girls - more freedom
boys dominate public spaces
boys have more opportunity to commit crime ‘on the street’
boys are pressurised to be risky and reputation is not an issue ,being ‘hard’ is
