Media And Crime Flashcards
A summary of the media and crime
The media give a distorted image of crime- for example, over representing violent crimes. This is because the news is a social construction based on news values that explain the media’s interest in crime. Some sociologists see media as a cause of crime through imitation and the deviance amplification of moral panics.
The media as a cause of crime
Imitation- the media provides deviant role models, resulting in copying of behaviour.
Arousal- viewing violent or sexual imagery
Desensitisation- repeated viewing of violence
Transmission of knowledge of criminal techniques
Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods.
The distorted image of crime
Over representation of sexual and violent crime
Exaggerates police success
Exaggerates the risk of victimisation
Overplay extraordinary crimes
Fictional representations of crime
Follow the ‘law of opposites’ meaning they are opposite to official statistics.
Property crime is underrepresented, while violence, sex and drugs is over-represented.
Fictional villains are higher-status, middle-aged, white males.
Fictional police usually watch criminals.
Moral panics
Cohen- mods and rockers. Examined media’s response to disturbances between w/c teenagers in the 60s. Revealed the media’s interest amplified and exaggerated disorder.
Prediction- assumed and predicted further conflict
Symbolisation- the symbols of the mods and rockers defined them.
The media causes moral panics with issues today.
News values
Cohen and young- news is not discovered, but is manufactured. Immediacy- breaking news
Dramatisation- action and excitement. Personalisation- human interest stories and individuals. Higher status- celebrities
The media, relative deprivation and crime
Lea and Young- media presents everyone with the image of a materialistic ‘good life’, which is the norm in which everyone should conform. However, this stimulates the sense of relative deprivation and marginalisation felt by groups who cannot afford these goods.
