Postmodernist Perspective Flashcards
PM Views on Crime
- Society should refine crime since it is more meaningful than breaking the law
- Some current crimes should be removed & include actions not currently governed by laws
- Lawmakers define crime but their view is no better than others, just more influential
- Lmkrs impose views onto society - Prevents wider society from expressing themselves as they wish
PM 5 Views on Crime
- Reject value consensus (consumer culture promotes individualism > community values) - supported by personal belief systems
- A single theory (Fem/Funct) cannot explain anything as complex as social life
- People no longer have a framework for their morality (lessened promotion of traditional values in agents of soc / ppl make own moral choices - soc no longer governs)
- Crime is caused by emotions - crime cannot be studied in traditional methods as emotions are not scientific
- Globalisation: the world is becoming smaller - Ppl more globally aware (communication & cheap travel) - not harder to control crime because more more is global in scope (internet crime - victim & criminal may be in different countries)
P/M Henry & Milovanovich
SOCIAL HARM: Better way to analyse whether an action is criminal
HARMS OF REPRESSION: Restricted opportunities by those in power
Ppl cannot develop themselves because those in power restrict their opportunities
Hate crime / Racism / Sexism / Sexual abuse
HARMS OF REDUCTION:
Individual experiences loss or injury
Property (theft) / Life (homicide) / Dignity (rape)
P/M Lyng
EDGEWORK
Ppl voluntarily take social / physical risk
- Implies people enjoy emotional intensity of danger / fear
- Extreme sport: enjoy proximity to death
PPT. IN CRIME = FORM OF EDGEWORK (fear / excitement & control)
LEVIN & MCDEVITT: Ppl commit crime for the thrill of it - violence & theft provide joy of exhilaration & thrill of making others suffer
:) - applies to all crime (motive focus > type of crime)
P/M Media Analysis & Crime
Detailed analysis of media is needed because: Live in a media-saturated world / Reality is created for us through what media we consume
SETTING DISCOURSE
FASCINATION
INTERSEXUALITY
P/M Media Analysis - Setting Discourse
Media creates a discourse of crime so we understand crime through our EXPERIENCE OF THE MEDIA > personal experiences
- Controls society’s views on crime
P/M Media Analysis - Fascination
Kidd-Hewitt & Osborne: Crime is used to sell media products & is central to the majority of TV shows & films
- People fear crime & its consequences
Certain real-life crime takes on a fictional aspect (trigger responses similar to those in films) E.g. 911 = visual spectacle & highly emotive for people
P/M Media Analysis - Intersexuality
People are no longer certain what they see is reality of fiction
KOOISTRA & MAHONEY: Certain forms of journalism present real life crime as a form of entertainment
P/M Beck
GLOBAL RISK SOCIETY
- Media fuels society’s fears by creating HATE FIGURES (migrant who will steal work / claim welfare)
The media has preyed upon ppl’s fear so they’re conscious of risks to their way of life (E.g. losing job / paying high taxation)
H/F Create hate crime & social unrest & can be used to sell more media products & control populations
P/M Panopticon
Surveillance disciplines society into behaving: creates a consciousness of permanent visibility as a form of power
BENTHAM: Prison design whereby large number of inmates can be observed by few
- Controlled by design > people
FOUCAULT: Panopticon used throughout society
- CCTV: general society
- Other institutions (army / hospitals / schools) resemble pan.
- Fellow people reinforces disciplinary society
P/M Haan
Redistributive / Restorative Justice
Punishing offenders hurts them & causes social harm for offenders
Victim is given meaning justice
Looks @ relationship between the victim & offender
- Meetings bet allow victim to explain consequences of the crime, offender to explain reasons for crime
- USED IN OTHER INSTUTUTIONS - schools / workplaces
E.g. Woolf Within
5 Principles of Redistributive / Restorative Justice
- Harm should be repaired
- Participation should be voluntary
- Process should be fair & unbiassed in favour of victim / offender
- Ppts. should be safe
- Ppts. should be respected
P/M :) Evaluation
HARVEY: Evidence that social problems can be addressed through political change (slavery abolished by legislation & war)
P/M :( Evaluation
LEA - P/m is another form of interactionism & doesn’t add anything new to crime debates
- Difficult to test P/m theory empirically - theoretical; little evidence
- Overstate the amount of social change that occurred: ppl are conservative with value consenusus
