Postmodernist Theories Flashcards
John Lee
Argues that social change has caused society to become much more individualised. There has been a death of grand narratives therefore there cannot be one explanation for crime. Nowadays, people construct their own individual identity, so involvement in crime may be an attempt to construct a type of identity too- all individuals have their own reasons to engage in deviance.
Katz and Lyng
Globalised media portray crime as a seductive and enticing activity. For example, drug taking in Skins. So, involvement such in crimes is an attempt for young people to construct a thrilling lifestyle for themselves in order to achieve the identities glamorised in the media.
Foucault
Pointed out that surveillance is penetrating more and more into private aspects of our lives (CCTV). In Postmodern society, people are more individual, therefore the way to control crime is to make people internalise their need to conform (which is achieved through constant fear of being caught- surveillance). If people learn to police themselves, they change the way they think when leaving prison.
Winlow
Globalisation has led to a shift to post-modern society. Male criminal behaviour is an attempt for men to construct their own masculine identity-
they want to achieve the masculinity portrayed in globalised media. In the past, this was achieved through manual labour jobs, but this has changed. His research of Bouncers in Sunderland found that they use violence and drug-dealing in their job to achieve masculinity without a high paying career.
Katz and Lyng Evaluation
Cannot be the case for every crime committed- such as on the spur of the moment.
Winlow Evaluation
Theory offers a more contemporary explanation of crime and deviance as it takes into account the impact of the globalised media.
John Lee Evaluation
Theory in itself is not very useful as it does not offer its own explanation of crime, merely discredits previous ones (saying they’re outdated).
Focault Evaluation
Theory is supported by cognitive therapy models, attempting to rehabilitate models by changing the way they think.
