Social Class And Crime

Question 1

What is social class ?

Answer 1

Identity based on shared socio-economic status

Question 2

Why are WC crimes more prominent in OCS statistics?

Answer 2

•Marxists; argue many crimes committed by the wealthy do not make it to into crime statistics
• the rich are less likely to be investigated and able to afford good lawyers to bribe officials to conclude the investigation

Question 3

What crimes do Marxist place strong emphasis on that is being committed by wealthy people?

Answer 3

White collar crimes and corporate crimes

Question 4

What is the difference between white collar crimes and corporate crimes?

Answer 4

White collar crimes = crimes that are committed by the “middle class” e.g. fraud or tax evasion

Corporate crimes = crimes committed by companies rather than individuals (ultimate responsibility could still be on the individual e.g. the CEO)

Question 5

Cicourel (Interactionism)

Answer 5

• meanings held by police officers which explains why working class were more prone to be delinquents