Social Class And Crime Flashcards
What does Marx say is the reason why lower classes commit more crime?
Crime is a product of class inequality and is associated with the lumpenproletariat (the working class who are unemployed and rely upon begging, prostitution and crime for survival). They are dehumanised by the lack of work and suffer from alienation which makes them turn to crime. The poverty created by capitalism encourages crime
What point can be used to evaluate Marx’s theory?
Hall, Winlow and Ancrum argue that there is no link between poverty and crime and that crime continues whether or not unemployment is high or low
What do Miller and Murray argue is the reason why lower classes commit more crime?
Miller says that the working class are more likely to engage in delinquency because of the focal concerns they carry such as trouble, toughness, excitement and fatalism which encourage crime and deviance. Murray says that the underclass have developed a culture of dependency on welfare benefits in which children are raised with little respect for the law as they lack positive role models. The over generous welfare state creates a culture of laziness and anti social behaviour
What point can be used to evaluate Miller and Murray’s view?
Most working class people don’t engage in crime and benefits are given in quantity to those who can’t physically attend work
What do Chambliss and Newburn and Reiner suggest the reason why the lower classes commit more crime is?
Chambliss suggests that the working class are more likely to be labelled negatively because of pre existing stereotypes and their greater visibility on streets and their inability to negotiate labels. Newburn and Reiner suggest that the police choose to concentrate on criminals who fit the stereotype. Police discretion is important in influencing who is arrested
What point can be used to evaluate Chambliss and Newburn and Reiner’s theories?
Box argues that the reason why crimes by the lower classes are prosecuted more is because white collar and corporate crime are hard to detect
What does Merton suggest the reason why lower classes commit more crime is?
All members of society are socialised into value consenus and if individuals are unable to reach socially approved goals like wealth then they resort to criminal means of getting what they want, causing a strain to develop. An adaptation of strain is innovation where an individual accepts the cultural goals but uses deviant means to achieve them
What point can be used to evaluate Merton’s theory?
This only accounts for utilitarian crime so doesn’t explain vandalism and violence which don’t offer monetary gain
What does Cohen suggest is the reason why lower classes commit more crime?
Status is a desired and valued goal but some groups are denied access as they lack the socially approved means to achieve it such as educational achievement. Status frustration develops so individuals aim to achieve status through an alternative status hierarchy such as delinquent subcultures creating deviant identities to gain peer group status by reversing accepted forms of behaviour to ‘get back’ at society
What do Clonard and Ohlin believe is the reason why lower classes commit more crime?
People are socialised to value success. Those who have the means to achieve it do so legitimately. Those who are denied legitimate means still desire success so they pursue illegitimate means such as crime. Criminal subcultures develop because of successful role role models’ who have done well from crime and represent visible evidence that crime is a potential route out of poverty and an alternative to the legitimate job market
