Studies by Hall, Phillips and Bowling Flashcards
What is ethnicity?
refers to shared cultural practices, perspectives, and distinctions that set apart one group of people from another
Phillips and Bowling - Why did the issue of race and crime become an issue in the 1970’s?
Due to the over-represented number of African/Caribbean people in prison in Britain
Phillips and Bowling - What were the police force blamed for?
Institutionalised racism (did not deal with the racist attacks as well as they should have)
Phillips and Bowling - What did the higher arrest rates for African Caribbean’s lead to?
“Black criminality”
Phillips and Bowling - Why was crime amongst Asians initially low?
Strong family ties and close knit communities
Hall - What effect did the image of a black mugger in the media have?
Created moral panic
Police would arrest any suspicious African Caribbean youths
Reported increase of black people committing crime
Negative stereotyping
Hall - Why might African Caribbean’s committed more crime during this period?
More pressure
Street crime became a survival strategy
Loss of jobs
Low wages
What did Gilroy say to contradict Hall, Phillips and Bowling?
Black criminality is a myth
They are just trying to defend themselves against a society that treats them unfairly
Political struggle
Police are prejudice
Many Afro-Caribbean’s are law abiding citizens
What do left realists say about the research conducted by Hall, Phillips and Bowling?
Ignores the race of the victim - are black people committing crime against black people
Other factors need to be fully investigated
Which sociologists would support the idea that black people commit more crime because of their circumstances?
Marxists
Cashmore
What cause does military style policing have on the criminality of black people?
Increased tensions so a form of rebellion might occur
Positive evaluation points for Hall, Phillips and Bowling?
Supported by Interactionists
Police use labelling - powers of suspicion to stop and search black youths more
2 examples of studies reviewed by Bowling and Phillips?
Desai (1999) and Mawby and Batta (1980).
Why are crime rates for Asians relatively so low?
They come from tightly knit self-regulating communities with strong family ties.
Which crimes did Mawby and Batta (1980) research?
British Asian crime in Bradford.
Why were British Asians reluctant to commit crime?
“Izzat”/ “Family honour”
What did Alexander (2000) research?
He conducted an ethnographic research of young Asian males in South London during the 1990’s
What were some reasons as to why the moral panic might have escalated about Asian gangs?
The Gulf War in 1990 lead to hostile attitudes towards the Middle East/ A 1993 Panorama documentary expressed concern about Muslim Ghetto culture, and many news articles about Asian gangs appeared in the Daily Mail and Independent newspapers/ 3) In 1995 there was a riot in Bradford whereby Asian youths expressed their unhappiness about how their community was being policed.
True or false: Asian gangs actually existed
False
What is a disadvantage of Alexander’s work?
He may have “Gone native”/ Violated ethics as no informed consent when the research was started.
What is an advantage of Alexander’s work?
Qualitative research and therefore is supported by interpretivists/ Rich findings as Verstehen gained.
What did Bowling and Graham’s (1995) sample of people consist of?
1700 participants and then a further 800 participants from ethnic minorities.
What did the participants of Bowling and Graham’s study have to do?
Self-report the number and types of crime they had committed during the last year.
What did Bowling and Graham find?
44% white people, 43% black people, 30% Indian, 28% Pakistani and 13% Bangladeshi admitted to committing one or more crimes/ White males and females admitted to using drugs more than any other ethnic group, whilst Bangladeshi people had the lowest rate of drug use/ White people commit more crime than other ethnic groups in general.
What is an advantage of Bowling and Graham’s study?
Large sample/ Good statistics.
What is a disadvantage of Bowling and Graham’s study?
Social desirability bias/ Lying/ Not knowing what was and was not a crime.
