Theories : Postmodernism

Question 1

Smart (1995)

Answer 1

Crimes cannot be linked together they reject the positivist approach

each criminal act is unique, therefore common factors which cause them cannot be identified

Question 2

Collier (1998)

Answer 2

You can’t generalise about how masculinity relates to crime as in a postmodern era masculinity is multifaceted we need to examine individual cases

Question 3

Lea (1998)

Answer 3

Postmodernism is regressive since it denies the possibility of being able to do anything to change unequal and unjust societies

Question 4

Foucault

Answer 4

Believes that in postmodern society, people are regarded as consumers rather than citizens.

Those who cannot afford to participate in our consumer society face heavier policing and repression.

Question 5

Maguire

Answer 5

Argues that the breakdown of close-knit communities has meant increasingly police are used for issues that traditionally would have been dealt by themselves

Question 6

Beck

Answer 6

In a postmodern world, we live in a ‘global risk society’, People are very risk conscious e.g. losing jobs, immigrants taking over, climate change etc. The media often play out these fears

Question 7

Katz (1988)

Answer 7

Crime is caused by the individual, not society.

Examines the pleasure of crime for individuals

Question 8

Henry and Milovanovic (1996)

Answer 8

Suggest that crime should be taken beyond the legal definitions to embrace societies set of diverse lifestyles and identities,

Question 9

Pokulski and Waters

Answer 9

argued the death of social class
the rise in affluence means class is no longer an issue and consumption can create our identities, we are no longer bound by factors out of our control

Question 10

Winlow

Answer 10

argues that individualism is promoted by consumerism and is linked to crime

Question 11

Four general points on postmodernism

Answer 11

Individualism: growing sense of personal freedom and selfishness people feel that rules do not apply to them

Social harm: is a wider concept than crime because it applies to all risks that can be caused by some people to others (Henry and Milovanovic)

Panopticon refers to a society where people are continually watched and controlled without necessarily being aware this is happening

Postmodernists criticise traditional views on crime and deviance claiming that metanarratives no longer describe the modern world. Postmodernists say we live in a fragmented society and can pick and mix our moral codes. Crime is an asocial construction which those who have power apply to the rest of us