Topic 4c: The role of the mass media in the social construction of crime

Question 1

crime in the media

Answer 1

The media tend to focus on violent and sexual crimes. Reiner argues that this is particularly the case in TV and tabloid papers coverage of crime.
Carrabine argues that crime news focuses on dramatic events rather than the causes of crime.
Carrabine argues that recent reality TV programmes focus on CCTV footage and highlight crime as a regular and routine aspect of everyday life. The viewer is addressed as a ‘threatened consumer’ who must take responsibility for crime prevention.

Question 2

crime in the media - Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)

Answer 2

shows that many respondents believed that the crime rate is rising whereas it had actually decreased. Tabloid papers are more likely to report violent and sexual crimes so it is not surprising that tabloid readers are more concerned about these kinds of crime, although they actually make up only a small proportion of all crime.

Question 3

crime in the media eval

Answer 3

Left Realists such as Lea and Young argue that the media representation of crime reflects public concerns. The tabloid press is often read by working-class people. Working-class people often live in inner city areas and social housing where there are problems of violent crime. Perhaps tabloid journalists and TV programme makers are just reflecting the reality of life for many working class people.

Question 4

Stan Cohen – Folk devils and moral panics (interactionists)

Answer 4

Stanley Cohen’s looked at societal reaction to disturbances involving mods and rockers in Clacton in 1964.
The mass media represented these disturbances as a confrontation between rival gangs ‘hell bent on destruction’. however, Cohen discovered that the amount of serious violence and vandalism was not great.
Deviancy amplification spiral
Media coverage led to considerable public concern with mods and rockers. And this set in motion a deviancy amplification spiral. Sensitized to the ‘problem’, the police made more arrests, the media reported more deviance, and young people were more likely to identify with either mods or rockers. it also generated more deviance

Question 5

Stan Cohen – Folk devils and moral panics 2

Answer 5

Moral panics
Cohen claimed that the reaction of the media to events generated a moral panic. A moral panic occurs when ‘a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests. mods and rockers were singled out as ‘folk devils’. The mods and rockers served as symbols of what was wrong with society.

Question 6

Fawbert-hoodies (moral panics)

Answer 6

In 2005 the bluewater shopping centre banned its shoppers from sporting hoodies and baseball caps, this was followed by tony Blair vowing to clamp down on antisocial behaviour perpetrated by young people in hoodies. The media seized on this and hoodie became a common term to describe young criminals. The media used the term in stories about young criminals without any proof they were even wearing a hoodie.

Question 7

moral panics eval

Answer 7

Young criticizes the concept of a moral panic because it implies that crime is constructed by the media. Young accepts that the media may exaggerate the ‘crime problem’, but it does not create it.
McRobbie and Thornton say because moral panics are so frequent they are losing their impact. They also argue that in an ever more pluralistic and complex society, it is less easy to create agreement over who are “folk devils”. Folk devils are therefore “ contested”. They also argue that fewer individuals and groups are keen to stimulate moral panics because of the threat of rebound.

Question 8

Intro

Answer 8

Sociologists are keen to theorise the causes of social reactions and many attribute a close connection between the extent and nature of media coverage of particular criminal or deviant acts and the social reaction to them. They argue that most people’s perceptions of crime are actually created, or at least informed by, the media

Question 9

Conclusion

Answer 9

Pilkington - reporting crime - The official criminal statistics for some juvenile crimes may simply reflect public intolerance fuelled by journalists’ construction of moral panics in search of newsworthy stories. This leads to more reporting and more artificial arrests, laws and more deviance