Right/Left Realism

Right/Left Realism

1. Right Realism

   • Originated in 1970s by James Q Wilson and Ernst Van Den Haag
     • It was developed as a critique of sociological theory which failed to solve crime.
     • Negative view of human nature (People are naturally selfish and greedy)
       • Human nature needs social control and have appropriate behaviour
     • Van den Haag argues it is reasonable for law and order agencies to target the poor
   • Right Realists
     • Believe the solution to crime is the Rational Choice Theory
       • Rational Choice Theory
         • Developed in Clarke and Coleman (1980)
         • Argues that criminals will commit crime if the benefits outweigh the costs
         • Solution is to increase the costs of crime (tougher punishment)
   • Anti-Sociological criminology
     • Right Realists oppose the connection between crime and poverty.
     • They point out that wealth and crime rates have rising.
     • Key Factors behind crime increase.
       • Extending the Welfare State
       • Lack of discipline in education
       • Decline in traditional family types
   • Selfish Human Nature
     • Rising crime levels reflect inadequate social control
     • Permissive attitudes allow self indulgent and anti-social behaviout
     • The result of this has caused crime like: muggings, graffiti, theft and car break-ins.
     • Lacking parenting, absent fathers, lack of discipline in schools, cause this behaviour
   • Solutions to Crime
     • Reduce opportunities for offending.
     • Increase punishments
       • Heavy fines,sentences and Capital punishment
     • Crime control should fall upon members of the community
     • Responsible parenting
   • 'Broken Window Thesis'
     • James Q. Wilson argues that unless small crime like littering are kept minimal then more anti-social behaviour and serious crime will happen.
       • Argues 3 factors affecting long term crime
         • Number of young males
         • Costs/benefits of crime
         • Inadequate socialisation into norms/values
     • He says that police should adopt a 'zero-tolerance' policy for even small crimes.
       • Emile Durkhiem's idea that local informal controls are crucial for law and order
   • Charles Murray argues that underclass are not integrated into society's norms and values.
     • He calls deviant subcultural values of the underclass as 'paternaslism'.
   • Critique of Right Realism
     • Infulential on Government policy in USA & UK
       • For example 'zero-tolerance' adopted in New York
         • Some argue it is a lack of investment in deprived areas than incivilities that cause crime to rise.
           • Easy to pick on scapegoats like single parent families.
             • Marxist argue that concentrating on minor crimes than more serious crimes get ignored by authorities.
               • zero-tolerance will shift crime to other areas.

2. Left Realism

   • Lea and Young developed left realism in response of right realism.
     • Sees crime as a real problem for ordinary people
     • Argues that rising crime rate cannot be explained by the unreliability of social crime statistics.
       • Focus on victims as well as offenders, recongnisng crime is mostly in the inner-city and housing estates.
   • Ethnicity and Crime
     • Lea and Young accepted that there is a real increase in crime by young blacks,
       • Accept that there is institutional racism
         • Black criminality stems from racial discrimination, low wages and unemployment.
           • See Black youth having high aspirations but not able to achieve them.
   • Left Realism see origins of crime as three folds:
     • Relative deprivation
       • Lea and Young argue that frustrated between expectations and the reality of lifestyle leads to feelings of relative deprivation.
         • They argue the reality for many young Black males is a choice of unemployment, training schemes.
           • They feel unfairly denied the ‘glittering prizes’ offered to others. This can develop into strategies which can involve deviant and criminal behaviour.
     • Marginalisation
       • Lea and Young argue that marginalisation means the process by which certain groups find themselves on the edge of society.
         • White and Black working-class youth often feel alienated by schools, unemployment, low-wages, and the police.
     • Subculture
       • Subculture of young blacks is different from their parents who accepted their marginalised position in society.
         • Black youth subculture has high material expectations and aspirations: money and status symbols like flash cars, etc.
           • Black youth is so closely enmeshed in values of consumption, style and wealth, this is precisely why they engage in crime because of blocked opportunities.
   • Policing Problem
     • Kinsey, Lea and Young identify a number of problems with contemporary policing.
       • The police too often resort to 'military policing' as a method of solving crime through 'stop and search' policies.
         • This alienates the community from them, recently the Muslim community.
           • Argue that to improve this relationship the public should have more say in shaping police policy.
   • Square of crime
     • Shows concern for victim patterns and formal and informal factors.
       • Argue that crime can be only understood by interrelationships between four elements.
         • State, offender, informal controls and victims.
   • Jock Young also has a generic theory to explain the recent growth in crime. He argues that late modernity is making crime worse in a number of ways:
     • Greater uncertainty and instability in most aspects of life.
     • People’s desire for Immediate and personal pleasure.
     • Less consensus about moral values.
     • A breakdown of informal social controls
   • Critique of Left Realism
     • Key strength is recognition of multiple causes of crime.
       • Focuses on victims as well as offenders is good, adding another dimension to our understanding of crime.
         • However, Relative deprivation or marginalisation cannot explain the motive behind offender’s actions e.g. white-collar.
           • Equally not all people in relative deprivation turn to crime.
             • It assumes that society’s values break down crime become more likely a return to anomie theory and a view not too distant from Right Realism.