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Flashcards by Catherine Rayner, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Catherine Rayner
over 7 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What are the two branches of realism? | - Left Realism (conflict theory) - Right Realism (New Right) |
| What are realists key assumptions? | - They largely accept OCS. They thus seek to explain the REAL problem of rising crime levels (particularly street crimes), committed in the main by working class, young, often black males in urban areas - They reject approaches that explain crime and deviance away as a social construction (e.g. Interactionist and partially Marxist) - They offer instead a structural causal explanation of crime and deviance - focusing on the way society is organised, the offender's social background, upbringing or social position - They believe in offering practical solutions to reduce real crime problems which have detrimental effects on victims and communities |
| What research methods do they favour? | They favour qualitative victim surveys as well as OCS when investigating crime and deviance - left realists favour local victim surveys and right realists national victim surveys (e.g. BCS) |
| LEFT REALISTS | |
| What is meant by 'structural causes of crime'? | Blaming society/inequalities/deprivation |
| Left Realists argue that crime is caused by Marginalisation What does Young (1997) argue about working class and black youths? | Young (1997) argues that in late modern society (late modernity) growing numbers of working class and black youths are finding themselves marginalised or economically/socially excluded because of insecurity (recessions, unemployment, temporary low paid jobs, cuts in welfare benefits etc) and family stability (e.g. divorce) |
| What is marginalisation? | Not able to take an active part in society due to unemployment, lack of money etc. It is seen as an underlying pressure for crime and deviance amongst the powerless |
| . | However, left realists stress that marginalisation is not in itself a direct cause of crime - they reject simplistic links between poverty, unemployment and crime |
| Young argues that crime is most likely to follow when individuals or groups feel relatively deprived. What does this mean? | This is when the marginalised feel worse off than other groups and feel social injustice. Young suggests that feelings of relative deprivation have increased in late modern society because of expectations regarding consumption/cultural inclusion (e.g. ipods, latest mobiles etc.) have increased due to media pressure. |
| However, Young does argue that relative deprivation alone does not cause crime (explain) | Young also stresses that relative deprivation alone does not necessarily lead to crime. Relative deprivation is most likely to cause crime when coupled with a strong sense of individualism (concern for oneself rather than others) |
| In the age of late modern society, characterised by risk, instability and insecurity, crime appears to be worse HOW? | Family instability, changing employment markets, individualism, consumerism and immediate gratification have created a sense of relative deprivation (this has spread to middle classes) |
| What impact has the media had? | The media has enabled relative deprivation to be generalised throughout society - e.g. widespread resentment of undeservedly high rewards some receive (footballers, bankers). |
| What is 'relative deprivation downwards'? | He also claims there is a 'relative deprivation downwards' where middle classes (who see themselves as hardworking and disciplined) feel resentful of the underclass (who they view as idle and irresponsible). Relative deprivation downwards creates feelings of exclusion and explains the increase in 'hate crimes' e.g. racist attacks against asylum seekers |
| Criminal and deviant subcultures emerge as a group response to marginlisation and relative deprivation What are the impact of subcultures? | Subcultures allow groups of individuals to feel socially included and facilitate crime and deviance by making such behaviour seem acceptable. Young suggests that an increasing variety of subcultures exist (e.g. religious, criminal, conflict and retreatist etc.) and shape the type of deviant activity engaged in. For example, criminal subcultures may deal in drugs to close the 'deprivation gap' |
| What practical solutions do left realists put forward? | Left realists believe that government intervention and community involvement are necessary to reduce the spread of crime. Ideas have been most influential on government policy, particularly New Labour (1997-2010) |
| Left Realists favour 'justice' policies. What are these? | - Anti discrimination policies -Reduce economic inequality -Create more training and employment opportunities - e.g. New Labour's New Deal and anti-truancy policies attempted to reduce exclusion of young people at risk of offending -Build police community partnership e.g. neighbourhood watch to improve reporting rates. Avoid military policing (aggressive/random stop and search) - Greater use of community service sentence instead of custodial sentences |
| RIGHT REALISTS |
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Right (binary/octet-stream)
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| What do right realists say are the causes of crime? | Right realists largely blame the individual/deviant (although they partly blame society). They see inadequate social control as they key to understanding growths in crime. |
| They blame biological differences for crime. Explains this further (Wilson and Herrnstein (1985)) | Wilson and Herrnstein believe crime is caused by a combination of biological and social factors (biosocial factors). Biological traits such as aggressiveness, extroversion, risk taking and low IQ predispose such people to commit crime. |
| Murray (1990) sees the growth of the underclass as the key cause of crime... | ... He argues children from fatherless single parent families are inadequately socialised and controlled as they lack a male role model and authority figure. |
| How does this lead to crime? | He also suggests that over-generous welfare has served to create a dependency culture where the underclass have become content to live off benefits and crime as their work ethic has been eroded. He believes some young males turn to criminal role models on the street and gain status through crime rather than supporting their families through a steady job. |
| Right Realists say that crime is to do with rational choice (Cornish and Clarke (1986)) What else do they argue? | They say it is based on a rational calculation of the likely consequences - e.g. do the benefits outweigh the costs. They argue that crime is seen as attractive, especially amongst juvenile offenders, because of their 'lenient' criminal justice system which offers 'soft' social control. |
| Felson (2002) promotes similar ideas in 'routine activity theory' - What does this mean? | For a crime to occur there must be a motivated offender, a sutible target and the absence of a capable guardian (police officer, neighbour etc.). Offenders are assumed to act rationally, so the presence of a guardian will deter them. |
| Marshland (1988) argues that crime and deviance is linked to a breakdown in the moral fabric of society (explain further) | It is suggested that schools and religion have become less effective agencies of social control. Marshland believes that this has led to a decline in morality (e.g. knowing right from wrong) and as a consequence crime has increased |
| Wilson (1975) suggests that crime is linked to a breakdown in the social order in some communties, why does this cause more crime? | He argues that disorder in certain neighbourhoods (e.g. where unruly behaviour, drug dealing etc. are common) leads to more crime and deviance when a sense of community is lost, and with it informal social control (e.g. people fear reporting crime) |
| Cornish and Clarke (1986) suggest that crime is linked to the situations in which deviant acts find themselves, what does this mean? | They argue that individuals commit crime when opportunities present themselves which involve little risk. For example when there is a lack of social control/crime prevention e.g. no window locks |
| What practical solutions do Right Realists suggest? | They favour tougher social control policies that help to deter crime and punish criminals (points match up with suggested causes) |
| What are their solutions for each issues talked about? | 1. Biological differences - No suggested solution (cannot be easily changed) 2. Socialisation and the underclass - Cut back welfare benefits 3. Rational choice - More and longer prison sentences 4. Breakdown in the moral fabric of society - Citizenship education 5. Breakdown in social order - Zero tolerance policing 6. Opportunity - Targeting hardening |
| EVALUATION Left Realists have gained empirical support from Jones et al.'s (1986) local Islington crime survey.. | .. shows that crime is a real problem for inner city residents. They found that levels of victimisation and fear of crime were high, especially amongst women. This suggests there is some validity in the left realist ideas. |
| EVALUATION Empirical evidence of Right Realism - Research by Flood-Page et al. (2000) offers partial support for Murray's view on 'family decline' | They found children (especially males) from lone parent backgrounds and step-families were more likely to offend than those who lived with two natural parents. This suggests there is some validity in the Right Realist ideas. |
| EVALUATION Although, Flood-Page et al. (2000) shows a correlation between family structures and offending... | ... they stress that single parenthood/step families is not a cause of crime. What is key, is the quality or family relationships and levels of parental supervision |
| EVALUATION Response to OCS? | :( - Too readily to accept OCS (although they do acknowledge they have problems). Therefore they fail to explain adult white-collar crime and neglect female subcultural delinquency. This suggests that the left and right realist response to OCS is not adequate |
| EVALUATION How do interactionists evaluate realists view? | They criticise realist theories for underestimating the way in which the extent (amount) and distribution (who does it) of crime and deviance is socially constructed. They argue that male, working class, black, juvenile crime is due to selective law enforcement, labelling, self-fulfilling prophecies and consequent subcultural formation/membership. They therefore reject the structural (LR) and individual (RR) causes suggested by realist explanations. |
| EVALUATION How do feminists evaluate realists explanations? | Feminists criticise realist for failing to consider how patriarchy shapes gender patterns of crime. Radical feminists claim that both in the private sphere (family) and public sphere (work and leisure) men exert power and social control over women. As a consequence women have fewer opportunities to commit crime (e.g. white collar crime) |
| EVALUATION How do Marxists evaluate realist ideas? | Marxists argue that realists fail to explain how the extent of crime and deviance is socially constructed. Marxists claim that selective law enforcement against the powerless working class creates the distorted crime patterns seen in OCS and directs attention away from crimes committed by the powerful. Marxists also argue argue that realists fail to consider the real underlying causes of crime and deviance. Marxists blame crimogenic capitalism (economic inequality and capitalist values) rather than marginalisation etc. |
| EVALUATION How do functionalists evaluate realist explanations? | Functionalists question realist for misunderstanding the structural cause of crime. They argue that young, male, working class black crimes can better be understood as a wider response to anomie/blocked opportunities which then lead to subcultural formation. However, there are strong similarities between functionalist and LR ideas |
| NOTE FOR EVALUATION | If you are asked to evaluate left OR right realism, you could use the other one to criticise/evaluate |
| IN CONCLUSION, perhaps the greatest strength of realist approaches is that they recognise that crime and deviance cannot be explained away as a social construction... | ... They are aware that crime and deviance is a real problem in contemporary society and demands causal explanation. Moreover, realist put forward a complete approach to crime and deviance, as they do not only consider the offender, but victims and agents of social control (the square of crime). However, realists can be attacked for neglecting to explain white collar crime, which can be more harmful to society. |
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