Left Realism
- Created by: cameron1107
- Created on: 27-03-19 09:49
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- Left Realism
- Attitudes to crime
- Like Marxists- are opposed to the inequality of a capitalist soceity
- Unlike Marxists they are reformist not revolutionary sociologists
- Believe in realistic solutions for reducing crime
- Disagree with Marxists idea of a future revolution
- Criticisms of other theories
- Marxists concentrate on the crimes of the powerful but neglect working- class crime and its effects
- Neo Marxists romanticise working-class criminals
- Labelling theorists see criminals the victims of labelling and neglect the real victims
- Causes of crime
- Lea and Young identify three causes
- Relative deprivation
- How deprived someone feels in relation to others
- They may have to resort to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled too
- Cultural inclusion but economic exclusion
- Subculture
- A subculture is a groups solution to the problem of relative deprivation
- Not all subcultural solutions lead to crime
- e.g. some turn to religion
- Criminal subcultures subscribe to societies materialistic goals but legitimate opportunities are blocked so they turn to crime
- Marginalisation
- Unlike groups such as workers, unemployed youth are marginalised.
- Relative deprivation
- Lea and Young identify three causes
- Late modernity and crime
- Young- the problem of working class crime is worse, due to
- Harsher welfare policies, increased unemployment, job security and poverty
- Destabilisation of family and community life, weakening informal social bonds.
- Changes in late modernity
- Crime is now found throughout society, not just at the bottom
- There is less consensus about what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour
- The public are less tolerant and demand harsher formal controls by the state
- Young- the problem of working class crime is worse, due to
- Solution to crime
- Democratic policing (Kinsley Lea and Young)
- To win public support the police must involve them in deciding policing policies and priorities.
- Crime control must also have a multi-agency approach
- e.g schools and social services. Not just police
- Argue police are losing public support
- Losing information they rely the public on for
- Marxists argue its naiive for LR to make police accountable since they are a key part of the repressive state apparatus protecting capitalist intrests
- Reducing inequality
- Remove crimes underlying cause: social inequality
- They call for major structural changes to tackle discrimination, inequality in opportunity, decent jobs, housing etc.
- Democratic policing (Kinsley Lea and Young)
- Criticisms
- Ignores harm done to the poor by the powerful. Marxists argue it fails to explain corporate crime
- Over predicts the amount of W/C crime
- Attitudes to crime
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