Realist Theories of Crime & Deviance 2

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  • Realist Theories of Crime & Deviance 2
    • Left Realism: The New Left Approach
      • Left realism developed during the 80s and 90s and, similar to Marxists, they consider capitalist society as unequal
      • The central idea behind left realism is that crime is a real problem and one that particularly affects the disadvantaged groups who are its main victims
      • Left realists criticise many other sociologists for not taking crime seriously:
        • Marxists
          • Focus too much on crimes of the powerful but neglects working class crimes and its negative effects on victims
        • Neo-Marxists
          • 'Romanticise' WC criminals and ignore that most victims of crime are WC too
        • Labelling Theorists
          • See criminals as victims of discriminatory labelling but neglect the real victims of crime
      • Left realists use a three corner approach to explain causes of crime
        • Relative deprivation
          • Refers to how deprived someone feels in relation to others compared to their own expectations
            • As the poor become aware of their lower status, they turn to crime to obtain what they feel they are entitled to
        • Marginalisation
          • Marginalised groups lack both clear goals and organisations to represent their interests
            • Become resentful and frustrated so people resort to violence and rioting to express frustration amongst such group
        • Subculture
          • These develop as a group's collective solution to the problem of relative deprivation.
            • Some subcultures turn to religion as a way of comfort
              • Criminal subcultures still subscribe to mainstream goals of materialism and consumerism. Since they cannot achieve these legitimately, they resort to illegitimate street crimes as a way of closing the 'deprivation gap'
    • Young (2002): Late Modernity, Exclusion and Crime
      • Jock Young argues that we are now living in the age of late modernity, where instability, insecurity and exclusion make the problem of crime worse
        • He considered the 50s and 60s as the 'Golden Age' of modern capitalist society as it was a period of stability, security and social inclusion
          • Since the 70s, insecurity and exclusion have increased and employment has decreased, especially for youths and ethnic minorities
            • Meanwhile, grater inequality between rich and poor and the spread of the free market values promoting individualism have increased the sense of relative deprivation
              • Young also notes the growing contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion as a source of relative deprivation
      • Young's contrast between cultural inclusion and economic exclusion is similar to Merton's notion of anomie ( that society creates crime by setting cultural goals)
      • A further trend in late modernity is for relative deprivation to become generalised throughout society rather than being confined to the poor
      • Reactions to crime are also changing as the late modern society is more diverse and there is less public consensus on right and wrong so the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour becomes blurred
  • Labelling Theorists
    • See criminals as victims of discriminatory labelling but neglect the real victims of crime

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