The Strengths and Limitations of Left Realism and Right Realism Theories in Explaining Crime and Deviance.
The Strengths and Limitations of Left Realism and Right Realism Theories in Explaining Crime and Deviance. Left Realism is a different perspective on crime and deviance developed in the early 1980s by sociologists, advancing from Marxism and Neo-Marxism. Two prominent supporters of this perspective are Jock Young and John Lea. Young and Lea began to develop an approach to explaining crime and deviance. They argue that crime is rooted in social conditions and argue that crime is closely related to deprivation but reject the view that poverty and unemployment can be directly responsible for crime. In the 1930s unemployment was very high, yet the crime rate remained minimal compared to the 1980s. More recently, Young (1997) has stressed that since World War Two the dramatically improved living standards and the introduction of welfare provisions have gone hand-in-hand with the growth of the crime rate. Young and Lea base their attempts to explain crime around three key concepts: Relative Deprivation- It is not the fact of being deprived which causes crime but the feeling of deprivation. A group or individual will experience relative deprivation when they feel deprived in comparison to similar groups or the people around you. So in today's modern society, where everyday the media report the importance of success and the consumption of consumer goods, this leaves individuals
New Right Realism & New Left Realism. The realist approach to crime treats crime as a real problem.
New Right Realism & New Left Realism The realist approach to crime treats crime as a real problem. This involves finding practical solutions to help repair problems within the criminal justice system and to find solutions to why a certain crime is being committed in the first place, by looking at problematic sources in our society. Interactionists and Marxists would say that crime and deviance is socially constructed, whereas realists see crime as "real" and believe they are more concerned with solving the problem of crime than other critical theories. Both left and right realist approaches were developed as a result of a large increase in crime and public disorders in the 1980's to try and address the problem. Both approaches are critical of non realist approaches, for sympathising and romanticising the criminal, ignoring damage victims have faced and failing to produce practical solutions to crime. New left realism stems from Marxism and Interactionism; Agreeing with Marxism that society is exploitative and unequal. Despite this, it criticises both approaches to crime as they tend to sympathise with the criminals and ignores the damaged caused to the victims of crime. New left realists also accept that the official criminal statistics are biased yet they still argue that members of ethnic minority groups and working class youths are more likely to indulge in criminal
Sociological Theories on Crime and Deviance
CRIME AND DEVIANCE DEFINING DEVIANCE Sociologists define deviance as behaviour that is recognised as violating expected rules and norms. Deviance is more than simple non-conformity; it is behaviour that departs significantly from social expectations. In the sociological perspective on deviance, there is subtlety that distinguishes it from commonsense understandings of the same behaviour. * The sociological definition of deviance stresses social context, not individual behaviour. Sociologists see deviance in terms of group processes, definitions and judgements, not just as unusual individual acts. * The sociological definition of deviance recognises that not all behaviours are judged similarly as all groups. What is deviant to one group may be normative (non-deviant) to another. Understanding what society sees as deviant also requires understanding the context that determines who has the power to judge some behaviours as deviant and others not. * The sociological definition of deviance recognises that established rules and norms are socially created, not just morally decreed or individually imposed. Sociologists emphasise that deviance lies not just in behaviour itself, but also in the social responses of groups to the behaviour. Sociologists distinguish between two types of deviance: formal and informal. Formal deviance is behaviour that breaks laws or official
Assess Interactionist theories of crime and deviance.
Sociology Chad Walker Assess Interactionist theories of crime and deviance. In this essay I am going to assess Interactionists theories of crime and deviance such as Becker's labelling theory, theories of how agents of social control amplify deviance and assess how Interactionists influence social policy with evaluation. Interactionists study the effects that labelling has on people. They are critical of Right Wing theories such as the New Right, Right Realism and Functionalism as Right Wing theories claim that agents of social control, like the police, are unbiased, fair and just although Cicourel's study shows how police hold typifications which can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. Interactionists have similar views to Marxists, believing that Right Wing theories are biased against the working class and believe that official statistics are invalid and reveal more information about the people compiling the data rather than the statistics themselves. Interactionism is a social action theory which opposes social structural theories held by Right Wing theories as it believes that people have free will - instead of passively reacting to society, people stop to interpret a situation before choosing how to act. Lemset notes that there are two types of deviance: primary and secondary. Primary deviance is not important as it does not affect a person's self-concept and is not
Causes of crime theories
Explain and Critically evaluate some of the main theories on the causes of crime. There are many theories on the causes of crime. However it is first important to determine what is crime? And what people perceive to be criminal behaviour. The views and concerns of the public also influence the way that the professionals in the criminal justice process think about crime, whether probation officer, police officer or judge. Legally, a crime is any act or omission proscribed by the law and punishable by the state through the criminal justice process. The criminal law is used against a wide range of behaviour- from murder, rape and assault to driving with excess alcohol, parking on a yellow line and failing to comply with health and safety regulations. Although not many people would dispute that murder should be an offence, not all members of the public would think of someone who drives with excess alcohol in their blood as a criminal. The public have a commonsense view of what they regard as crime. Behaviour which people disapprove of would be described as criminal to emphasise its seriousness and unacceptability. These commonsense images tend to be associated with intentional physical harm, often involving confrontation between offender and victim, also dishonesty, cheating and theft are a key part of the commonsense view of crime. However not all activities proscribed by
Compare and contrast theories of crime
OCN CRIMINOLOGY UNIT 2 ASSIGNMENT 2 WRITTEN REPORT "Compare and Contrast Theories of Personality And Evaluate their usefulness At explaining Criminal behaviour" "Compare and contrast theories of personality and evaluate their usefulness at explaining criminal behaviour" Introduction During this report I will be looking at cases of true crime whereby the criminals are considered to be showing different types of personality which where considered reasons for criminality. I will be demonstrating how some trait theories may understand the reasons for the individuals committing such crimes and contrasting theories and evaluating their usefulness in their explanation of criminal behaviour. What is criminal personality? When using the term personality we are using it to define and describe an individual's temperamental and emotional attributes, (S. Jones 2006) these are the ones that are deemed consistent as these will influence behaviour so that a person is compelled to behave in this way almost daily. Therefore is would be fair to say the term criminal personality means a person who is of the nature to commit crime due to their temperament, characteristics pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. During this report there will be examples of types of criminal personality. Two Theories of Criminal Personality The theories being reviewed will be Freud's
Evaluate Functionalist Theories of Crime and Deviance
Evaluate Functionalist Theories on Crime and Deviance Crime is defined as behaviour that breaks laws and is punished by the legal system. Deviance, on the other hand, can be considered to be banned or controlled behaviour which is likely to attract either punishment, disapproval or both (Downes & Rock, 1988). Functionalists view society as based on shared consensus and the proliferation of this shared consensus through socialization by institutions. This makes it particularly difficult for them to deal with the concept of crime and deviance- because in a perfect Functionalist society, crime and deviance would not occur. While some Functionalist theorists, notably Durkheim, regard crime as having a social function, others, including Merton, who point to the strain between socialized aims and reality as the true cause of crime. Durkheim (1897) argues that crime and deviance are useful and necessary in society. It helps to reinforce the consensus of values, norms and behaviour of the majority non-deviant population, through the idea of outrage at crime which strengthens social solidarity. It also acts as a social dynamic which allows for social changes to occur and for social boundaries to be tested, ensuring that a society, its norms and values and its laws stay in line with the social consensus. Durkheim also sees Crime and Deviance as a provider of employment for law
Psychological Theories Of Crime
Psychological Theories of Crime. Cognitive, Developmental and Personality factors associated with criminality. This essay will attempt to critically evaluate the contribution made by Cognitive, Developmental and Personality theories to our understanding of criminal behaviour. One psychoanalytical theory proposed by Freud (1923) was that all people had three components to their personality. These components were ID, which is the impulsive component. EGO known to be the rational component and the SUPEREGO this is the moral component. The ID is the only component of the personality that is present from birth. Freud believed that the ID was the most powerful element of the personality. The ID operates on the pleasure principle, seeks immediate gratification and is not restrained by reality. If the needs of the ID are not satisfied immediately, the result is anxiety or tension. If you consider babies it is evident that they are not considerate of their parents' wishes. They have no care for time, whether their parents are sleeping, eating dinner, or bathing. They will cry when they require their needs to be met. When the ID wants something, nothing else is important. The EGO is the socialized part of the personality therefore it is based on the reality principle. It is the dominant part of the personality. The EGO realises that other people have needs. It will aim
Assess Marxist theories of crime and deviance.
Sociology Chad Walker Assess Marxist theories of crime and deviance. Marxists believe that the law is part of the superstructure that is used to socialise people, which benefits capitalists. They argue that the law is only enforced on the working class and that the middle class are exempt from it as agents of social control are biased against the working class. They believe that official statistics are invalid and say that capitalists are the real criminals but explain working class crime as being due to capitalist culture being criminogenic. However, Marxists have been criticised by Neo-Marxists as well as Left Realists. Marxists believe that laws benefit capitalists and are critical of Right Wing theories such as Functionalism, the New Right and Right-Realists as they believe that the law reflects the collective conscience. Capitalists will define behaviours or activities as illegal if it affects them making money or will make things illegal if they can profit from it (such as fines for speeding). Chambliss supports this theory by suggesting that there are so many laws protecting private property because capitalists are the ones that own the private property. Snider also supports this theory as he believes that the government is reluctant to pass laws that threaten capitalists profits. Furthermore, Marxists are critical of Right Wing theories as Right Wing theories
Outline and evaluate Marxist theories of crime.
Outline and evaluate Marxist theories of crime. Marxist theorists began to make new and challenging claims about the cause of crime and deviance. They focus on the link between those in the ruling class and their involvement with crime. However, they never really managed to prove their ideas on the link between crime and capitalism upon which all their theories are based. US Marxists, including William Chambliss and Frank Pearce took over from the labelling theory and began to develop their own theories of crime. They have made four specific criticisms of labelling theorists work believing that they themselves could do a far better job. One criticism is that the labelling theory fails to explain why people actually break the law; they gave no explanation of primary deviation. A second criticism is that when Cicourel uses the term 'typical delinquent' to explain the type of person the police are ore likely to arrest and charge he does not explain where this stereotype came from in the first place. It is also pointed out that the labelling theory only deals with 'minor' crimes, giving explanations for such things as marijuana smoking, stuttering, paranoia etc. and gives no consideration of more major crimes such as robbery or murder. A final criticism is that it fails to provide a systematic explanation of where the law comes from which is one thing Marxist focus on in
