...Left and right wing sociologists have both attempted ‘realist’ approaches to crime and deviance, both offer practical solutions in dealing with the issue. However, the way these two approaches go about this is radically different, as right and left realism are from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. Although like all sociological explanations, they have their limitations and flaws, both approaches have proven useful in understanding crime and deviance for a number of reasons. The origins of left realism lie in the desire to move away from “pure theory” to something which can be utilised and applied practically in order to solve the problem of crime in Britain. Left realism is particularly useful in understanding crime and deviance because it avoids the age old divisions between structure and action. Instead, left realism sets out an agenda which contains all levels of analysis. Young, Lea and Matthews for example, suggest that in order to truly understand and deal with crime, the interplay between macro and micro factors need to be considered alongside each other in what they call “the square of crime”. This means that when investigating the problem of crime, sociologists should consider the roles of the state (as they have the power to define what is criminal), the offender (i.e. what motivates them), the public (because they are an agent of informal social control, and fear of public stigmatisation is viewed as one of the most powerful determinants of behaviour)...
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...Assess the usefulness of realism in developing our understanding of crime and deviance Sociologists, both left and right realists, have tried to develop accurate theories of crime that propose practical solutions when dealing with the worldly issues of crime and deviance. The way these two approaches pursue this is drastically different from one another, as both wings are from completely opposite ends of the political scale. Nevertheless, like all sociological theories, they have their margins and flaws, yet both approaches have demonstrated to be useful in developing our understanding of crime and deviance for a number of reasons. The origins of left realism lie in the desire to move away from “pure theory” to something which can be utilised and applied practically in order to solve the problem of crime in Britain. Left realism is predominantly useful in understanding crime and deviance because it avoids the age old divisions between structure and action. Instead, left realism sets out an outline which contains all levels of analysis, both micro and macro. Young for example, suggests that in order to truly understand and deal with crime efficiently, the interaction between micro and macro factors need to be considered alongside each other in what is referred to as ‘the square of crime’. Simply, this means that when studying the problem of crime, sociologists should consider the roles of the state (they have the power to define what is criminal and what is not), the offender...
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...left and right realist approaches to crime and deviance Right realism sees crime, especially street crime as a real and growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens society’s work ethic. Right realist views correspond with conservative governments as they see it as a workable solution to curb rising crime. It’s led to a shift in thinking, away from researching the causes of crime and towards a search for practical crime control measures. They view the best way to reduce crime was through control and punishment rather than rehabilitating offenders or tackling causes of crime such as poverty. Right realism reflects this political climate. They criticise other theories for failing to offer any practical solutions to the problem of rising crime. They regard theories such as labelling and critical criminology as too sympathetic to the criminal and hostile to law and order. Right realists are less concerned to understand causes of crime and more concerned to offer realistic solutions. Although their main emphasis is on practical crime reduction, they do offer explanation for causes of crime.Right realists reject the idea put forward by Marxists and others that structural or economic factor such as poverty and inequality are the causes of crime. For example against Marxists they argue the old tend to be poor but have a low crime rate. Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour. They argue crime is caused...
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...Realism occurred in the 70’s and 80’s in changing politics. The realist view is that crime is not just a social construction, but is a real problem that needs to be tackled. Realists believe that there has been a significant rise in the crime rate and favours a tough approach against it, as they think that other theories have failed to offer a solution to crime. The left realists Lea and Young attempt to give an explanation to street crime, committed by young people in urban areas. These sociologists took a victim survey which suggested that working-class and black people, especially elderly women, have a fear of street crime, as they are often victims of crime. Their explanation of why crime is committed by revolves around three key concepts. Firstly, relative deprivation, which explains how one person feel sin relation to another, this leads into crime very easily as people can feel as if others are unfairly better off than they are, and this resentment can lead to crime. Lea and Young suggests that although in today’s society people are more affluent they are still aware of their relative deprivation because of the media and advertising, which increase everyone’s expectation on standards of living. This is linked to the idea of individualism, because this undermines the family and community values of mutual support, cooperation and selflessness, which results in anti-social behaviour. The second concept of why crime is committed is marginalisation. Left realists argue...
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...“Crime is the result of individual behaviour, rather than the product of a socialisation process” Discuss. For decades sociologists from around the world have been debating what factors lead people to commit crime. Some have deduced that individual behaviour is the primary factor while others have concluded that crime is more the product of a socialisation process. In order to understand this contentious issue it is necessary to consider the credibility of a number of theories: physiological, psychological, right realism, Marxism, subculturalism, and left realism. Through the analysis of these theories, a conclusion will then be arrived at as to whether individual behaviour, rather than the socialisation process, is the main cause of crime. Physiological theories focus on the relationship between a person’s biology and crime. Therefore, this theoretical area of study clearly links the individual to crime. Today, a number of criminologists continue to support physiological explanations, even though, historically, many of theories linked to physiology have been disproved. Anne Moir and David Jessel are two such theorists who have proposed a link between biology and crime. They have suggested that a low IQ (which can be inherited) leads to impulsive behaviour, which may in turn lead a person to be more likely to commit crime. Moir and Jessel also claim that there is a link between crime and hormonal differences which make males more aggressive than females and therefore...
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...Control Unit: New Left Realism New Left Realism Deviance and Social Control New Left Realism Introduction In the early 1980's, two "new" approaches to the study of crime and deviance began to emerge in Britain and America, both of which focused upon the "realities" of crime (specifically) - but from different ends of the political spectrum. In Britain, the "New Left Realism" started to develop through the work of writers such as Lea and Young ("What Is To Be Done About Law And Order?", 1984), while the "New Right Realism" (confusing isn't it?) developed around the work of Wilson ("Thinking About Crime", 1977) in America and writers such as Clarke and Mayhew ("Designing out Crime", 1980) in Britain. While, as you might expect, the two basic approaches address the "problem" of crime from quite different political starting points, they have a couple of ideas in common: 1. Both view crime as a form of "social problem" - not only for control agencies but also for the victims / potential victims of crime. 2. Both produce ideas that attempt to locate crime within a wider political (albeit different) context - the "New Realism". In this set of Notes, therefore, what I propose to do is: a. Outline the basic elements of each perspective. b. Evaluate their overall strengths, weaknesses and general contributions to our understanding of the phenomenon of crime / deviance. This set of Notes focuses on New Left Realism and a subsequent set focuses on New Right Realism. www.sociology...
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...the usefulness of realist approaches in understanding crime and deviance” In your answer you should make use of material from the following areas; Religion, Education, Mass Media, Family & Households etc. Both left and right wing sociologists have attempted to develop ‘realistic’ theories of crime which offer practical solutions in dealing with the issue. However, the way these two approaches go about this is radically different, as right and left realism are from completely opposite ends of the political spectrum. Although like all sociological/criminological theories, they have their limitations and flaws, both approaches have proven useful in understanding crime and deviance for a number of reasons. The origins of left realism lie in the desire to move away from “pure theory” to something which can be utilised and applied practically in order to solve the problem of crime in Britain. Left realism is particularly useful in understanding crime and deviance because it avoids the age old divisions between structure and action. Instead, left realism sets out an agenda which contains all levels of analysis, both macro and micro. Young, Lea and Matthews for example, suggest that in order to truly understand and deal with crime, the interplay between macro and micro factors need to be considered alongside each other in what they call “the square of crime”. In essence, this means that when investigating the problem of crime, sociologists should consider the roles of the state...
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...Outline and evaluate realist approaches to crime (50 marks) Right realism sees crime as a growing problem that destroys communities, undermines social cohesion and threatens society’s work ethic. Right realists take a harsh approach in the fact that they try to reduce crime by reinforcing control and punishment, rather than trying to rehabilitate offenders when they leave prison. They see prisoners as a lost cause therefore they do not wish to waste their time on them. They criticise other theories for being too soft on criminals, especially the left realists. Right realism tends to focus on the solutions to crime, rather than the causes. Right realists reject marxist views that crime is caused by poverty and exploitation of the working class. In 'thinking about crime' (1975) wilson argues that an individual will commit crime if the reward outweighs the punishment. Wilson also argues that harsher punishments and more visible policing would have a positive impact on crime rates. However, despite these efforts, there are still flaws in how crime is dealt with according to right realists. Providing alternative benefits, such as giving methadone to drug addicts proves to be pointless as the individual then becomes addicted to methadone and therefore still has a drug addiction. Wilson argues that we must keep communities strong so that the criminals will feel ashamed due to society being disgraced at them. Kelling and wilson 1982 argue a concept called the broken windows...
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...Reducing Crime Despite the enormous volume of criminological writing and debate which has taken place throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, the resulting theories which have emerged have tended to each focus too heavily on one particular aspect of crime and its control and as such, have proved to be incomplete approaches to our understanding of crime and its reduction; the focus of these being on the victim or on the offender, on the social reaction to crime or on the criminal behaviour itself [Young, 1995, p 102], but never sufficiently all inclusive. As a result, the criminal justice system, in reliance on this partial criminology, has introduced penal measures which have proved completely ineffective in reducing crime. I shall demonstrate my argument with a discussion of post World War II criminology and penology, and provide practical examples of how partial criminology has lead to a failure in crime reduction [by 'partial criminology', I refer to criminological theories which have focussed and relied too heavily on one particular aspect of crime and have as a result, failed to help its reduction]. I shall then conclude this essay by discussing some of the more recent criminological approaches which have emerged in the latter decades of the twentieth century, and discuss how these writings and debate might have paved the way for a brighter future in terms of effective crime control. From the latter part of the 1950's to the early 70's, the study of deviance...
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...the value of the right realist approach to crime and deviance. (21 marks) Right realists argue that crime today is a very real and growing problem. Right Realists argue that crime threatens society’s work ethic, social cohesion and destroys communities in society. Unlike other theories, Right realism focuses on the solutions for crime alongside the explanation of what causes crime in society, this approach also criticise labelling and criminology theories for being too sympathetic to the offender or too hostile to those in power. Right realists, Wilson and Herrnstein argue the idea that crime is a result of biological differences in people. Some people are suggested to be more inclined to commit crime than others. For example, those with higher traits of aggression may have the increasing tendency to commit crime. In support of the previous point, Wilson and Murray argue that low intelligence can lead to the causes of crime, this being a biological trait shows that crime is because of biological differences. In contrast, Lilly found that differences in intelligence only accounted for a 3% difference in offenders. This implies that it is very unlikely that the causes of crime are biological differences. Clarke, a right realist, came up with the rational choice theory, suggesting that crime is a matter of choice which is made by the criminal who weighs up the costs and benefits of committing crimes. In today’s society, the costs of committing petty crimes are rather low, whereas...
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...Crime and Deviance exam questions Crime questions – Qu. 1 & 2 – both worth 21 marks.You should spend 30 minutes on each question and each should have a traditional essay structure (include an introduction and a conclusion, at least two sides of the argument, two or more theories, relevant studies and as much evaluation as you can cram in!). You also need to show ‘conceptual confidence’ – this just means that you should make it clear to the examiner that you know and understand the important concepts, e.g. anomie, relative deprivation.Make sure you make reference to the item – both essay questions will have their own item. You can often use the information in the item as a springboard into the essay in the introduction. However, you will be penalised for ‘overuse of the item’, so don’t just copy it out. You can use short quotes or statistics from the item though. | Question: | What to include: | Assess the view that ethnic differences in crime rates are the result of the ways in which the criminal justice system operates. | This question is essentially about the presence (or not) of institutional racism in the police, courts and penal system. You will need to compare the importance of this as opposed to explanations that argue that ethnic minorities do commit more crime - either as a result of relative deprivation (left realism) or poor upbringing, absent fathers, etc (new right). * Try to include some stats, reference to patterns of offending, stop and search...
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...Using material from Item A and elsewhere assess right realist explanations of both the causes of crime and the solutions to crime (21 marks) As suggested in item A, right realists explain crime to be a social problem requiring practical solutions. Realists focus on crime which is at the centre of public concern, for example street crime, violence and burglary; they are concerned with increasing measures of crime control. Wilson and Hernstein put forward a biosocial theory explaining the causes of crime; they argue crime is an activity disproportionately committed by young men living in large cities, these young men are temperamentally aggressive as a result of biological factors which predisposes them to crime. The social aspect to their theory comes from the belief that young men are socialised in the family, school and wider community in a culture that emphasises immediate gratification, low impulse control and self-expression which has reduced the restraints on their behaviour in conforming to society’s norms and value, resulting in more crime. A criticism of Wilson and Hernstein’s theory is their assumption that young males in inner cities are responsible for most crime. Right realists uses official statistics to base their theory on, thus, the assumption of young males could be based on an invalid picture presented by official statistics. The theory also ignores wider structural causes of crime, such as the increasing gap between the rich and the poor creating resentment...
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...Outline and evaluate Right realist explanations of crime and deviance Crime is an act of behaviour that goes against the formal written laws, such as murder. Deviance is an act of behaviour that goes against the norms and values of society, such as being loud in the cinema. Right Realists believe crime is a real problem to be tackled not just a social construction (Interactionism) due to a significant rise in crime especially with street crime such as burglary and assault. They are concerned about the widespread fear of crime and about the impact of crime on its victims and argue other theories have failed to offer realistic solutions. In this essay I will outline and assess Right realists explanations of crime by referring to Wilson, Marsland, Hircshi, and use New right theorists Murray and Clark to support and criticise them. Right realist share New Right/ neo-conservative views about the underclass causing and committing crime. They argue that crime has become out of control and that society should get tougher on crime with harsher sentencing. In 1980s and 1990s society witnessed increasing levels of crime. Wilson is the father of Right Realism. He was a right wing policy advisor to Ronald Regan and had a very conservative view. Thus believing people are responsible for their own lives. He rejected the claim that the economic recession was to blame for the crime explosion due to the economic boom in the 1960s was accompanied by a huge rise in crime too. Wilson argued men...
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...Crime and Deviance Revision SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Sociology Department Greenhead College SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Remember: You have to revise everything, because you have no choice on the exam paper. The specification 1 Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control * Different definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution...
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...Crime and Deviance Revision SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Sociology Department Greenhead College SCLY 4: Crime and Deviance with Methods in Context Remember: You have to revise everything, because you have no choice on the exam paper. The specification 1 Different theories of crime, deviance, social order and social control * Different definitions of crime, deviance, social order and social control * The distinction between sociological theories of crime and other theories (eg biological, psychological); crime and deviance as socially constructed * Functionalist theories of crime: Durkheim, anomie, collective conscience; Merton’s strain theory; manifest and latent functions; functionalist subcultural theories * Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of crime: classical Marxism, laws reflecting class interests; Neo-Marxism, hegemony, the CCCS studies, critical and new criminology * Interactionist theories of crime: labelling theory, the self-fulfilling prophecy * Feminist theories of crime: patriarchy, male control of women’s lives * Control theory and other contemporary approaches to crime: social bonds, communitarianism, situational prevention; postmodern theories; Foucault on individualisation and surveillance * Realist theories: New Left Realism and Right Realism * The relevance of the various theories to understanding different types of crime, and their implications for social policy. 2 The social distribution...
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