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Leftist realist theory - Coggle Diagram
Leftist realist theory
What is realism?
Realist theories have only really appeared in the last 30 years, believe crime is a real problem, offers a practical crime solution
- left realism, want to tackle inequality, progressive
- social inequality & exclusion causes crime to thrive
Jock Young
1970s:
- transition from fordism -> post-fordism, up to 1970s was the Golden Age
- most people were employed in mass production system
- working class secure employment, regular income, job for life, council houses so basic rent
- life was certain in fordism
Late-modernity:
- everything changed, council houses sold etc
- irregular work, housing, families
- 40:30:30 economy, only 40% secure, 30% underemployed, 30% unemployed
- majority not secure
Social & economic exclusion
- leads to crime as people excluded from eachother (W/C cut off), isolation of certain groups (unemployed, deprived together), middle class try exclude themselves by upping housing costs
- relative deprivation downwards = resentment in all directs because of isolation e.g. middle class dislike paying tax to fund benefits, causes crime of wealthy
- super-rich exclude themselves in gated communities, dont want to pay tax as dont use it due to private
Cultural inclusion:
we are all engaged in the same media, makes you feel inferior as superior normalised
- creates feelings of failure
- marketed / competitive society, focus on identity, judged by material wealth which creates crime
- myth of meritocracy,'the chaos of reward', rewards dont equal effort
- divided society, causes crime not in Golden Age
Social bulimia:
- we are told to consume, sucked in by centripetal forces, continually marketed to
- spat out by centrifugal forces, no longer needed, used as cheap labour then disregarded
- people are not provided for, creates crime across the class system
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John Lea and Jock Young
Relative deprivation:
sense of disadvantage to what most people can enjoy, deprivation in comparison to others
- social mobility seen as normal & achievable by things such as media
- individualisation, makes it seem as your fault not achieving; "failures"
- people join crime as feel an individual failure
Marginalisation:
people feel on edges of society, structural marginalisation = no employment, no kids, dont vote etc
- lack of stake in society, no membership (something that makes you feel worth / value)
- commit less crime as have role in society, more if you dont (nothing to lose)
- ghettoisation, live in a slum, geographically marginalised, crime thrives here as live in an area where they feel they have nothing
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Aetiological crisis
- crime is increasing
- Young says this is causing a Aetiological crisis, crisis in explanation for theories of crime
- some theories e.g. labelling, deny this increase is real
- evidence of victim surveys that crime is actually increasing
Marxists concentrate too much on corporate crime, neo-marixsts romanticise WC criminals, labelling theorists see WC criminals as victims when there are real WC victims
Left & right areas of agreement:
- crime is a real & genuine problem, we need to provide practical solutions
- fear of crime is genuine and rational
- criminology should place importance on the victims of crime
- working-class crime is not a challenge to inequality
- corporate crime is not a problem for ordinary people
Criticisms
- the theory of left realism is just reusing subcultural & strain theory ( same idea of bottom most strain etc)
- also reusing control theory ( idea of stakes in society)
broad explanations of crime
- not everyone turns to crime that is marginalised etc
- very different crimes, can't all be explained by same thing e.g. relative deprivation
- not specific enough
- feminists, ignores women
- right realists, cause is biology
correlation is not causation
- deindustrialisation may not be the cause of crime
- crime rates over last 20 years have started to fall, even though unemployment etc gone up
- some argue due to greater acceptance of minorities or migration
capitalism, marxist argument this is the true cause, means rich get richer & poor get poorer - causes inequality, marginalisation, deprivation etc