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Topic 7- The media as the cause of crime - Coggle Diagram
Topic 7- The media as the cause of crime
There are numerous ways in which the media might possibly cause crime and deviance. These include:
Imitation- by providing deviant role models resulting in copycat behaviour
Arousal- through view violent or sexual imagery
Desensitisation through repeated viewing of violence
By transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques
By glamorising offending
As a result of fears about the possible negative effects of the media on the audience, there has been many studies conducted. However most studies have tended to find that exposure to media violence has a limited negative effect on the audience
However a Livingstone notes despite such conclusions, people continue to still be preoccupied with the effects of media on children because of our desire to regard childhood as a time of uncontaminated innocence
There has been concern that the media have a negative effect on attitudes, values and behaviours especially of those groups thought to be more susceptible to influence such as the young, lower class and uneducated people.
Fear of crime
The media exaggerates the amount of violence and unusual crime and exaggerates the risks of certain groups becoming victims eg women. There is therefore a concern that the media may be distorting the publics impression of crime
Gerner et al found that heavy users of TV (over 4 hours a day) had higher levels of fear of crime. Similarly, Schlesinger and Tumbler found a correlation between media consumption and fear of crime with tabloid readers and heavy users of TV expressing greater fear of becoming a victim
However the existence of such correlations don't prove that the media viewing causes crime. EG it may be that those who are already afraid of going out at night watch more TV just because they stay in more. Greer and Reiner notes that much 'effects' research on the media as a cause of crime or fear ignores the meanings viewers give to media violence
The media, relative deprivation and crime
Left realists argue that the mass media helps to increase a sense of relative deprivation. In todays society where even the poorest groups have media access, the media presents everyone with images of a materialistic good life of consumer goods as the norm in which everyone should conform.
The result is to stimulate the sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion felt by marginalised groups who cant afford these goods. The media are instrumental in setting the norm and promoting crime,
Cultural Criminology, the media and crime
Cultural criminology argue that the media turn crime itself into the commodity that people desire. Rather than simply producing crime, the media encourages individuals to consume crime in the form of images of crime
Hayward and Young see late modernity as a media saturated society where we are immersed in the mediascapes meaning an ever expanding tangle of fluid digital images including images of crime. There is a blurring between the image and reality of crime so that the 2 are no longer separate
Media and the commodification of crime
A further feature of late modernity is the emphasis on consumption, excitement and immediacy. Hayward and Young argue crime and its thrills have become commodified. Corporations and advertisers use media images of crime to sell products especially in the youth market
Crime and deviance thus becomes a style to be consumed. As Fenwick and Hayward put it crime is packaged and marketed towards young people as a romantic, exiting and fashionable cultural symbol
This is also true of mainstream products. For example Hayward and Young cite examples of car ads featuring street riots, joyriding, suicide bombing and graffiti. Companies use moral panic, controversy and scandal to promote products
Ironically, the designer labels valued by young people as badges of identity now functions as symbols of deviance. Eg some pubs and clubs now refuse entry to individuals wearing certain brands