...“Assess 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...
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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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...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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...Assess the contribution of Realism to our understanding of Crime and Deviance (21 Marks) Realism is a perspective that branches off into two sub-categories, Left Realism and Right Realism. Left Realism was originally developed as a critique of New Criminology and, like Marxists, they support the Conflict Theory (The idea that society is unequal). However, unlike Marxists, they believe in gradual social change rather than overthrow of capitalism to achieve equality. Right realism though, like Functionalists, supports the consensus approach, and suggests that acts of crime are natural but there are formal and informal sanctions in place to contain and control these actions. They view this positively as they work successfully on most people, most of the time. Both Left Realism and Right Realism are macro sociological approaches. Right Realism suggests that we all have shared values and that crime is a failure to integrate into these values. This is backed up by Murray, who suggests that instability in the family is a cause of crime as children receive inadequate socialisation due to possibly a lack of a male role model for boys or simply a lack of knowledge between what is acceptable behaviour and what isn't. This leads to welfare dependency and then an underclass of work-shy individuals with a lack of commitment to society. Right Realists suggests that a zero-tolerance policy of crime and harsher prison sentences are an effective method of crime prevention as they would act...
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...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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...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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...Assess the value of the 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...
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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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...realist theorys. there are two types of realist theorys these are left and right realism. In summary, realists think that humankind is not inherently benevolent but rather self-centered and competitive. This perspective, which is shared by theorists such as Thomas Hobbes, views human nature as egocentric (not necessarily selfish) and conflictual unless there exist conditions under which humans may coexist. It is also disposed of the notion that an individual's intuitive nature is made up of anarchy. In regards to self-interest, these individuals are self-reliant and are motivated in seeking more power. They are also believed to be fearful. This view contrasts with the approach of liberalism to international relations. The state emphasizes an interest in accumulating power to ensure security in an anarchic world. Power is a concept primarily thought of in terms of material resources necessary to induce harm or coerce other states (to fight and win wars). The use of power places an emphasis on coercive tactics being acceptable to either accomplish something in the national interest or avoid something inimical to the national interest. The state is the most important actor under realism. It is unitary and autonomous because it speaks and acts with one voice. The power of the state is understood in terms of its military capabilities. A key concept under realism is the international distribution of power referred to as system polarity. Polarity refers to the number of blocs...
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...This debate, sometimes vitriolic and vexatious in equal measure, had resonated across the centuries mostly via philosophical thought. In the last two hundred years, however, the debate had become increasingly interwoven and complicated by newly-developed and derivative theories (sometimes polar or diametrically opposed) through the complex entanglement of modern societal development and socio-political thought. Insodoing, unpacking and defining the etiology of crime has proved to be a noteworthy adversary. This essay would seek to examine this unfolding drama of etiological proportions by addressing one of these key modern-day ideological polarities: right realism and left realism. It would critically discuss the relational polarity between these two theories by first examining and then comparing their respective etiologies. Second, it would examine and critique the interplay between ideology and British crime policy. Left Realism (LR): Etiology. “Left realism was explicitly, although not exclusively, concerned with the origins, nature, and impact of crime in the working class” (Lilly, Cullen, & Ball, 2007: p.191). It was a radical criminology and a very British development (Newburn, 2007). It was ‘Left’ as crime was envisaged as endemic owing to the class and patriarchical construction of advanced industrial society, and ‘realist’ in its aetiology and appraisal of crime (Young, 1997). Its theoretical and criminological roots could be traced back to neo-classicism and...
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...IInternational Relations Theories The following three theories are key to international relations and contribute to the framework of ideologies within it: realism, liberalism and critical theory. These three theories shape the views and consensus of International Relations and tend to categorise the general public into one of the three groups. However, this is a highly controversial statement due to the fact there are no clear definitions of realism, liberalism or critical theory, just differences throughout them. For example a key difference would be that realists make the basic assumption that the international system is anarchic where as liberals believe in institutions such as the U.N. can intervene effectively on state issues, there are also conflicting views between the three on issues such as war, the economy and major corporations. Within realism there is this sense of belief of “self-interest” this is a theme seen throughout Mearshermiers article Australians should fear the rise of China. Mearshamiers opening statement quotes “It is likely to lead to intense security competition with US – and considerable potential for war”. In a brief summary Mearshermier talks about how with this augmentation of Chinas power, surrounding countries such as the United States of America and Australia should be prepared to take action and prepare for war. This is a key ideology of realism, as although they do not encourage war in anyway they believe that war will always exist and...
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...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 and relative deprivation resulting in more crime. Right Realists focus on young males and street crime yet ignore the extent of white collar crimes, domestic crimes and corporate crimes. Hirschi continues the right realist theory of causes of crime by proposing his ‘control theory’, in which he argues individuals are more likely to commit crime when social constraints on behaviour...
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.... Effects of labeling on prosecution and society Probation officers are involved in supervising offenders that have been placed on probation by the courts. First time offenders who have been convicted of a crime are placed on probation rather than being sentenced to a prison term. The role of a probation officer is to monitor the behaviours of offenders so that they cannot engage in any further criminal activity. This is done by setting up regular meetings with the offenders and their family members. They work with other agencies that are community based to try and help offenders with a range of services such as employment, housing, and so on. A young offender is a young person that has been convicted or cautioned for a criminal offence. The criminal justice system often deals with young offenders to adult offenders. The term young offender is applied to different age group depending on the age of criminal responsibility. In the United Kingdom there are three separate and distinct criminal justice systems; in England and Wales the age set for young offenders is 10 years and in Scotland the age for criminal responsibility is set at 12 (need citation). II. In a study conducted by Brookins and Hirsch (2002) entitled “Innocence Lost: Case Studies of Children in the Juvenile Justice System” the two talks about how the juvenile justice system is ineffective in working with young juveniles in helping them integrate with their families and communities based on reports. They pointed...
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...Mirror Realism Matt Leonard Let’s suppose that spacetime substantivalism is true. In other words, space- time regions exist independently of the objects that occupy them. They shouldn’t be thought of as mere ‘things’ or ‘events’ which happen to stand in spatiotemporal relations.1 Even with such an assumption, there is a lot to disagree about. And so, for the moment, let’s make a few more assumptions: let’s suppose that (1) material objects exist independently of spacetime re- gions (i.e., material objects are not identical to spacetime regions) and (2) material objects are exactly located at certain spacetime regions. Given this setup, it seems right to say that material objects and spacetime regions pos- sess mereological and topological properties, and enter into mereological and topological relations. Now consider the following question about the relation- ship between spacetime and material objects: are material objects a perfect mirror of their spacetime regions? We might ask: if two objects share some mereotopological relation (for instance, if one is a part of the other, or if one is connected to the other), does it follow that the regions of space at which the objects are located, share the same relation? Similarly, if two regions of space are related in some mereotopological way, are the objects located at those regions, related in the same way? If an object x is a proper part of some other object y, does it follow that the location, lx, of the former object is a proper...
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...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 more likely to become...
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