Essay
Evaluate the left realist view of crime and deviance
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- WJEC
An evaluative essay of the left realist view of crime and deviancy. 30/40 marks
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Evaluate the left realist view of crime anddeviance [40]
Left realists believe the main causes of crime are marginalisation, relative deprivation, and
subcultures, and emphasise community-oriented programmes for controlling and reducing crime.
They theorised that marginalisation is one of the social factors leading to criminal and deviant
behaviour, people who are marginalised are made to feel powerless and without a voice with a lack
of representation. This result in crime as retaliation for being marginalised as an attempt to claim
power and show their importance. An example of marginalisation leading to crime is the London
riots of 2011, when the infringement of afro-Caribbean people with over policing lead to the death
of a member of their community. This sparked riots across London to attain power which was
diminished by the police and show their communities importance.
This idea that crime is a product of marginalisation is supported by interactionalist sociologists
Becker who found that over policing and negative, stereotypical representation in the media leads to
a criminal behaviour. However, it could be argued with ‘why don’t women commit more crimes?’.
women are thought to be the most oppressed social group by the patriarchy worldwide, yet they
commit a significant amount less crime than men, making only 10% of the British prison population.
Right realists answer this with the theory of rational choice, they claim the reason why not everyone
commits crime is because most individuals consider the likelihood of being successful and if the
consequences are worth the reward. This theory is supported by Travis Hirschi’s bonds of
attachment, how much we have invested in our own lives and if committing a crime is worth loosing
that investment.
Relative deprivation is described by Runciman (1966) as how poor we perceive ourselves in
comparison to those around us. Absolute deprivation is to be in complete poverty without the
means to sustain a healthy and safe life due to lacking the four basic needs food, water, shelter,
warmth. To be relatively deprived you are lacking material norms such as a phone, The media plays a
huge role in making us feel relatively deprived as we see people living materialistic lives almost every
day especially through mediums like reality television (e.g. MTV Cribs) presenting this lifestyle as
normal. Since the 1950’s we can see an increase in crime in correlation with an increase in wealth in
society, according to Runciman these crimes are motivated by resentment towards those we view
as ‘above’ us in society, it is also a symptom of individualism.
Relative deprivation has a deterministic approach and does not elaborate on why some people do
not commit crimes despite their social class, financial situation, or ethnicity. Despite its
acknowledgment of types of deprivation this fails to explain and excludes corporate crime. Some pf
the leading business in the world commit crimes, such as amazon with its breaches of health and
safety regulations, this cannot be explained by deprivation. It also cannot explain why wealthy
people commit crimes as it focuses of the working class.
The right realist approach to crime and deviant find that children raised in deprivation are given
lower expectations of what they will achieve through education, limiting what they opportunities to
lead a ‘mainstream’ life. This early childhood deprivation leads to poor socialization in the informal
agencies of control such as school and the family, consequently these children are more likely to
engage in antisocial and criminal behaviour and unemployment later in life. The correlation between
antisocial children and single parent families supports this.
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