Murray right realism

• Murray expressed concern over the willingness of the underclass to work, suggesting they were dependent upon the welfare state and lacked the correct work ethic to fend for themselves in society
• Murray argued that with less state spending, there would be less need for higher taxation as people could use their own money to purchase services for themselves and their family instead of them being provided for them by the state, giving them more choice
• Social class structure according to Murray

  • Traditional working class
  • Growing underclass of those in infrequent employment or unemployment
• Murray and others in the new right based their ideas of the family on traditional functionalist and Christian ideals, promoting instrumental and expressive roles for males and females
• Charles Murray advocated

  Privatization of state services, reducing state spending, individuals taking personal responsibility for themselves and their families
• According to Murray, young males lacked the motivation and resilience to compete with others, leading them to look for alternative ways to assert themselves
• Murray was inspired by

  Neo-liberal economic policies
• Murray believed that the underclass lacked socialization into the norms and values of mainstream society, portraying them as amoral and lacking traditional family values, particularly citing the rise of lone parent families and absentee fathers
• Murray suggested that fathers in the underclass often shirked the responsibility of parenthood and were absent from their children's lives, leading their sons to be inadequately socialized into their expected roles as providers, which had consequences for society as these boys would drift into criminality as a way of asserting their masculinity
• Murray was critical of the family structure, suggesting that permissive policies of the late 1960s and 1970s had damaged society, leading to an underclass of idle young men inadequately socialized by predominantly female lone parents
• Murray suggested that dependency on the welfare state to provide for certain people in society had led to changes in the social class structure
• Legislation such as the creation of the Child Support Agency encouraged fathers to take responsibility for their children
• Critics suggest that Murray's work is based upon negative stereotypes of working class and ethnic minority groups
• Ways young males earn money

  • Dealing drugs
  • Selling counterfeit goods
  • Working in low-level security such as being a doorman or in a pub or a club
• The existence of an underclass can be seen as reductionist, blaming one section of society for rising crime
• Boys lacking a father figure

  Drift into criminality as a way of asserting their masculinity
• Mori's ideas were applied to social policy particularly by the conservative government in the 1990s under the leadership of John Major
• Murray ignores the structural inequalities brought about by neo-liberal economic policies, including the privatization of traditional male-dominated industries
• The influence of Murray was also felt in the media with an excessive focus on young black males and drawing correlations between statistics and black criminality
• Critics suggest that Murray is victim-blaming, particularly given his stance that poverty is a lifestyle choice
• Working in shadow economies

  Enables them to gain some form of status that reinforces their masculinity without taking on responsibilities or conforming to the norms and values of wider society
• Murray's views are based on a form of biological determinism which is highly controversial
• Policies introduced by David Cameron, including parenting classes for parents of delinquent youths, were influenced by Murray's ideas
• The Conservative party's policy of 'back to basics' aimed to reinforce traditional family values as a solution to rising youth crime from the lower social classes
• Young males lacking motivation and resilience

  Compete with others
• The loss of traditional male-dominated industries to communities, particularly in the north of England and Wales, directly impacts the employment opportunities of young males
• Murray's approach has drawn criticism for blaming those in the lower echelons of society