Realist Theories

• Young suggested crime was a result of multiple factors interacting with each other - multiple aetiology
• Relative deprivation - despite increasing quality of life, the media pushes images of higher and higher affluence. Even people in the middle class will strive for parity with peers and thus seek greater wealth
• Subcultures - collectivism provided relief from unequal society. Still subscribe to goals and values like consumerism and materialism
• Marginalisation - minority groups are 'left behind' in society and the frustration from this leads to crime
• Left realists believe that crime is a serious problem and affects the most vulnerable groups in society, such as old people
• Left realists say gradual reform by tackling inequality in society will address the causes of crime, and this is the most effective approach
• Police should form positive relationships with the public so that the public trust them enough to depend on them and communicate
• Left realism has been influential in politics, particularly under New Labour
• Some argue left realism is largely theoretical with little evidence
• Some would say recorded crime has fallen despite capitalism being more impactful than ever, but the dark figure of crime that goes unreported may tell a different story
• Hughes argues left realism does not explain why some people experience relative deprivation but do not commit crime
• Left realists agree with Marxists that inequality creates crime but dislike that Marxism romanticises crime
• Right realists think crime is a problem that undermines social cohesion, and think we should focus on making crime harder to commit and get away with
• Wilson suggested rational choice theory - that criminals weigh up the risks and rewards of crime and come to a logical decision. This can be seen with criminals choosing 'easy targets' eg in theft
• Kellings and Wilson - broken window theory. Higher crime in neighbourhoods with falling standards
• Hernstein and Wilson - biological differences. Some people are biologically predisposed to crime: sometimes socialisation does not work on people who are impulsive or unintelligent
• Right realism is contradictory because it suggests crime is both a biological predisposition, but also requires human agency
• Rational choice cannot explain crimes where people are not acting logically, eg violence when inebriated
• Right realism ignores structural inequality in society, as well as some types of crime such as white-collar crime
• Murray said boys were not being socialised properly by single mothers, and that this led them to crime