Left Realism

Cards (7)

  • Subcultures
    • Developed amongst groups who suffer relative deprivation
    • Dress specifically, tattoos.
    • Lea and Young - Argue this does not account for anything.
  • Relative deprivation
    • The poor become aware of their lower class status and the fact they are poor and turn to crime
    • Aware that others have more than them and therefore steal to change this.
  • Marginalisation
    • Refers to groups in society who feel more deprived than others economically, socially and politically.
    • They feel as though they have no voice
  • Lea and Young - Relative deprivation
    • People are more likely to feel resentment to people with money
    • The media heightens peoples awareness of relative deprivation
    • Informal controls on crime are weakened
  • Solutions to crime
    • Community policing
    • Community service
    • CCTV
    • Community centres
    • Ethnic minority police officers
  • Policy
    • Tough on crime and the causes of crime (inequality / discrimination)
  • Weaknesses
    • Not everyone who is relatively deprived commits crime
    • Relies on official statistics, which Marxists would argue are social constructs
    • ignores ruling class crime
    • focuses too much on street crime and ignores that police can be selective in the areas they police.
    • Criticised for racialising crime and turning it back into a ‘black issue’