Class and Crime / different social classes

Higher classes/ white collar

working classes/ street crime

Functionalism: strain theory

Robert Reiner- there is no limit to monetary success.

Functionalism: strain theory

Robert Merton- w/c individuals cannot attain cultural goals by legitimate means(, so turn to crime to achieve them.

Functionalism: different association

Edwin Sutherland- different association into cooperate crime could be part and parcel of the culture of some businesses.

For example corporate lawyers may look for for ways to pay less company tax, which may be on the cusp of legality/ illegality.

Functionalism: subcultural theory

Cohen- w/c individuals boys may suffer from status frustration and tur to crime as part of an alternative status hierarchy

Miller- young, w/c men may be exaggerating aspects of working culture called focal concers

Marxism: Criminogenic capitalism

Gordon- Criminogenic capitalist culture encourages those already rich to further enrich themselves through illicit means.

Marxism: criminogenic capitalism

Gordon- criminogenic capitalism brings about cultures of envy and hostility; the w/c is driven to crim as a consequence of capitalism. They are alienated in a capitalism society and commit non-utilitarian crimes to vent their frustration.

Marxism: white collar crime

Croall- the powerful have greater chance to commit crime and to cover it up.

Neo-Marxism: The new Criminology

Taylor, Walton and Young- the w/c deliberately choose to commit crime as a political response to their perceived exploitation. Street crime is therefore a political act aimed at redistributing wealth from rich to poor.

Marxism: social construction of the law

Steven Box- the social construction of the law and selective policing encourages such crimes because the perpetrators are less likely to be detected , charged and if caught to receive severe sentences.

Left realists: relative deprivation

Lea and Young- the w/c crime is caused by relative deprivation and marginalisation

Hegemonic masculinity

James Messerchmidt - w/c crime is encouraged by socialisation into hegemonic forms of masculinity

Right realism: underclass and control theories

Murry- a criminal underclass is responsible for most street crime

Travis Hirschi- w/c criminals are more likely to lack important controls or bonds in their lives.

Interactionalist: labelling theory

Becker- the w/c is unfairly targeted by the CJS. They are also less likely to negotiate their way out of justice. The police discriminate them by patrolling w/c areas more intensively, resulting in more w/c crime in crime statistics.