CRIM1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7,8: Shoplifting, Masculinity, Institutional Racism
30 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
White, R and Perrone, S (2015) Crime, Criminality and Criminal Justice, Oxford
University Press.
Chapter 7: Crimes and Social Inequality
Introduction
Contrasts of poverty and wealth are at the core of both criminality and criminal justice.
Thinking about InequalitySocial difference is constructed through a variety of
institutional and social practices.
There is often an intersection of diverse social structural positions. This is reflected in
attempts to map these interactions according to notions such as class, gender and
ethnicity.A range of social inequalities are identified as:
oInequalities associated with class relations and economic processes – poverty.
oInequalities associated with gender relations and sexuality.
oInequalities associated with ethnic and cultural relations, racist ideologies.
oInequalities associated with community relations and state political structures.
oInequalities associated with age - access to resources, welfare, wages
Varieties of inequality and social exclusion
These inequalities cut across each other and intersect in many different ways. Where
you live, access to education. Women suffer from the oppressive nature of male
dominated institutions and certain types of male violence. Significant variance exists in
the levels of inequality within community subgroupings, themselves generally
considered disadvantaged, and these differences may be the product of variable socio
economic conditions experienced over time.
There are many different types of socio exclusion and social marginalization. However,
some are more profound than others. Colonialism: the process by which indigenous
people have been dispossessed of their lands and culture by the invading culture.
Colonialism has had a severe impact on Indigenous cultures and ways of life as have its
continuing effects of discriminatory policies and practices on Indigenous life chances
within mainstream social institution.
Five Types of Capitals
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Different types of capital are produced and reproduced in the family. Social resources
can thus be conceptualized in terms of five types of capital.
1. Social capital: valued interpersonal relationships and connections both within and
across social structures, which generate aggregate resources; a distinction can be
made here between bonding capital and bridging capital.
2. Economic capital: the financial resources or the means to acquire financial resources
to secure not only the necessities but also the luxuries of everyday living.
3. Cultural capital: legitimate competence or status that comes from institutional
knowledge of one’s cultural identity, in the form of art, education and language,
which can be transmitted from one individual to another.
4. Political capital: the capacity to exert influence over, or to exploit political processes,
in order to secure desired objectives and outcomes
5. Symbolic capital: an overarching resource that brings prestige and honour gained
from the collective, legitimate and recognized culmination of other four forms of
capital.
The importance of Class Analysis
The multiple differences that inform social experience call for a conceptual stance when
it comes to understanding and interpreting social inequality.
Other social divisions in society are not class divisions per se. the nature of these
divisions is nevertheless shaped.
Inequality and discrimination are sustained by practices and decisions based upon class
interests.
Community Resources, Crime and Criminality
The Labour Market
It is the structure and dynamics of the labour market that determine the kinds of pay
and conditions attach to them. issues of low wages, part time work opportunities and
poor working conditions affect the amount of income available to teenagers.
In 2014, just under 30% of young people aged 15-17% who were employed, worked
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
part time hours.
Additionally, there has been substantial growth in industries offering part time
employment, such as retail and hospitality.
Family Resources
People’s standard of living is determined largely by their access to economic resources
and the opportunities for consumption this provides. In addition to labour market
participant, the family is also a source of financial and other types of social support.
Family resources need to be considered in aggregate terms, levels of regular income, as
well as accumulated wealth in the form of bank balances, shares, superannuation and
property holdings.
Differences in family resources translate to differences in local services, access to
transport, leisure activities, job opportunities, neighbourhood security and policing,
schools and housing options.
Approx. 1 in 10 Australians live in the most disadvantaged 10% of neighbourhoods.
State Resources
The state does this routinely in the form of corporate and middleclass welfare. Social
welfare support and payments are pitched at the lowest level possible so as to serve as
a disincentive to reliance upon such payments.
The institutionalization of marginalization is reflected in the punitive and miserly
structure of welfare allocations and the clear connection between welfare dependence
and poverty.
In 2010, 37% of those on social security payments lived below the poverty line
Unemployment
The phenomenon of unemployment is the biggest single factor in the transformation of
the relationship between the market, state and informal exchanges, insofar as it is the
labour market that most determines individual, family and community capacities, and
wellbeing in a wage based economy.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
