From The Student Room

TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Sociology > AQA Sociology A2 - Crime and Deviance - Gender and Crime

---

Contents 1 Wealth 2 =Perspectives 2.1 Functionalists (Structuralist consensus) 2.2 Marxist (structuralist conflict) 2.3 Neo Marxists 2.4 Weaknesses of Marxism 2.5 Weber (strucuralist conflict) 2.5.1 Weakness of Weberian theory 2.6 Feminism (structuralist conflict) 2.6.1 Radical Feminism 2.7 =Marxist 2.7.1 Black 3 Poverty 3.1 Definitions 3.1.1 Absolute 3.1.2 Relative 3.1.3 Subjective 3.2 Explanations of poverty 3.2.1 New right 3.3 Marxist 3.4 Weberian 3.5 Feminists 3.6 Ethnicity and poverty 4 Comments

Wealth

1996 the richest 1% owned 19% of all wealth

problems measuring wealth;

1. has many varied sources so difficulty in measuring ( shares , land etc)
2. problems with rich lists( The times rich list) no access to bank accounts so true wealth can only be estimated
3. Estates method- through the amount of tax; many of the richest avoid this tax , eg giving their money to a relative or leaving the UK to avoid tax
4. Wealth can be measured through Surveys; has low response rates and validity problems

• Between 1979-1999 average income rose by 55%
• But in this time top 10% of earners had an 82% rise in their average income
• The bottom 10% of earners had a 6% rise in income
• Poorest 50% of the population own 6 % of the wealth (2002)
• Most wealthy 1% owned 23% (2002)
• Everyone has become richer but the rich have a higher share of the wealth since the 1980’s

=Perspectives

Functionalists (Structuralist consensus)

Functionalists believe that everything in society has a purpose. For example the education system prepares students for their role in the workplace.

In Wealth Davis and Moore and Parsons argue that the wealthy earn it through their hard work. Not everyone has the talent to succeed and so the best few will do better then the majority.

According to Functionalists society is meritocratic where everyone has an equal chance of succeeding.

With poverty those that lack the skills which their society requites will fall into poverty.

Marxist (structuralist conflict)

Marx stated that society is based upon a division between the rich minority (bourgeoisie), and the poor majority (proletariat). The bourgeoisie own the means of production and exploit the proletariat who work for them for less then what their labour is worth.

Marx also mentions a third class the petit bourgeoisie which is made of the middle class ( doctors, lawyers etc) who may not own the means of production but have a higher class position then the proletariat. When revolution came and the proletariat rose up against the bourgeoisie the middle classes would choose what side they are on

The bourgeoisie use agents of socialisation according to Marx to hide the exploitation of the Proletariat through agents of socialisation like the mass media and religion (which he described as the Opium of the masses) this creates a false class consciousness.

Neo Marxists

Kincaid argues that capitalist industries rely on cheap labour to increase profits. Goods are sold at more then the cost of producing them so workers can not afford the goods they create.

Westergaard and Resler argue that the Welfare state only blunts the edge of poverty and does not deal with the fact that the rich own most of the wealth (top 1% owns 23% ).

Weaknesses of Marxism

1. the petit bourgeoisie still exist and have grown
2. Other divisions are important; gender, ethnicity, age, etc
3. False class consciousness can be challenged , taxation does redistribute wealth ( taxes the middle classes)

Weber (strucuralist conflict)

Weber describes Marxism as too simplistic. The means of production is not the only form of high status (as oppose to class), other factors are important and power can be drawn from including religion (eg the pope in Italy) , property ( aristocracy), gender or ethnicity.

Weber stated that the middle classes would grow. It has so Weber’s theory has been influential. The NS SEC is based on Weber theory taking into account not just pay, but also conditions of work and status. A Class is a group with the same market situation and the class they belong to is determined by their bargaining power. Not just through the means of production but through other means like qualifications.

Weakness of Weberian theory

Neo- Marxists; fundamental ideas held by Weber are based on occupational groups, thus still about class.

Positivists would criticise the lack of clear conclusions ( Interpretivists would praise the empathy in his methods)

Functionalists would say that society is meritocratic.

Marxists would say Weber misses false class consciousness and that there is still an exploited group (the proletariat)

Feminism (structuralist conflict)

Four types; Liberal, Radical, Marxist, Black

Liberal; seek to gain equality between men and women through political action (eg Oakley )

Strengths

• Liberal feminists are influential; for example the equal pay act 1970.
• Liberal feminism challenges existing values.

Weaknesses

• does not have as developed theories on gender inequality like radical, Marxist and black feminists do.
• Ignores the diversity of women (black feminism)
• Radical feminists argue that they are not forceful enough

Radical Feminism

Radical feminists believe female oppression subordination are the direct result of a male dominated society (patriarchy). They focus on extreme forms of patriarchy including rape, domestic abuse.

An example of a Radical Feminist is Firestone who argues that women’s oppression originates in their biology when they give birth.

Strengths

• Radical feminists open up sensitive topics

Weaknesses

• Views are too extreme. They believe All men are at fault.
• Less influential
• Does not consider the diversity of women (black feminism)

=Marxist

Gender inequality with the workplace, women are the reserve army of labour. Fill in for men when required ( the Two world wars)

Coontz + Henderson; men owned property and kept women as the maintainers of the home.

Strengths

• builds on the idea of Marxism and incorporates the ideas of gender inequality.

Weakness

• ignores the exploitation of ethnic minorities (black feminism)
• is not focused; is the main oppression capitalism or patriarchy?

Black

Points out that most feminist theory focuses on white women. Black Feminists focus on ethnic minorities.

Safia-Mirza; She said that Afro-Caribbean girls in school often exceed expectations

Strengths

• somewhat reflects the diversity of women
• focuses on the problems of ethnic minorities such as racism, poor education, poverty, which “white feminists” do not.

Weaknesses

• Ethnicity has simply moved from white women to Afro-Caribbean women. Other ethnic minorities still under represented.

Poverty

Definitions

Absolute

The poor are those who lack the basic necessities to survive, basically food, shelter and clothing and was defined by Rowntree at the turn of the twentieth century. This was used as the basis for the welfare state.

Produces smallest number in poverty, currently 6 million

Strength

• easy to use and to provide solutions (eg the NHS)
• can be used to measure poverty in an objective way

Weakness

• what people “need” can be debated
• Rowntree included items of no nutritional value for example tea

Relative

The poor are those who lack what others in a community take for granted. Put forward by Townsend. He produced a deprivation index based on 12 items. European union has used this definition and says it has 14 million poor

Strength

• reflects the idea that poverty is a reflection of how someone participates in society.

Weakness

• Piachard (1987) the deprivation index ignores the fact that people may choose not to have certain items
• Wedderburn argues that the list compiled by Townsend was based on his personal opinion

Subjective

Mack and Lansley investigated what the community took for granted in the breadline Britain surveys. They came up with a list of items that the sample picked and if they did not have 2/3 of these items they were in poverty.

Explanations of poverty

New right

Murray; Underclass; sect of society that has different norms and values to the rest of society. Lack of male role models result in lack of primary socialisation and thus they can not hold down a job. The welfare state allows them to sponge off the rest of society

Evaluation; divorce the biggest cause of single parents. Single parent benefit has been decreased but the numbers of single parents have increased

Buckingham; 5.5% of sample of which 66% lone mothers. Sample unrepresentative 1958, does not reflect diverse society of nowadays.

Lewis - Cultural factors; poor are fatalistic and are marginalized (evaluation sample from Mexico absolute poverty)

Joseph - cycle of deprivation

Marsland - benefits; culture of dependency

Evaluation

• Valentine – no marginalisation as Black communities work with local Government; self help
• Kempson – employment seen as best way to escape poverty
• NEETS- department for education and skills report

Each NEET dropping out of school will cost the taxpayer approximately £97,000

• 22% of NEETS single mothers
• 75% of people appearing in youth courts are NEETS
• Poverty trap

Dean and Taylor-Gooby- They tested the underclass theory. Only 16% of sample showed little interest in working (14 out of 85).

Poverty trap is where the money earned through working is not significantly more then what benefits pay and so there is no incentive for the poor to come off benefits

Evaluation

• + Marxists; proletariats receive low pay
• functionalists , speaks of incentives
• interpretevists would like the empathy gained with the sample

• - sample is not representative; two prosperous areas
• - the coding of questionnaires is subjective
• - validity as the sample may lie due to the sensitive topic

Marxist

Society fails the poor,

Situational Constraints; material factors are to blame for poverty such as lack of educational opportunities, poor housing , greater chance of illness not their culture as the New right say.

Coates and Silburn said that poverty was the result of multiple deprivation.

The poor had;

• Low incomes
• Lived in sub standard housing
• Had poor diets
• Children went to school with poor facilities

“Poverty is the inevitable consequence of class conflict”

Weberian

Poverty is more complicated then just being based on your position in the economy. The lack of bargaining power and status would result in poverty. Miliband argued that the poor were the most likely to have poor wages due to a lack of bargaining power

• Evaluation- Weber does not refer specifically to poverty
• Marxists would argue that he ignores the class conflict
• Feminists point out the position of women

Feminists

More women in poverty; 24% earn less then half the median wage compared to 20% of men.

In the household Graham found that half of women who divorced thought they were financially better off then when they were married. Kempson found that women deprive themselves of food and heating to save money from the family.

• In employment the equal pay act 1975, but not enforced properly
• 2006 women earn 17% less then men
• Women dominate part time work less rights, lower pay

Ethnicity and poverty

Ethnic minorities more likely to be in poverty; 38% of Bangladeshi’s/ Pakistanis earn less then half of the median wage compared to 8% of white people

White people have lowest level of unemployment.

Reasons;

1. Human capital (education),
2. Geographical problems (immigration),
3. Poor health,
4. Lack of childcare provision,
5. Low levels of mobility (transport)
6. Racism

Comments

• Suitable for: OCR A2 Sociology
• Written by: bengal_tiger
• From this thread.