Defining What is The Importance of Criminology in Our Society

Introduction

Criminology is a discipline where there is an accumulation of centuries of belief, norms, and laws of various societies. 'Recent reformation, criminology can now be understood as the systematic study of crime, criminals, criminal law, criminal justice, and criminalization' (Wilson, 2015). Since the 18th century, the classical school of criminology has been used to compare and understand how the study of criminology is changed, as social theorists evolve the meaning of 'criminology' with the societies' needs and cohesion. Considering what is the importance of criminology in our society, it serves as a crucial tool to analyze and address the complex dynamics of crime, criminal behavior, and the legal systems that shape our communities.

Evolving Definitions of Criminology in Society

Criminology carries out the study of criminal behaviors as it is sporadic and unpredictable. Integrated theories allow an insight why some may commit crime, which at times may connect with societies current issues, and when an explanation cannot be given with existing theories then we see new branches emerge in criminology. Explanations from pre-feminism criminology, branches of feminism criminology such as Marxist, Masculinity and criminology and intersectionality concerning black feminist criminology will be explore in the essay and give an insight into how much the course of study in criminology has changed. Before the emergence of feminism women accepted what was written down in the social norm book: ‘seen and not heard’. No movements or rights helped women to be free from such force of control, as before the 19th century the word ‘feminism’ wasn’t acknowledged by many. Men’s privilege and women’s subordination led to some major changes and the “vocabulary of feminism connoted a far broader sociopolitical critique, a critique that was a woman-centered and woman-celebratory in its onslaught on male privilege” (Offen,1988) which led feminism to receive scrutiny.

Feminism and Criminology: Unveiling Gender Inequalities

Feminism encompasses “both an ideology and a movement for socio-political change based on a critical analysis of male privilege and women's subordination within any given society” (Offen,1988) Women are oppressed through and in every institution where they are under the control of men, as socially desirable actions and reactions are expected from them. A common goal: destroying the inequalities between men and women, espouses a feminist. Feminists have raised issues in three specific areas: controlling men’s violence towards women, building theories of gender and crime and gender inequality in the criminal justice system. It was argued that “criminology would be the study by men of men, though these men were not to be regarded as interesting because they were men, but rather because they were criminals”(Naffine,1996)Such androcentric discipline has led feminists to find alternative routes within criminology: feminist criminology and led to the social and political emancipation of women. Women claim that they have been culturally marginalised because men are the nucleus of the society and therefore women are subjugated to the will of men.

Due to the existence of male supremacy, Marxist feminists would argue that while women are to gain equality such as enter the male-dominated fields “women continue to struggle for equality in a world where the effects of the glass ceiling” (Mallicot,2018) are in place. The glass ceiling acts as a barrier in the career of women achieving higher than men and maintaining hierarchical powers. Marxist feminist theory “holds that men are often the ruling class capitalist and they also often occupy high-level positions in the production process”(Case et al,2017) Therefore a woman has limited social mobility and are at the lower end of the social ladder as gender oppression is in a systematic way, which leads onto why some individuals may commit crime out of poverty. Women are likely to experience the “feminisation of poverty-women experience greater depth/severity of poverty than men”(Chant,2007) Not being economically stable leads an individuals to determine their propensity to commit the crime, as they face status frustration- that leads to them committing crime, as immediate gratification becomes the only way to get good. Which is an explanation as to why a woman may commit crime. However, the study of masculinity has argued that feminism is a dogmatic ideology.

Hegemonic Constructs of Criminology

As all the attention has been around the idea that women are consistently oppressed and are held back by social structures that are in place. Men who question feminism would be regarded as sexist and delusive, not allowing masculinism to portray their arguments and theories as to why some things are the way they are. Their arguments as to why men may commit a crime is that crime is “doing masculinity” (Messerschmidt, Tomsen2014) Masculinity then becomes a crucial construct when it comes to understanding both crime and the undesirable influences that societal dominance of masculinity has on the structural sexual identities. As the bases of their sexual identity; socialisation is where they are taught to show aggression and toughness (innate biological masculinity). “According to Whitehead and Barret (2001), language not only serves to inform concepts of masculinity but also serves as a tool through which gender identities can be performed, labelled and Interpreted”(McFarlane,2013)Primary socialisation directs an individual’s identity, in this instance, their masculinity according to what is biologically and socially accepted from a man and therefore an individual has to “protest for masculinity”. The “hegemonic forms of masculinity” (Connel,1987) are therefore seen to be what is seen to be the ‘ideal man’ and that a man should follow two routes; domination of women and hierarchy of intermale dominance. These concepts have given colour to the ideology that crime is male-orientated and hegemonic masculinity provides a stepping into the world of men and their intentions behind committing the crime.

Conclusion

Thou criminology has allowed us to understand why men commit crime other arguments for masculinity are not just about committing violent crimes but rather showing violence in sport. Men started to have a fear of the “loss of male power and privilege - especially among middle-class men - which formed the basis for the popularization of violent sports”(Messener,1990) Sports can be argued to be another construction of masculinity; men would marginalise and exclude women through dominance but sport allows to show their hierarchy within the men as well and is about the survival of the fittest.

Works Cited

1. Wilson, James Q., and James Petersilia. 'Criminology.' (2015).

2. Offen, Karen M. 'Defining feminism: A comparative historical approach.' Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 14.1 (1988): 119-157.

3. Naffine, Ngaire. 'Feminism and criminology.' Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 29.1 (1996): 7-27.

4. Mallicoat, Stacy L. 'Feminist criminology.' The Oxford Handbook of Criminological Theory. (2018): 439-456.

5. Case, Anne, Angela Fertig, and Christina Paxson. 'The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance.' Journal of Health Economics 26.1 (2007): 68-88.

6. Chant, Sylvia. 'Gender, generation and poverty: exploring the feminization of poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America.' Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007.

7. Messerschmidt, James W., and Stephen Tomsen. 'Gender and crime.' International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences. 2nd ed. Vol. 10. Elsevier, 2015.

8. McFarlane, Colleen. 'Language and masculinity: the portrayal of men in English-language media.' English Today 29.03 (2013): 58-63.

9. Connell, R.W. 'Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics.' Polity Press, 1987.

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10. Messner, Michael A. 'When bodies are weapons: Masculinity and violence in sport.' International Review for the Sociology of Sport 25.3 (1990): 203-218