Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseSocial class is one of the most significant factors that sociologists study when looking at patterns of crime and deviance. Your social class can affect your likelihood of committing certain crimes, being caught and how you're treated by the criminal justice system.
Key Definitions:
Official statistics suggest that working-class people commit more crime than middle and upper-class people. However, sociologists question whether this reflects actual crime rates or just who gets caught and prosecuted.
Many crimes go unreported or unrecorded, especially white-collar crimes committed by the middle and upper classes. This creates a "dark figure of crime" that distorts our understanding of who commits crime.
Marxists argue that capitalism creates conditions that lead to crime across all social classes:
Poverty and inequality push working-class people towards property crimes like theft. Crime becomes a means of survival or resistance against an unfair system.
Competitive pressures and the desire for profit lead middle-class professionals to commit fraud, tax evasion and other white-collar crimes.
The most powerful commit the most harmful crimes (like corporate pollution or dangerous working conditions) but are rarely prosecuted.
Functionalists like Robert Merton believe crime results from a strain between cultural goals (like wealth) and the limited means to achieve them legally:
When working-class people can't achieve success through legitimate means, they may turn to crime as an alternative route. This explains higher crime rates in deprived areas.
People respond to strain in different ways: conformity (accepting goals and means), innovation (accepting goals but using illegal means), ritualism (giving up on goals but following rules), retreatism (rejecting both), or rebellion (creating new goals and means).
While street crimes like burglary and robbery get more media attention, white-collar crimes cost society far more. The 2008 financial crisis, caused by risky and sometimes fraudulent banking practices, cost the UK economy approximately £7.4 trillion according to the Bank of England. By comparison, the total cost of all property crime in the UK is estimated at around £9 billion annually. Yet bankers rarely faced criminal charges, while burglars routinely receive prison sentences.
There's a strong correlation between areas with high poverty rates and higher crime rates. Several factors help explain this connection:
Lack of basic resources can lead to theft and other property crimes as a means of survival or obtaining desired goods.
Feeling deprived compared to others can cause frustration and resentment, potentially leading to crime as a response to perceived injustice.
Fewer educational and employment opportunities in deprived areas can make illegal activities seem like the only path to success.
Research suggests the criminal justice system treats people differently based on their social class:
Working-class areas tend to be more heavily policed. Stop and search practices disproportionately target young working-class people, especially those from minority ethnic backgrounds.
Middle and upper-class defendants can often afford better legal representation. Studies show that working-class defendants receive harsher sentences for similar crimes compared to middle-class offenders.
The 2011 riots across England followed the police shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham, London. While media coverage focused on "mindless criminality," sociologists pointed to underlying factors like poverty, inequality and poor police-community relations in affected areas. The response of the criminal justice system was notably harsh, with many receiving severe sentences for minor offences. For example, a 23-year-old with no previous convictions received a 6-month prison sentence for stealing £3.50 worth of bottled water. This case highlights how class-based perceptions influence both criminal behaviour and the response to it.
While class is important, it doesn't explain all patterns of criminal behaviour:
The digital age has created new opportunities for crime that cross class boundaries:
Access to technology and digital skills varies by class, affecting the types of cybercrime different groups commit. Working-class cybercriminals might engage in basic scams, while middle-class offenders might commit more sophisticated fraud.
Law enforcement struggles to address cybercrime, with resources often focused on high-profile cases or those threatening national security rather than crimes affecting ordinary people.