Verified Document

Social Identity Theory Relating To Juvenile Delinquency Term Paper

Juvenile Delinquency Theory Social identity theory

Postmodernist criminology theory

Underlying assumptions

Postmodernism is a relatively unique theory of criminology: rather than simply trying to understand why people commit crimes and explain such behavior, it questions the notion of what constitutes 'crime' altogether. The underlying assumption of postmodernism is that crime is a culturally constructed concept. [One sentence thesis] For example, in the 1950s, being gay was considered criminal -- today being gay is socially accepted behavior. White-collar crime is often considered less serious than violent crime. Postmodernist theories of criminology suggests that this is not because that white-collar crime is less serious, rather it is because the perpetrators are more apt to be socially powerful and wealthy individuals who can define how crime is constructed.

Similarly, postmodernism would suggest that the social construction of the identity of the juvenile delinquent is laden with class and historical assumptions. Once upon a time, a girl who engaged in sexual activity before marriage would be considered delinquent. Today, that is not the case. Conversely, bullying behavior of teens who are gay, members of religious minorities, or simply 'different' from their peers might have been tacitly condoned at one point. Now such behaviors are clearly labeled as delinquent. The labeling of the criminal thus has more to do with the social identity of the 'labeler' of the crime than the so-called delinquent him or herself.

Structure of theory

Postmodern theories of crime derive their origin not from the discipline of criminology itself, but from literary theory and philosophy. "Post-modernism had its roots in poststructuralist French thought in the late 1960s and 1970s. Its starting point is a disillusion with the modernist...

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

Implicit in even many liberal theories of criminal philosophy was the idea that society was progressively getting 'better' and more enlightened. Postmodernism suggests that this idea is tautological, a delusion. Things seem to be getting 'better' merely because we are judging them by our current standards. For example, while it may seem that society is growing more tolerant and diverse because we are seeing more examples of minorities in the popular media, a postmodernist might point to the growing economic discrepancies between the haves and the have-nots, the incarceration rate of young black men, and question how we judge what a valid definition of progress is as a society. The postmodernist's view of the world is characterized by chaos rather than "coherence and unity" and argues against the "notion of crime [which] at first appears to refer to clear and fixed forms of behavior but on closer interrogation slides away into a plethora of different activities and meanings which have nothing in common other than the fact that the criminal justice system treats them as crimes" (Walton & Young 1998). Even the question of who is assumed to be a criminal committing the same crime is socially constructed -- for example a judge may treat an African-American juvenile dealing drugs as a criminal while a white teen may be treated like an 'addict' and remitted to the care of his parents, provided they find him treatment.
Strengths

According to the report Critical Condition: African-American Youth in the Justice System, racial perceptions have a significant impact upon how individuals are treated in the justice system. African-American youth make up 30% of juvenile arrests even while they make up only 17% of the overall juvenile population. They make up 62% of the under-aged…

Sources used in this document:
References

Barak, Gregg Stuart Henry & Dragan Milovanovic. (2011). Constitutive criminology: An overview of an emerging postmodernist school. Red Feather Journal. Red Feather

Institute Postmodern Criminology Series. Volume 1. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/journal-pomocrim/vol-1-intro/001overview.html

Cowling, Mark. (2006). Postmodern policies. Internet Journal of Criminology.

Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Cowling%20-%20Postmodern%20Policies.pdf
New American Media. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=5ea659e8f4c6a52d0063d8cb61a2736e
Institute Postmodern Criminology Series. Volume 1. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/journal-pomocrim/vol-1-intro/003duellingparadigms.html
Revisited. London: Macmillan. Retrieved October 17, 2011 at http://www.bunker8.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/misc/pmod.htm
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Social Issue Alcohol Drugs Consider a Social
Words: 1118 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Social issue alcohol drugs consider a social issue interested. It human freedom, sexuality, deviance, crime, social mobility, poverty, education, aging, similar issues. Select a specific social issue investigate assignment. Social issue: Drug abuse The social problem of drug addiction is a long-standing one, yet the causes of addiction and the best way to treat addiction still remain difficult questions to answer. One contentious issue pertains to whether addiction is a 'crime' or

Social Issues Are Sometimes Affected by the
Words: 1897 Length: 5 Document Type: Essay

Social issues are sometimes affected by the environmental and economic issues, but they often have a life of their own. The social environment is comprised of a number of factors, including demographics, trends, mores and norms, and social factors that affect the market such as health, education and social mobility (MindTools, 2014). Those factors will affect the economic power of consumers, but also other things like knowledge that will affect

Social Problem of Homelessness Teaching Social Issues
Words: 584 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Paper

Social Problem of Homelessness Teaching Social Issues Homelessness is a social problem that is prevalent around the world and particularly in the United States of America. Homelessness has existed for much of "civilized" human history, with sharp increases in eras of history such as the Industrial Revolution. In the last two centuries, homelessness and changed and expanded, though there remains a significant amount of research to be done. Professionals who study and

Social Issues Surrounding Migrants in
Words: 3453 Length: 12 Document Type: Assessment

Other issues arise in the clustering of immigrants around the major urban areas, thus pulling to much from the grid, taxing the already marginalized system, and allowing an unprescedented demand in new housing. Experts acknolwedge that this increased level of housing needs cause even short-term visias to now be suspect in contributed to the gridlock. Additionally one of the conundrums that support a change in policy focuses on the type

Social Issues and the Myth of Luck
Words: 708 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

Social Issues and the Myth of Luck in "Rocking- Horse Winner" by DH Lawrence Rocking- Horse Winner" is a short story by DH Lawrence that illustrates the importance of social status and the myth of luck in Paul's family, as well as in the society that their family live in. The short story deals with these two important themes, and each theme is dependent on each other, since it is evident,

Social Issue of Body Image
Words: 2588 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Indeed, if there is only one type of beautiful person, it contributes to increased insecurity in women who happen to be a different shape or size from the "ideal" women perpetuated in the popular culture. According to Dank, Norton, Olds and Olive (1996), there has a lengthy association between dolls and ideal proportions, a relationship going back to Greek times. For example, pre-18th century dolls were manufactured so as to

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now