A2 AQA Sociology

1. Globalisation
Green Crime
Human Rights
State Crime

2. Contents
1. Globalisation: Slide 3
2. Green Crime: Slide 9
3. State Crime: Slide 18
4. Human Rights: Slide 23
5. State Crime (continued): Slide 25

3. Crime and Globalisation
Held et al suggests there has been a globalisation of crime (a growing
interconnectedness of crime across national borders). Causes include ICT,
the influence of the global mass media, cheap air travel and businesses
being able to relocate to other countries where profits will be greater.
The global crime economy has both a demand and supply side. It could
not function without the supply side which provides drugs, sex workers
and other goods which are demanded by the West. This supply is linked to
globalisation. For example, in Third World countries, there are large
populations of impoverished peasants who see drug cultivation as an
attractive option that requires little investment in technology and
commands high prices. In Colombia, 20% of the population depend on
cocaine production for their livelihood.

4. Crime and Globalisation
Castells notes there is a global crime economy worth over £1 trillion per
annum. It takes many forms; for example…
 Arms trafficking
 Trafficking in nuclear materials
 Smuggling of illegal immigrants
 Sex tourism
 Cyber-crimes
 Green crimes
 International terrorism
 The drugs trade
 Money laundering

5. Crime and Globalisation
Globalisation produces new insecurities and a mentality of
‘risk consciousness’ (risk is now seen as global). Whether
such fears are rational or not is a different matter. Much of
our knowledge of risks comes from the media, who
exaggerate and therefore create moral panics about
immigration (for example) as a ‘threat’. This is fuelled by
politicians which had led to ethnic hate crime. One result is
the intensification of social control nationally. The UK has
toughened its border control and there is no longer legal
limits on the length of immigration detention.

6. Crime, Globalisation and
Capitalism
Taylor argues globalisation has led to changes in the pattern and extend
of crime at both ends of the social spectrum. It has allowed transnational
corporations to switch manufacturing to less developed countries,
producing job insecurity, unemployment and poverty. Deregulation also
means the government have little control over their economies and state
spending on welfare has therefore declined. However, globalisation has
also created criminal opportunities for the elite groups (e.g. avoiding tax,
fraudulent crimes, recruiting ‘flexible workers’). Marketisation has
encouraged people to see themselves as individual consumers which
means people are likely to turn to crime. The lack of legitimate job
opportunities destroys self-respect and drives the unemployed to look for
illegitimate jobs.
However, Taylor’s theory doesn’t explain how these changes make people
behave in criminal ways.

7. ‘Glocal’ Crime
Hobbs and Dunningham found the way crime is organised is linked to
the economic changes brought by globalisation. Individuals have contacts
who act as ‘hubs’ around a loose-knit network of other individuals seeking
opportunities. These new forms sometimes have international links but
crime is still rooted in its local context. This leads Hobbs and
Dunningham to conclude crime as a ‘glocal’ system; but the form it takes
will vary between places according to local conditions even when globally
influenced. They argue the changes associated with globalisation have led
to changes in the patterns of crime. Although, it is not clear whether such
patterns are new, nor that the older ones have disappeared; they may
have co-existed.

8. McMafia
Glenny describes McMafia as the organisation that emerged in Russia
and Easter Europe following the fall of communism. She traces the origin
of transnational, organised crime to the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Under communism, the Soviet state has regulated prices of items, but
the fall of communism meant the government deregulated most sectors
of economy except for natural resources. As a result, former communist
officials could by oil for next to nothing. Selling it abroad for profit, these
individuals became known as the new capitalist class (“Oligarchs”).
Meanwhile, the collapse of the communist state heralded a period of
increasing disorder. Capitalists turned to ‘Mafias’ to protect their wealth.
These new Russian Mafias were purely economic organisations formed to
pursue self-interest ‘Chechen Mafia’ became a brand name sold to
protection rackets in other towns. Billionaires had found now found
wealth protection and a means of moving their wealth out of the country.

9. Green Crime
Green crime can be defined as crime against the
environment. Most of the threats to the environment are
human-made. Beck argues that in today’s late modern
society, we can provide adequate resources for everyone.
The increased productivity and technology that sustains
these resources have created ‘manufactured risks’ which
could involve harm to the environment and consequences
for humanity. Many of these risks are global, so Beck
describes society as a ‘global risk society’.

10. Criminology
What if the pollution that causes global warming or acid
rain is perfectly legal and no crime has been committed?
There are two opposed answers to this question…
 Traditional Criminology
 Green Criminology

11. Traditional Criminology
Traditional Criminology’s subject matter is defined by
criminal laws. Situ and Emmons define green crime as “an
unauthorised act or omission that violates the law”.
 Advantage: it has a clearly defined subject matter
 Disadvantage: it accepts official definitions shaped by
powerful groups for their own interest

12. Green Criminology
Green criminologists take a more radical approach. White argues green
crime is any action that harms the environment and/or the (non) human
animals within it regardless of whether a law has been broken or not.
Green criminology is a form of transgressive criminology – it includes new
issues and oversteps boundaries.
Different countries have different laws so what is a crime in one country
may not be a crime in another. Therefore, legal definitions can’t provide a
consistent standard of harm. Green criminologists can develop a ‘global
perspective’.
Green criminologists take the same view as Marxists. They believe
powerful interests are able to define in their own interests what is
unacceptable environmental harm.

13. Two Views of Harm (White)
 Anthropocentric: this view assumes humans have the
right to dominate nature for their own ends and out
economic growth before the environment
 Ecocentric: humans and their environment are
interdependent, so environmental harm hurts humans
too

14. Types of Green Crimes
South classifies green crime into two types…
 Primary
 Secondary

15. Primary Crimes
“Crimes that result directly from the destruction and
degradation of the earth’s resources”. Examples include…
 Air pollution
 Water pollution
 Deforestation
 Species decline and animal rights

16. Secondary Crime
 State violence against oppositional groups (e.g. Rainbow
Warrior)
 Hazardous waste and organised crime: the disposal of
toxic waste is highly profitable but the safe and legal
disposing of it is very expensive. This creates an
incentive to dump illegally in Third World countries
(although in some countries it isn’t illegal as they lack
the legislation to outlaw it)

17. Evaluation of Green Criminology
 Pro: recognises the growing importance of
environmental issues and the need to address the harms
and risks of environmental damage to (non) humans
 Cons: by not focusing on legally defined crimes, it is
hard to define the boundaries of its field of study clearly.
Critics say defining these boundaries is a matter of
values so it can’t be established objectively

18. State Crimes
Chambliss argues sociologists should investigate “state-
organised crime” as well as the crimes of capitalism.
Green and Ward define state crime as “illegal or deviant
activities perpetuated by, or with the complicity of, state
agencies”

19. The Categories of State Crime
McLaughlin identifies four categories...
 Political Crimes
 Crimes by Security and Police Forces
 Economic Crimes
 Social and Cultural Crimes

20. State Crime
State crime is one of the most serious forms of crime for
two reasons...
 The scale of state crime
 The state is the source of law

21. The Scale of State Crime
Michalowski and Kramer note “Great power and great
crimes are inseparable”
The state’s monopoly of violence gives it the potential to
inflict massive harm whilst being well placed to conceal
its crimes or evade punishment. The principle of national
sovereignty means it is difficult for the state to
intervene, despite the existence of international
conventions and laws.
(e.g. Khmer Rouge government of Pol Pot)

22. The State is the Source of Law
It is the state’s role to define what is criminal and to
manage the criminal justice system and prosecute
offenders. State crimes undermine the system of justice.
Its power to make the law means it can avoid defining
its own harmful actions as criminal.

23. Human Rights
There is no single, universal agreed list which constitutes
human rights. Most definitions include...
 Natural Rights (liberty, freedom of speech etc.)
 Civil Rights (vote, education etc.)

24. Crime as a Violation of Human
Rights
 The Schwendingers argue we should define crime in
terms of the violation of the human rights. From a
human rights perspective, the state can be seen as a
perpetrator of crime and not simply as the authority that
defines and punishes crime. If we accept a legal
definition, we risk becoming subservient to the state.
Their view is another example of transgressive
criminology.
 Cohen criticises this view. Whilst the ‘gross’ violations of
human rights are clearly crimes, other acts are not self-
evidently criminal even if we find them morally
unacceptable. Other critics argue that there is only
limited agreement on what counts as human rights.

25. State Crime
Cohen still sees the issue of human rights and state crime
as increasingly central to both political debate and
criminology as a result of
 Increased focus upon victims
 Growing impact of the international human rights
movement

26. The Spiral of Denial
Cohen argues the spiral of denial is when dictatorships
deny their deviant actions in more complex ways.
1. ‘It didn’t happen’
2. ‘If it did happen, “it” is something else’
3. ‘Even if it is what you say it is, it’s justified’

27. Neutralisation Theory
Sykes and Matza identify five neutralisation techniques
that delinquents use to justify their deviant behaviour...
 Denial of Victim
 Denial of Injury
 Denial of Responsibility
 Condemning the Condemners
 Appeal to Higher Loyalty

28. Social Conditions of State Crime
It is assumed that those who carry out crimes such as torture are
psychopaths. Research in fact shows they aren’t. So, sociologists believe
such actions are a part of a role into which individuals are socialised.
Kelman and Hamilton identify three features that produce crimes of
obedience
 Authorisation (when told to do something by someone of authority,
moral principles are replaced by a duty to obey)
 Routinisation (there is a strong pressure to turn the act into routine
which individuals can perform in a detached manner)
 Dehumanisation (the enemy is described as animals etc)

29. Social Conditions of State Crime
Some argue modern society creates the conditions for such
crime on a vast scale. Bauman believes the Holocaust
was a product of modernity. For the Nazis to be able to
commit mass murder, many of the features of modernity
were necessary (e.g. Science and the division of labour).
The key to understanding the Holocaust, according to
Bauman, is the ability of modern society to dehumanise
the victims and turn mass murder into a routine
administrative task,

30. Examples of Crimes
 Chernobyl Disaster:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/4569
57/html/nn1page1.stm
 Bhopal Disaster: http://www.bhopal.com/
 The Rainbow Warrior:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/about/ships/th
e-rainbow-warrior/
 Khmer Rouge Government of Pol Pot:
http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/cambodian-
history/khmer-rouge-history/