1. A02 Exam Evaluation Point Quick recap on women as Criminals
Factors that label a woman as ‘bad’ include anything that implies she is a ‘bad Mother’ (neglect, abuse, children in care, etc.) or promiscuous (prostitute, teenage mother, children from several fathers, etc.
Such women seem to be treated quite harshly by the agents of social control because they do not conform to expected norms of femininity.
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man as criminals

2. Introduction
Official Crime Statistics (OCR) revealed how recorded crime appears to be a masculine activity (87% of all recorded crime)
Crime, delinquency and deviance viewed as a (working-class) “male thing”, that usually ends as they ‘settled down’.
Why is this?
What other theorists/ theories have we covered that look at male working class deviance?
Subcultural theory
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man as criminals

3. Today’s tasks About KEY THINKER James Messerschmidt
1) Explain Messerschmidt’s ideas about 'normative masculinity‘ How does this relate to power, crime and gender?
2) Explain Messerschmidt’s study into Middle class, why does he think middle class men commit crime? What types of crime do they commit?
3) Explain Messerschmidt’s study into working class men, why does he think they commit crime, what types of crime do they commit?
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man as criminals

4. James Messerschmidt
James Messerschmidt (1993, pictured left) argues there is a 'normative masculinity' (what a real man should be), highly valued by most men.
He argues that masculinity is something males have to constantly work at.
A businessman can achieve masculinity through the exercise of power over women in the workplace, whereas a man with no power at work may express his masculinity through control of women in the domestic situation – e.g. domestic violence.
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man as criminals

5. Messerschmidt: Middle-class Males
Middle-class boys achieve educational success but at the expense of emasculation.
In school they adopt an 'accommodating masculinity',
But compensate for this out of school by adopting a more 'oppositional masculinity': engaging in pranks, excessive drinking and 'high spirits'.
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man as criminals

6. Messerschmidt: Working-class Males
Working-class males adopt an 'oppositional masculinity', both inside and outside school, which is more aggressive in nature.
Young Black males can be sucked into property and violent crime as ways of enhancing 'hegemonic masculinity‘ (Bob Connell). This mean the idea of men as tough, powerful and in control
Messerschmidt notes how rape and pimping is sometimes used to express control over women.
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man as criminals

7. Aggressive Masculinity
Men may express their masculinity through criminal behaviour, e.g. fighting, football hooliganism, etc.
Bea Campbell (1993) argues young men seek compensation for lack of breadwinner status through 'aggressive masculinity'.
The forms of masculinity adopted involve control over technology (stolen cars) over public space (the streets); violence against the 'other' (Asian shopkeepers and women).
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man as criminals

8. Enjoyment of Deviance
Katz (1988) argues that criminology has failed to understand the role of pleasure in committing crime.
This search for pleasure is meaningful when equated within masculinity’s stress upon status, control over others, and success.
Violent crime is 'seductive' undertaken for chaos, thrill and potential danger.
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man as criminals

9. Your tasks 2
Explain in YOUR OWN WORDS what aggressive masculinity is, and why it leads to crime.
Make sure you mention a theorist in your answer.
AO2 Point: Compare to Postmodernist (Katz) ideas about deviance being a search for thrills with Walter B. Miller’s focal concern of ‘excitement’.
02/01/2019
man as criminals