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Why do men commit more crimes than women? Essay

Assess the views that males commit more crime than women due to primary socialisation Primary socialization occurs during childhood and is when a child learns the attitudes, values and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. For example if a child saw his/her mother/ father expressing a discriminatory opinion about a minority group, then that child may think this behavior is acceptable and could continue to have this opinion about minority groups. Functionalist may argue that boys and girls are socialized differently, therefore resulting in boys becoming more antisocial. There are clear gender differences when it comes to socialisation. Firstly, girls are more supervised and more strictly controlled. Secondly, boys are encouraged to take risks and to be tough and aggressive. Therefore, boys have more of an opportunity and tendency to commit crime. Functionalist also believes that there are clear and obvious gender roles within the nuclear family. The father performs roles which show him to be more of the leader and provider, whilst the mother performs the expressive role of giving emotional support and socializing children. These roles are rooted from the birth of their children as mothers have to give birth and nurse children.

Marxist may disagree with this statement is because beyond the home a woman’s freedom to deviate from social norms is also limited in a number of ways; for example, some women do not want to go out and get involved in crimes as they are in fear of getting attacked or raped by men. A young woman’s fear of being attacked by a stranger is five times greater than a young male’s. Women are also less likely to deviate from norms of respectability for fear of being labeled immoral; therefore they are less likely to commit crimes. Marxist may also say that apart from primary socialisation males commit more crimes due to labeling which leads to self fulfilling prophecy. For example boys that wear trousers below their waist and are in hoodies are labeled as criminals, as boys in these dress codes usually is seen as the type of people who are more likely to commit crimes. Marxist may also argue the reasons as to why men commit more crimes compared to women.

One of the reasons is that they are quick-tempered. Another reason is that they want to be respected as well as admired by other people. There are some women that does commit crimes, for example (teenagers aged 13-19) girls from lone parent families. They tend to commit crimes due to lack of guidance and primary socialisation from parents. This also applies to males committing crimes. However most crimes that women commit go unreported, therefore by comparison, it looks like men commit more crimes. Overall I disagree with the statement that “males commit more crime than women due to primary socialisation” and agree with Marxists point of views, the reasons why male commit more crimes than women are stronger and meaningful whereas functionalist believes that it is parents to blame, but parents who does socialize their children properly still turns out to be a criminal.

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