2 Wednesday 31 October 2012 Crime as a Postmodern Spectacle KiddHewitt and Osborne 1995 see media reporting of crime increasingly driven by the need for a spectacle Spectacles are engaging because audiences become both repelled by the activities but fascinated at the same time ID: 690472
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Crime and Deviance Chapter ?: Role of Media2Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Crime as a Postmodern Spectacle
Kidd-Hewitt and Osborne
(1995) see media reporting of crime increasingly driven by the need for a '
spectacle'.
Spectacles are engaging because audiences become both repelled by the activities but fascinated at the same time.Kooistra and Mahoney (1999) argue that media coverage of crime is increasingly a mixture of entertainment and sensationalism (what
Neil Postman calls 'infotainment').Slide3
Crime and Deviance Chapter ?: Role of Media3Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Postmodernist Theory on Media and Crime
Postmodernists see the media as a crucial player in our perception of crime (regardless of whether this perception is accurate or not).
They highlight how the media present crime with a mixture of entertainment and sensationalism ('
infotainment'). The ultimate expression of this is crime expressed as a spectacle.Slide4
Lyng (1990) - EdgeworkYoung males seek pleasure – like risk takingTheir thrill is gained from acting in ways that are on the edge between security and danger (edgework)Eg) car theft and joy riding, gangs searching out violent confrontations
Young men through such ‘edgework’ are ‘accomplishing masculinity’…proving they have control over their lives (Miller – autonomy’Slide5
The night-time economyHobbs (2000)Last 15 years – growth in leisure economy – clubs/pubs etcHuge numbers of young people out in public ‘in a narrow time band’ – in the search for pleasureTaylor (1999)Development of nocturnal economy is linked to globalisation (as traditional economy declined and leisure economy grown in derelict urban settings)Slide6
EXPLANATION
KEY ARGUMENT/POINTS/THINKERS
CRITIQUE
Postmodernist ideas about masculinityLoss of traditional manual jobs in recent years. These helped working class men express masculinityGrowth of night-time leisure economy that many men can gain legal employment from, criminal opportunities & express masculinity
Winlow – study of bouncers in Sunderland showed this (similar to Illegitimate Opportunity Structure)No real structure for men to pursue a career in crimeOrganised criminal subculture emerging in nightlife economy – violence is a way to earn a livingReputation and employability depends on their body capital
Body – symbol of worth – looking the part – sign of masculinity..(the sign is all – geek gets muscle and tats!)