The Left is gradually losing its longstanding support among ethnic minority voters. In the 2024 general election, Labour won less than half of the non-white vote for the first time ever, experiencing a roughly 10% drop compared to its share in 2020. Meanwhile, the Conservative Party achieved some of its best results in areas with large Hindu populations.
A similar trend is occurring in the United States, where many non-white voters are shifting their support to the Republicans. U.S. polls predict a comparable 10% swing toward the Republicans in the 2024 elections.
This shift isn’t entirely surprising when examining public opinion surveys from recent years.
A recent study found that 22% of ethnic minority Britons prioritize keeping taxes low, a figure that aligns closely with white Tory voters. Ethnic minorities also place less emphasis on social justice issues compared to white Labour voters.
U.S. polls reveal that on issues such as immigration, patriotism, and meritocracy, the average Black or Hispanic voter is significantly more conservative than the average white liberal voter.
However, it is essential not to overstate the extent of this shift to the right among ethnic minorities.
For instance, the top three policy issues among white voters in Britain are the NHS, economic growth, and immigration, in that order. In contrast, ethnic minority voters prioritize economic growth, the NHS, and then poverty and inequality.
Within ethnic minority groups, there is also variation. British Indian and British Chinese voters, for example, hold the most right-leaning economic views among these groups.
It’s also noteworthy that Labour lost significant support among British Muslims due to its stance on Israel’s actions in Palestine. Many of these voters turned to the Green Party or Independent candidates in the 2024 election.
Why are ethnic minorities less likely to cote for Labour?
These voting patterns reflect broader social shifts in the life chances of ethnic minorities. As the inequality gap between ethnic minorities and the white average narrows, we might expect more ethnic minority voters to align with the Conservatives.
However, factors such as the recent conflict in Gaza show that cultural and religious identities also play a significant role, independent of economic status.
A 2024 study by UCL’s Center for Longitudinal Studies reveals that today’s older adults are less healthy than previous generations, facing increased risks of cancer, heart disease, and disabilities. This generational health decline highlights the need for public health interventions to improve overall health and address the challenges of an ageing population.
Increases in many illnesses and ailments are often attributed to our longer lifespans. The older we are, the more likely we are to suffer from degenerative diseases. So, as life expectancy rises, the number of people with conditions like arthritis, cancer, and heart disease also grows.
However, a new study has found that today’s older people are simply less healthy than those in earlier generations. This research was published in 2024 by UCL’s Center for Longitudinal Studies.
Data analysis of more than 100,000 people across seven generations revealed that those born in the late 1940s and 1950s were about 150% more likely to suffer from cancer, lung disease, and heart problems in their 50s and 60s compared to those born before the Second World War at the same age.
Older people today are also equally or more likely to struggle with basic tasks like walking short distances. Those born after 1945 face a higher risk of chronic illness and disability than their predecessors.
Gen X is more likely to be obese, have diabetes, and experience poor mental health compared to baby boomers.
Laura Gimeno of UCL, one of the researchers involved in this study, notes that this reflects a generational health decline.
The Generational Health Decline: Causes and Consequences
This study reminds us that the ageing population is not inherently problematic. The real issue is the decline in public health across all ages. Older people 50 years ago were healthier than older people today.
This suggests that there are social policy interventions we could implement to improve the health of older adults.
While I’m not certain what these specific measures might be, stricter regulations on the fast food and junk food industries, improved working conditions, and expanded mental health support services could be effective first steps.
Ageing does not have to come with as many health-related issues as it currently does. But to address this, we must collectively take action. Without intervention, an ageing population will require more resources for care due to poorer health outcomes.
And beyond practical considerations, it’s simply better for everyone to live healthy lives for as long as possible!
Relevance to A-level sociology
This material is relevant to the families and households module. It suggests that an ageing population is not an inherent problem.
It is also a good example of a longitudinal study as it compares data over time from different cohorts.
The Grenfell report reveals that the avoidable deaths of 54 adults and 18 children resulted from systematic failures by various parties responsible for building safety. A kitchen fire ignited due to a faulty fridge-freezer, and the use of combustible cladding exacerbated the fire’s rapid spread. Budget constraints prioritized profit over safety, highlighting the consequences of neoliberal policies.
The deaths of 54 adults and 18 children in the Grenfell Tower fire were avoidable, according to the recent Grenfell report.
Those who died were failed over many years and in numerous ways by those responsible for the safety of the building.
The fire started in one flat due to a malfunctioning fridge-freezer. The first fire engine arrived by 00:59, and the initial kitchen fire was extinguished by 1:21. However, by that time, the fire had spread outside through the kitchen window and rapidly engulfed the building, reaching the roof by 1:27. By 4:00, all four sides of the building were ablaze.
The Grenfell Tower Fire: who was responsible…?
The main reason for the fire’s rapid spread was the combustible aluminium composite material used in the cladding during renovations in 2015–16: Reynobond 55 PE, manufactured by Arconic. It consists of two thin sheets of aluminium with a flammable polyethylene core, which burns intensely.
Between the cladding and the concrete wall was a further layer of combustible insulation, which released toxic gas as it burned.
Because the fire spread on the outside of the building, the compartmentalisation designed to prevent the internal spread of fire failed.
The architects, Studio E, initially intended to use non-combustible zinc panels but instead chose the cheaper, combustible materials under pressure from the Tenant Management Organisation, part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. This decision saved almost £300,000 on a £9.2 million refurbishment.
There was systematic dishonesty from those who sold the cladding—Arconic, Celotex, and Kingspan—all of whom deliberately manipulated testing processes and misled the market about the safety of their products.
The regulators failed as well. The cladding materials were certified by the BBA, a privatised certification body. It was their responsibility to scrutinise the testing procedures more closely.
The central government also failed. Fires involving ACM cladding had occurred in smaller buildings as far back as 1991.
David Cameron’s government, with its neoliberal deregulatory agenda, left safety regulations under-resourced. One junior civil servant was given responsibility for fire safety measures with little oversight.
The architects, Studio E, and the contractors who installed the cladding also bear some responsibility.
Finally, the fire brigade was found to have serious and systematic failings. The control room was overwhelmed, radios failed, the “stay put” order was incorrect, and there was no clear strategy for this particular scenario.
Relevance to A-Level Sociology
This case study highlights the continued relevance of the Marxist perspective on crime, which argues that we should focus on social harms rather than only on criminal acts. In the case of Grenfell, significant harm was done, but not everyone responsible will be held accountable because many of those involved did not technically commit criminal acts.
It also shows that victims of such incidents are more likely to be poor. Fire safety standards were not followed properly due to budget constraints. Grenfell was social housing, and the residents were poorer individuals living in London. The local authority aimed to save money during the renovation, which is why they opted for cheaper, unsafe cladding materials.
This is a strong example of the failures of neoliberal economic policies, especially in showing how deregulation can lead to devastating consequences.
NB: There may still be criminal prosecutions in the future, but it is likely that many people complicit in these failures will escape punishment.
The Office for National Statistics has downgraded its gender identity statistics from the 2021 UK Census. These statistics are no longer ‘official statistics’, they are now just ‘official statistics in development’.
According to the 2021 Census 262 000 people in England and Wales identified as transgender, equivalent to 0.5% of the population.
However, new analysis by Oxford Sociology professor Michael Biggs suggests these statistics may lack validity. His research was recently published in the journal British Sociological Association’s journal Sociology.
Why might the government’s gender identity statistics lack validity…?
The main reason is that some people with poor English may have misunderstood the following question:
“Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth”?
Professor Biggs’ analysis suggests that people with poor English skills are more likely to have answered ‘no’ to this by mistake.
Unusual regional variations
Professor Biggs looked at how the number of reported trans people varied across regions in England and Wales.
Many areas in the top 20 are not well-known trans-friendly areas, but many are well-known as having high proportions of people with poor English.
For example, Newham, Brent, Tower Hamlets, it does seem unusual that these have higher proportions of trans identifying people in them compared to Brighton and Hove, for example.
Professor Biggs thus went on to analyze the relationship between those identifying as transgender and their English language proficiency . His statistical analysis is summarized below:
0.4% of the population who spoke English as their main language identified as transgender
1.5% with English not as their main language identified as transgender
More than 2% of people who didn’t speak English well identified as transgender.
Professor Biggs also looked at the type of trans identity in relation to proficiency in English.
Higher proportions of people with poor English skills identified as being a biological male and identifying as a trans male, or a biological female and identifying as a trans female, or as unspecified gender*.
Professor Biggs takes this as being evidence of people being ‘confused’ about their gender identity. However this is just his interpretation. It is possible to be biologically male and identify as a trans male, for example.
Poor reliability compared to other sources
Professor Biggs further points out that the statistics in the Census on transgender identity are different to other sources.
He cites data from from a petition put together by Reform the Gender Recognition Act, 2021 which had 118 000 signatories, as well as the number of referrals to the Gender Identity Development Services.
According to the former data source 0.75% of people from Brighton and Hove identified as being transgender, compared to only 0.16% of people in Newham. The former is broadly in line with the Census findings, the later is grossly different.
So it seems reasonable to suggest that lack of English is distorting the results on reported transgender identity in the Census
Relevance to A-level sociology
This is an excellent debate that raises serious issues about value freedom. It is important to keep in mind that Professor Biggs has been accused of being transphobic.
However Professor Biggs himself argues that the ONS have failed to be objective themselves. He thinks they have bowed to pressure from LBGTQ pressure groups and delayed downgrading their statistics.
You will need to read through Professor Biggs’ research yourself and decide whether you think this is truly objective analysis!
The ONS certainly seems to think his criticism of their statistics has some merit, as they have now downgraded them.
Currently, approximately 55 million people worldwide live with dementia, with 10 million new cases diagnosed each year. In the UK, nearly one million individuals are affected, increasing to 1.4 million by 2040. The Lancet report identifies 14 preventable factors contributing to dementia, highlighting the need for societal interventions to reduce these risks.
Roughly 55 million people are currently living with Dementia, worldwide. 10 million new dementia cases are diagnosed annually.
The Alzheimer’s Society estimates there are almost one million people in the UK currently living with dementia, projected to grow to 1.4 million by 2040. The current costs of dementia are estimated to be £42 billion a year.
According to secondary research by the Lancet Commission on Dementia almost half of these dementia cases are due to preventable causes, things we can change. The report draws on a range of studies from across the world and conducts meta analysis to draw conclusions.
Dementia is not inevitable
The 2024 dementia report identified 14 lifestyle, medical and environmental factors that were together responsible for 45% of dementia cases.
The report breaks down which factors are most highly correlated with dementia in later life.
The most significant correlated factors are:
Lower levels of education in early life (5%)
Hearing loss and High Cholesterol in mid life (both 7%)
Social isolation in later life (5%)
Other factors are high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol consumption, traumatic brain injury, and exposure to air pollution.
Methodological challenges with the study
The authors are very clear about the problems of researching dementia.
One of the trickiest things is the slow build up to a dementia diagnosis. Someone might be in slow cognitive decline for years before they get a dementia diagnosis. Others may be undiagnosed and just putting their increased tiredness and confusion (for example) down to factors such as job stress. In other words, there may be millions of people out there technically with dementia but who are not on record as having dementia.
Then there are problems of isolating the variables. For example with education, is it just lack of early years education or the consequences of that (such as reading less or a whole range of other things) which may lead to dementia?
And then there’s the very tricky issue of correlation and causation. It may be that medical conditions such as high cholesterol don’t ‘cause’ dementia as such. It could be that they are just coincidentally correlated, or it could be that having dementia means you are more likely to eat the kinds of comfort food that give you high cholesterol.
However, overall many of the correlated factors identified are worth reducing because they are correlated with other negative health factors too, besides dementia.
Implications of dementia for society
Dementia affects individuals differently. Some people with dementia can carry on with work and relationships in much the same way as before a diagnosis.
However, in more severe cases, people will have to stop work and some will require care, hence the huge financial cost to society of managing dementia.
Dementia may not lead to early death, but it can certainly compromise one’s quality of life as it progresses. So it may not reduce life expectancy but it can certainly reduce healthy life expectancy.
For the sake of both individuals and society reducing the rates of dementia seems like something we should be prioritising.
Social Policies to tackle dementia
The Lancet study clearly identifies several risk factors that it would be desirable to reduce at a societal level.
Many of these would be longer term interventions which have further social benefits alongside reducing dementia rates.
Some obvious social policy interventions would be…
Improving early years education for the most disadvantaged.
Promoting health eating, given that both high cholesterol and obesity are correlated with dementia in later life
Tackling social isolation in later life.
Of all of these, tackling social isolation seems like it could have the most immediate effect.
The report also suggests a number of social and individual lifestyle interventions that could reduce the rates of dementia. For example:
Encouraging boxers and cyclists to wear head protection
Early treatment of site and hearing loss, with hearing aids for example,.
Collier (1998) criticizes Messerschmidt’s concept of hegemonic masculinity as too limited, arguing that it fails to consider the complexity of social subjects. He uses the case of the Dunblane Massacre to demonstrate the multifaceted nature of masculinity and its influence on violent behavior. Collier’s nuanced approach provides insight into the specific violence of men.
Collier argues the concept of hegemonic masculinity is limited.
For collier this is simply a list of traits which are not common to men. Women can also express the traits of what Messerschmidt calls ‘hegemonic masculinity’.
Messerschmidt uses the concept of hegemonic masculinity to explain too many types of crime. He uses it to explain everything from sexual abuse to traffic offences, from burglary to corporate crime.
Messerschmidt’s’ concept of hegemonic masculinity isn’t really sociological. It is based on stereotypical ideas about what a typical traditional man should be, drawn from popular ideologies.
Collier’s Postmodernist Approach
Collier argues a postmodernist approach is needed to understand the relationship between masculinity and crime. Such an approach would address the complexity of the multi-layered nature of the social subject. Stereotypes and images of masculinity are important, because they do affect people’s understanding of what it means to be masculine.
However, they are always interpreted in particular contexts. For Collier, men do not simply try to ‘accomplish masculinity’, because masculinity is multifaceted and where crimes are perceived as related to masculinity emerges in the discourses that surround crime.
There is uncertainty around what it means to be masculine because of the changing configurations of childhood, family and fatherhood, and of heterosexual social practices and sexed subjects.
Collier believes it is preferable to examine the subjective expression of masculinity by individuals or groups of men through crime rather than generalise about hegemonic masculinity.
Generalisations are dangerous because male identities are precarious and never fixed.
The Dunblane Massacre
Collier’s approach can be demonstrated by his case study of Thomas Hamilton, the guy who carried out the Dunblane Massacre.
On 13 March 1996 Thomas Hamilton shot and killed 16 primary school children and their teacher in Dunblane, Scotland. He then committed suicide by shooting himself.
Hamilton was a local man who was 43 and single. He lived alone but kept in frequent contact with his mother, who was local.
He had been a scoutmaster but had been forced to leave because of ‘inappropriate behaviour’. He had failed, despite a number of attempts, to be reinstated.
Collier argued the media portrayed Hamilton as a monster. It was implied he was a repressed homosexual, because he was single, had never married and had an interest in male children.
The media saw him as an inadequate nobody, a man who had failed to express any kind of masculine success: not financially, socially, sexually, academically in sport or at work. Hence why he went on to express his masculinity in a violent way.
However Collier argues that failed masculinity doesn’t offer a full explanation of Hamiltons’ extreme violence.
He argues we need to take account of the multifaceted nature of his masculinity and the interface between the contexts in which Hamilton lived at the level of social structure and the specifics of his own life history.
Based on the evidence Collier argues there was no evidence that Hamilton was a predatory paedophile, it is more likely he felt a need to control and direct young boys in order to direct their development.
Hamilton was regarded as a paedophile because he went against the norm: it is mainly women who care for children and men who take on the role are automatically regarded with more suspicion.
Thwarted in his attempts to express his masculinity as a Scout Leader, Hamilton sought to express it through an interest in guns. This allowed him to draw on images of hypermasculine toughness. By attacking the school he was asserting male authority and turning it on the feminised world of primary education.
His act of violence wasn’t one of losing control, it was one of him taking control.
Evaluation
Collier’s account is nuanced and explains the specific violence of men based on both structure and their specific life histories.
However it is just down to his interpretation. We can never be certain about what led Hamilton to commit such a gross act of violence.
Messerschmidt (1993) notes that males commit most crimes and therefore any study of crime must include a study of masculine values.
He criticises sex-role theory for assuming socialisation is passive. This theory assumes boys are simply not taught to ‘act male’ in childhood and this then defines their behaviour into adulthood.
He also rejects biological explanations for higher rates of male offending.
Messerschmidt points out that cross cultural comparisons show that masculinity varies across cultures. Both men and women are active agents in the construction of their identities. They do not just act on the basis of their biology or sex-roles they have been taught in childhood. They make active decisions as they go through their lives.
Messerschmidt thus argues that any theory which explains why men commit crime must take account of different masculinities. Different conceptions of masculinity tend to lead to different social actions and different types of criminality.
Applying structuration theory
Messerschmidt applies Giddens’ strucuration theory to better understand gender and crime. Like Giddens he believes social structures exist, but they only exist through structured social action. In other words, people’s actions are needed to maintain social structures.
Accomplishing masculinity
Gender is something people do, something they accomplish. In everyday life they try to present themselves in their interactions as adequate or successful to men or women.
Masculinity is never a finished product, men construct masculinities in specific social situations and in doing so reproduce social structures.
From this point of view a man chatting with his mates at a bar, or playing football, or watching and Andrew Tate video, are all attempts to accomplish masculinity.
Men construct a variety of masculinities, at least in part because they find themselves in a variety of social situations which they have little control over.
Some men are not in a position to accomplish certain desired forms of masculinity such as being good at sport or being a higher income earner. One’s ability to accomplish these desired forms of masculinity are shaped by one’s class and ethnic background.
Hegemonic and subordinate masculinities
Messerschmidt divides masculinity into hegemonic and subordinate.
Hegemonic masculinities are the most highly valued. These include economic and sporting prowess within mainstream society.
Subordinate masculinities are less powerful and carry lower status. These include violent, street-based activities.
The nature of hegemonic masculinity varies from place to place and time to time, but is generally based on the subordination of women. Hegemonic men benefit from their power over women. Men with less dominant forms masculinity may also try to gain power over women but it is less easy for them to do so.
Criminal behaviour can be used as a resource for asserting masculinity. As Messerschmidt puts it:
“Crime by men is a form of social practice invoked as a resource, when other resources are unavailable, for accomplishing masculinity.”
Different groups of males turn to different types of crime in attempts to be masculine in different ways.
Masculinities and crime in youth groups
White middle-class boys tend to enjoy educational success and frequently also display some sporting prowess. In these ways they are able to demonstrate the possession of hegemonic masculinity.
However, these are achieved at a price. Independence, dominance and control largely have to be given up in school. In order to achieve success they have to act in subservient ways in school. Their masculinity is undermined, they are emasculated.
Outside school some white middle class boys try to demonstrate some of the masculine characteristics which are repressed within school. This involves pranks, excessive drinking, vandalism and minor thefts. Because of their backgrounds these boys tend to be able to avoid the criminal label.
Such young men adopt ‘accommodating masculinity’ within school. This is a controlled, cooperative rational gender strategy to achieve institutional success. Outside they adopt a more ‘oppositional masculinity’ which goes against some middle class norms but asserts some of the hegemonic masculine traits they are denied in school.
White working-class boys also experience school as emasculating. However they are much less likely to achieve academic success within school. They therefore tend to construct masculinity around physical aggression. It is important to be tough, or hard, and to oppose the imposition of authority by teachers. They construct an oppositional masculinity both inside and outside of school. The Lads Paul Willis researched in Learning to Labour are an example of this.
A third group, lower working-class boys from minority ethnic groups struggle to find reasonably paid, secure employment. They are unable to construct masculinity through economic success and the breadwinner role. They are also too poor to do so through conspicuous consumption.
They thus turn to expressing their masculinity on the street. They use violence both inside and outside the school and are most likely to get involved in serious property crime.
Messerschmidt quotes a number of American studies showing how robbery is used to make offenders feel more masculine than their victims. Gang and turf wars are also attempts to assert masculine control. Rape is sometimes used to express control over women.
Horrific crimes such as gang rape can help to maintain and reinforce an alliance among boys by humiliating and devaluing women, strengthening the fiction of male power.
Recourse to these more violent forms of masculinity happen when social conditions of poverty, racism and lack of opportunity limit options.
Different types of masculinity and crime
Different types of masculinity can be expressed by different adult males in different contexts leading to crime.
Pimping
On the street, pimping is one way to express masculinity. Pimps usually exert strong control over the prostitutes they pimp out. They get them to turn over their earnings and can thus enjoy material success. Their attitude is one of the cool badass, displaying features such as control, toughness and detachment.
Pimps tend to be loud and flamboyant and display their success through luxury consumer goods. For black pimps this is away to transcend race and class domination.
White-collar crime
To achieve success within large-scale institutions crime may be necessary. In Corporate contexts crime may be tolerated, even encouraged if it can lead to more profit.
Messerschmidt quotes an engineer at Ford explaining why no one questioned the continued production of the Pinto model in the USA. This car was prone to bursting into flames if it was in a rear-end collision, and a number of people died as a result, but Ford still continued to produce it. The engineer explained that ‘safety didn’t sell’ and anyone questioning this would be sacked.
Domestic violence
Messerschmidt argues that relatively powerless men use domestic violence to assert control when women threaten their masculinity.
Much violence occurs when a man believe his wife or children have not carried out their duties, obeyed his orders or shown him adequate respect.
Evaluations of Messerschmidt
Messerschmidt’s theory allows for the existence of different types of masculinity and for the way these masculinities can change.
It also makes plausible attempts to link different types of crime to different types of masculinity and helps explain why men are more criminal than women.
However his theory fails to explain why particular individuals turn to crime when others do not.
Messerschmidt also seems to stereotype men, and he has very negative views of working-class and ethnic minority men. There is no room in his theory for the many men who reject hegemonic masculinities.
He might also be accused of exaggerating the importance of masculinity in explaining crime. Not all male crimes are about asserting masculinity!
Other theorists, such as Bob Connell (1995) do not portray men as negatively.
Alexander Mullins was sentenced to 19 years for running a drugs ring from prison. He used smuggled phones and drones to orchestrate the operation, with complicit prison staff and understaffing aiding the smuggling. The case highlights challenges in prison management, technology enabling crime, and the limitations of adopting a tough approach in combating criminal activity.
Mullins used mobile phones which had been bought by his mother and smuggled into prison. The prosecution uncovered evidence of 73 such phones having been used between 2016-2019.
Mullins was at the centre of a large network of people who produced and supplied a range of drugs. They supplied Spice, Cannabis, Cocaine and Heroin both inside and outside of prisons.
Drones were used to import drugs into SwaleCliff Prison where Mulins was serving time. He also organised drone deliveries to WormWood Scrubs.
At Swalecliff the drugs were kept in another inmate’s cell. He used a mop handle with a hook to get the drugs off the parked drone. When officers searched his cell they found several packages of drugs.
The gang also imported Spice by impregnating paper with it and then smuggling the paper in during visits.
They were so brazen after a couple of years of operating they started using social media to advertise their services.
Mullins received a 19 year sentence to add on to his existing sentence. Around a dozen other members of the gang were also convicted, but most of them only received non-custodial sentences…
How can someone run a drugs ring from jail…?
Mobile phones are banned in SwaleCliff Prison. Mullins was able to get access to phones because of them being smuggled in, probably by drones, along with the drugs.
Once an inmate has a mobile phone it’s quite an easy thing to hide in a cell.
Swalecliffe was apparently very understaffed during the period 2016-19. This would have made it difficult to search cells regularly and for staff to spot night time drone deliveries.
Prison staff may also have been complicit in this. Several prison officers have been fired from Swalecliffe because of corruption.
Moreover even those staff who are straight might turn a blind eye to drug use in jail. Some of them may lack the confidence to investigate which involves challenging prisoners. Simply put, it just makes for an easier life to ignore drug smuggling.
Low pay for prison staff doesn’t help with effective prison management either.
This shows how difficult it is to adopt a Right Realist approach and be tough on crime.
Here we have an individual who has received a prison sentence yet there aren’t sufficient resources to prevent him carrying on a criminal lifestyle.
It also shows us how technology can enable criminals more than the agents of social control.
There is probably technology that can detect drones, or prevent them being flown near prisons, for example. However Swalecliffe Prison doesn’t have these.
Prison overcrowding may also have affected the sentencing of some of the gang. The person who flew the drones containing drugs into jail received 150 hours community service, for example.
The Chivalry Thesis states that women are let of relatively lightly by predominately male police and judges. It is one explanation for why official statistics report so few female crimes compared to male crimes. It could also explain why there are so few female prisoners than male prisoners.
The key idea of the Chivalry Thesis is male police are less likely to arrest and prosecute female criminals compared to male criminals, even if they are caught committing similar crimes. Similarly, male judges will give female prisoners more lenient sentences compared to males for the same offences.
The first person to coin the term ‘Chivalry Thesis’ was Otto Pollak, in 1950.
Otto Pollak: The ‘masked’ female offender
Writing in 1950, Otto Pollack argued official statistics on gender and crime were misleading. He claimed statistics underestimated the extent of female criminality.
Pollak analyzed statistics from several countries and claimed to have identified certain crimes that are usually committed by women but which tend to go unreported.
nearly all offences of shoplifting and criminal abortions were carried out by women. Both of these often went unreported to authorities.
Female domestic servants were in a position to commit theft from properties, which often went unnoticed.
In the case of prostitution Pollak saw the female prostitutes as committing criminal acts, but not the male clients.
Women’s domestic roles gave them opportunities to get away with poising their husbands and abusing their children.
Pollack argued the police, magistrates and other law enforcement officials tended to be men. Brought up to be chivalrous, they were usually lenient with female offenders so fewer women appeared in the statistics.
However, according to Pollack, the chivalry thesis only explained a small part of the low female offending rate in the official statistics. A more significant factor was that women were very good at hiding their crimes. This Pollak attributed to their biology. Women were good at deceiving men because they were used to hiding pain and discomfort which due when menstruating.
Criticisms of Pollack
Heidenshon (1985) criticises Pollak’s work for being based on unfounded, stereotypical assumptions about women.
Stephen Jones (2009) pointed out that Pollak provided a lack of evidence to back up his points. He had no actual evidence that female domestic servants committed crimes against their employers, for example.
Despite the obvious sexism in Pollak’s theory, he is important as he was the first person to raise the possibility of ‘chivalry’ being a factor in explaining gender differences in the official crime statistics. The Chivalry Thesis has been taken a little more seriously by criminologists!
Evidence supporting the Chivalry Thesis
Historical self report studies have shown a difference in the reported rates of offending by males and females. These differences are NOT as great as the imprisonment statistics.
For example the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice survey 12% of males admitted to committing more serious offences compared to 8% of females.
When offence type is controlled for women receive 4.5 years less than men.
However this does not factor in the precise details of the offence, plea or previous convictions.
Evidence against the Chivalry Thesis
The latest trends from Women in the Criminal Justice System shows that women are receiving more harsher punishments compared to previous years. Thus catching up with men.
This could be linked to the fact that there are proportionally more female police and judges today than ever before.
Feminist criminologists argue that far from being chivalrous towards women the criminal justice system is in some ways biased against women.
Signposting
This material is mainly relevant to the Crime and Deviance module, usually taught as part of second year A-Level sociology.
Congratulations to most of you on your A-level, BTEC and T-Level Results. Commiserations to the rest of you!
While there will be many individual triumphs and tragedies, I’m going to take a positivist approach here and look at the overall trends
Remember, positivists are interested in looking at the bigger picture. They are interested in macro level trends using statistics and making comparisons.
The government’s initial posting of results on its website is a modern day positivist overview of results…
To summarise the main trends:
The overall trend in A-level results 2019 to 2024
The A-level pass rate was 97.1%
The C and above pass rate was 76%
The A and A* pass rate was 27.6%
All of these results for 2024 are slightly above the A-level results in 2019, the last year of valid results before the Pandemic’s invalid non-results which were made up by teachers.
BTEC results 2024
The Distinction and Distinction* rates stood at 39.1% in 2024 for Vocation level 3 qualifications, up slightly from 2019 when it was 33%.
T-Level Results 2024
The relatively new T-levels are a lot harder to pass and get a high grade in compared to other level 3 qualifications.
Only 3.3% achieved an A or A* for T-levels, with only around 50% getting a C or above.
Signposting
This material is relevant to the education module, usually taught as part of first year A-level sociology.
