Reference no: EM132408137

What does the concept of ‘social harm' add to our understanding of ‘crime'?

Learning outcomes and instructions

In this TMA, you are expected to demonstrate your ability to:

Show that the concepts of ‘crime' and ‘social harm' are controversial and contested understand how the module themes, especially ‘power', illuminate crime identify the ways in which ‘crime' and ‘social harm' are interrelated.

Guidance

Before beginning this TMA, it will be useful to take the time to work through the material for Weeks 4-11 on the VLE. This contains both useful insights regarding each chapter, and a discussion of the connections between the chapters and the module themes. These pointers may be useful when you come to answer this question, which requires you to show that you understand the complexities of the concept of ‘crime', focusing particularly on the module theme of harm and violence. You may also wish to explore the relevance of the other module themes - power and the local and global - to your argument.

The main source for this TMA is Book 1. You can draw on any or all the chapters as it asks you to think about the tensions and complexities of crime. You will need to critically engage with accepted notions of ‘crime', and the differences between and relative strengths of the concepts of ‘crime' and ‘social harm'. You might want to think about how understandings of ‘crime' are historically and geographically situated (which connects with the theme of the local/global) and the controversial and contested nature of the concept of ‘crime'.

You should familiarise yourself with the above learning outcomes for the assignment.

In this assignment you are asked to discuss a particular statement. This means developing an argument that outlines ways in which the concept may be helpful, and also ways in which it might be problematic. The question requires you to critically engage with and interrogate accepted notions of ‘crime'. You will need to consider how the constitution of the concept is informed and shaped by relations of power. Remember that ‘crime' is a term without universal meaning, so we must not take it at face value. Its meaning depends upon the socio-political and cultural contexts to which it refers, or in which it is used. It might therefore be helpful to explore how some events and/or people become criminalised, and in what historical and geographical contexts. You may focus on one particular chapter from Book 1 to answer the question or you can integrate relevant material across several chapters.

Much of Book 1 explores the ways in which powerful elites (governments, individuals, and corporations) exploit and manipulate law for political, personal and economic gain. Often the harm caused by agents of power are not reflected in state defined notions of crime; therefore, you should examine the statement through critical perspectives that challenge the construction and representation of crime and criminality. You may also wish to answer the question using examples to support your argument. These examples will be drawn mainly from Book 1, although you may use others from your wider reading.

In order to produce a critical discussion of the question, you will need to consider and evaluate these sources carefully and develop them into an overarching argument of your own, rather than simply reproducing what they say. As with all your TMAs, the word limit will regulate the extent of what you can say. As you have only 2000 words, you should, for example, avoid lengthy quotations.

Word limit: 2000