As part of preparing for University, new students were encouraged to engage in a number of different activities. For CRI1009 Imagining Crime, students were invited to contribute a blog on the above topic. These blog entries mark the first piece of degree level writing that students engaged with as they started reading for their BA (Hons) Criminology. With the students’ agreement these thought provoking blogs have been brought together in a series which we will release over the next few weeks.

A society can be defined as a certain number of people living together within a community, of which, all of humanity contribute toward in various ways. Therefore, to accurately determine whether the very society we live in is plainly good or bad is practically impossible. This is due to the sheer number of factors that intertwine to breed what we know as a society, such as beliefs, language, social norms and various other elements. Having said this, it is possible to determine what makes a society better, for example equality for all that present equal chance and opportunity for every human, regardless of age, gender or race of which can be evidenced in the world we live in today. Examples of this include the Equality Act of 2010, that required public bodies to prove how their chosen policies have affected people with protected characteristics. This provides evidence that suggests the society we live within is indeed good, as this alludes to the idea that all who contain protected characteristics are catered for as their needs may require, ideally removing any feeling of prejudice or hardship for those with protected characteristics.

However, there are components that make a society worse, such as prejudices, these can be based on people’s race, gender, age, etc. Prejudice can be described as someone obtaining a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason, reality or even from an opinion that is often harmful and negative. This can derive from harmful stereotypes or even family upbringing, meaning natural tensions and aggression appear within society, of which, appear within our very own. Despite actions taken to combat such, it is indisputable to argue that racism and sexism still very much plague humanity and therefore society, potentially causing the conclusion that our society is in fact bad.

Overall, the idea that our society can be plainly labelled as good or bad is vastly naïve. However, this is not to suggest that elements within our society are good, such as equality being more and more evident within our society, meaning equal opportunity and chance for humanity that is unarguably positive. On the contrary, the very fact that prejudices still plague society to this very day, highlights the worst parts of society, concluding that our society is neither good nor bad, but rather a combination of the two thus creating a complex system we know today as, our society.