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A word from a Criminologist in Society
Following the first session of CRI2013, I will be completely honest, I was scared. The rigid amount of self-determination and motivation required initially felt overwhelming as many worries arouse in my head, what was I going to research? How am I going to do it? How is a research diary useful? How hard is an ethical statement? However, following complementing CRI2013, I can undoubtedly say that taking this module was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
My research centred around the crown court of Northamptonshire, that led to myself spending two weeks in the courts during the easter break. Being within such a place to collect real world contemporary data was incredibly eye-opening and very enjoyable. Not only this, but it also emphasised the practicality and usefulness of a research diary that I initially couldn’t understand. Initially, keeping the diary and attempting to be constantly honest and reflective felt tedious, however, as the weeks passed it became incredibly useful as a tool for reflection and data collection critical for various learning outcomes, so be patient and trust the process!
Now, I cannot emphasise enough to listen to Jes when she states that the ethical statement is not as easy as it seems! As a person who believed the ethical statement would be easy, it does require time and significant consideration, however, its totally worth it. As I have, you will gain a far deeper understanding of how to complete an ethical statement than those who didn’t take this module that is undeniably critical for third year.
Finally, a massive thank you to @jesjames50! During this module Jes was endlessly supportive and unbelievably helpful, there truly couldn’t be anyone better to lead this module, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her guidance.
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What makes a good or bad society?: X
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.
