Thoughts from the criminology team

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.

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.

By definition, a society is a crowd of people living together in a community. So when it comes to discussing a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ society we must consider if everybody in the community follows the standard of social norms that are expected and what each community demands as the list of standardised norms may differ. In modern day British societies, it can sometimes be difficult to decide whether we live in a good or bad society. This can be difficult for reasons such as politics, law and crime. Some may decide our society is good because they believe our government is fair and they reap the benefits of those higher up whereas others may deem our society as bad because the government is unfair, and they are at a disadvantage. I would say there are 5 main qualities to a good society: Equality, freedom, empowerment, opportunity and education. Equality is an important factor for a good society as it makes sure people are treated with the same levels of respect and dignity as everyone else and that the differences they may have are celebrated and not shunned. As well as this, freedom is important as it allows people to create lives full of purpose, meaning and success and gives people the ability to flourish and thrive. Similarly, empowerment is important because it promotes both equality and freedom while reducing inequality by enabling the individuals who have been discriminated against to take charge and participate as a member of society. In addition to this, opportunity is equally as important because it enables individuals to have a fair chance to achieve their potential, whether this be achieving their dream job/career or being successful in education. Finally, education is an important characteristic to a good society because it promotes economic growth within our society, provides young people with career paths and ensures a great deal of personal development. Without these key fundamentals in a society, it can lead to high crime rates in certain categories such as antisocial behaviour, hate crime, violent crime and theft. To avoid a spike in crime rates it is essential a society works on these values. While its easy to talk about what makes a good society it is just as important to be aware of what makes a bad society. Each individual will believe it takes different characteristics to make a society bad, but in my opinion, I believe there are 5 specific qualities to a bad society. If a society contains any of the following, it can arguably be classified as a bad society: inequality, lack of justice, discrimination, poor education and cultural oppression. Not only will a society with these values be ‘bad’ but it creates an altered view on what the socially normative way of life is.

Unfortunately, in today’s society each of the crucial qualities to have a ‘good’ society can never be guaranteed. Even in modern-day society we still see each of these qualities shut down by racism, sexism and ableism. So with all of this information considered I believe there can never be a definitive answer to the question of “Do we live in a good or bad society”.

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.

Fundamentally, the requirements for a ‘good’ society should consist of several characteristics that contribute to a positive quality of life for all members of the community. There should be a basis in equality, fair judgment, and the ability for all people who are a part of that society to live without undue struggle or unnecessary discomfort, be it financial, emotional or physical. There are a lot of reasons why a society might be good, or bad, and fixing any one problem will not automatically allow us to call ourselves good, but any progress can be positive and may take us closer.

There are large steps towards equality that we as a society have taken in the last century, however this progress is not sustainable when there are many in positions of power who have no interest in changing the status quo. According to the European Commission, less than one in ten CEOs of major companies are women, and women are over represented in particular types of career, which is known as sectoral segregation. This leads to many viewing these sectors as overly feminine, and while this isn’t necessarily true, and shouldn’t affect how valued those careers are, careers viewed as feminine are systemically undervalued, and consistently lead to judgment for those choosing to follow those paths, leaving them underpaid and overworked. In 2021 there was still a gender pay gap of 12.7% in the European Union, with women on average earning almost 13% less than men hourly. Can a society that undervalues over half of its members truly be a good society?

In addition to this, there is a cycle of racial discrimination within this society’s judgment system. With systemic racism ingrained in society for years before legislation was introduced to prevent discrimination in terms of housing and hiring, the UK’s police force contained rampant racial bias for years, which perpetuates even today. Black people in the UK are stopped on the street up to seven times more frequently than white people. There is an undue fear within the public that black people are more dangerous, that they are more likely to commit crime, and statistics that seem to prove this correct are often taken out of context, or supplied without consideration for social factors which may cause this. There is often an aspect of moral panic, whereby the media and other agents of social control use isolated events to incite fear of a particular community, and this causes a dangerous cycle of self fulfilling prophecy, where that community appears to act as expected. After all, if an entire group of people are going to be treated badly, regardless of their actions, does it make any difference if they fulfil our expectations or not?

True equality within any society is impossible, as humans we have natural differences which prevent us from being exactly the same. If men and women participated equally in all sports, there would likely be more injuries simply from biological advantages. If everyone earned the same, and class differences did not exist, there would be no motivation or reward for going above and beyond in the search for success and improvement, and society would remain stagnant. However, we are failing in our most basic duty to protect people from unfair discrimination, and at least offer the opportunity to try for success. Many careers considered ‘too feminine’ to hold true value in society include those in education or healthcare, which are vital in ensuring the next generation can be better than we are, and in maintaining the wellbeing of current members of the community. We should be using the media to dismantle these prejudices, rather than using it to target other groups and spread fear and misinformation. These issues may persist due to a lack of awareness in the wider community, or maybe they exist due to higher powers encouraging that society remain as it is, with them benefiting at the cost of others suffering. I would prefer to assume ignorance over malice, but neither is an excuse. Until we can claim to be as equal a society as it is possible to be, respecting the contributions women offer to society and treating them with the respect they deserve, and not treating a different skin colours as a marker for antisocial behaviour, just to name a few, I cannot claim to live in a truly good society.