City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience - Literature review Example

Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience Book Review Introduction The field of sociology has created various works over the decades which introduce us to diverse themes and relationships occurring in the human society. The authors of such works are usually individuals who not only have a keen eye for observing the phenomena of our modern social societies but also understand and discern the unique relationships that exist between them. A good sociologist can identify the effect that a certain variable has on the lives of people around it and what kind of behavior, emotions or developments a variable can cause in its surroundings. By this process of academic observation and research, sociologists can help in advising and shaping the policies that manage the various aspects of our society; this is important not just in supporting the variables that result in positive developments but also in suppressing or attempting to control variables that result in undesirable behavior or consequences. One such negative aspect that sociology is concerned is the study of crime. Criminology is the field of sociology that is concerned with determining the causes behind the human propensity to commit crimes and other harmful activities against their fellow citizens. The presence of crime and the human desire to commit such actions cannot be explained away simply in the umbrella of any one field of study. The motivations for criminals can be multi-faceted going from emotional, personal, driven by necessity or even as a result of convenience; in order to be able to comprehend and successfully suppress the occurrence of crime it is imperative that these motivations can be understood and countered. Interestingly, as the world around us continues to modify and grow in a variety of different ways, the motivations for crime are also changing with many of the new patterns of crime emerging in our populations being spurred on by environmental reasons. The book “City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience”, released in 2004 by Professor Kieth Hayward is one of the notable books in this field of research, studying one of the variables that impacts crime in the 21st century. Professor Kieth Hayward is the Professor of Criminology and Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching at the University of Kents School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. His esteemed career expands from University of East London to University of Kent (2002) where he was Chair of Criminology in September 2011.The professor leads a team of lead Criminologists in research and cataloguing of ‘Cultural Criminology”; the team has published several books and resources on the topic ranging from historical trends to the modern media consumption of crime stories. Professor Hayward was also the part of the teaching team that won the inaugural National Prize for Excellence in Teaching Criminology in 2011. Asides from City limits, which is a study of a very focused topic within criminology, he has also co-authored “Cultural Criminology: An Invitation (2008)” a book that provides a basic introduction to the complete field, relating themes from media, culture and sociology to give a holistic picture of the research field to readers. City Limits: The Background City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience is a seminal work investigating the relationship between the cultural construct of the modern, urban centers and the over-whelming capitalist culture that drives them and the state of crime that exists in these centers. While the development of the metropolis is an upward cultural construction, heralded by many as the true icon of our industrialized societies, Professor Hayward attempts to indicate that the downward cultural construction of increased and diverse crimes is directly related to the former- often moving in synchronized patterns emerging from the human needs of consumption, avarice and being a part of the socially elite. Interestingly as Hayward points out in the work the idea of being a comfortable, respected citizen in a city environment is usually related to and supported by the consumption driven culture and the capitalist lifestyle that has emerged in these urban centers as the de riguer format. The urban center has always been a playground for emerging theories and empirical studies that have contributed significantly to sociology and the relationships existing in our societies. However, the ideas behind these findings are often bound up in quantitative measures of statistics and demographics bounded by rational explanations. What professor Hayward has done instead is to examine the subject matter through an interesting blend of anecdotes, observations, case studies and theoretical criticisms that that attempts to connect the history of crime with the emergence of the modern criminal activity. His ideas are further examined and researched through the different perspectives and frameworks of social theory, urban studies, architectural theory and research to illustrate thoroughly the culture of consumerism and communication flux that exist in the cities and which he argues is to be blamed for the generation of crime motivated by environmental cues. Crime and the Urban Centers The ‘crime-city nexus’ described in the book in the book is an attempt to encourage the use of a culture- centered approach to understanding the occurrence of crime as motivated by the concept of ‘relative deprivation’ and ‘stress’ that exists in a culture driven by consumerism and capitalist. Professor Hayward puts his argument thusly: the development of our urban centers came along with a massive lifestyle change that was at once both more stressful yet more rewarding from an economic, monetary and financial point of view. This necessitated the emergence of a consumer culture designed to distract, amuse and entertain the masses who lived within the cultural microcosm of the cities; this culture was supported massively by the media and communications industry as it also tied into a fast growing economy spurred by consumer spending. The ubiquitous advertisements to entice the consumers as well as the prominent displays of the newly acquired status symbols created a dichotomy within the cities where wealth was ever present, yet there was a still a large population belonging to the low-income demographics that could not access it. The author proposes that this sense of disillusion regarding the capitalist system –which is designed to favor a few very generously- and envy for the artificially constructed status symbols contributed to increase in crime rates as those unable to reach this lifestyle through legal means adopted illegal ones to achieve some sense of it. One of the quirky examples provided to allow the reader to understand the depth of this product culture, in chapter 3, professor Hayward talks about the increasingly common product “placement tie-ins” in our popular media. The consumption of one form of entertainment – mindless or otherwise- often leads to a further desire for more of the same, through the work of clever marketers and advertisers who can manipulate the human need for new sensations and our need to ‘belong’. Owning a popular piece of branded merchandise can easily translate to being a part of a certain lifestyle in the post-modern society. In fact as Hayward points out, consumption has become a mode of expression in the post modern society, especially among the youth. This then translates into a feeling of helplessness and deprivation for those who do not have the necessary means to become a part of this culture. Not only can they not consume material objects but in a way they are also barred from being free to participate in the city-culture as a whole. Within the book Professor Hayward describes and builds upon the well-known “Strain theory” to provide a uniquely 21st century perspective. The Strain theory refers to the idea that the modern society does not allow non-conformers the comfort of a peaceful life. Inability to meet the expectations of one’s peers and the society at large leads to feelings of anxiety, frustration and increasing stress. When you add the dread of being unable to intellectually participate and opinionate in the culture due to a lack of capitalist resources, it can attack the very sense of identify that a person has. The urban centers are portrayed for being unfeeling and uncaring; losing one’s sense of self worth in such conditions can psychologically scar and otherwise undermine the moral sense of self. Eroding mental safe guards and an increasing hostility towards the ‘system’ can encourage ideas of criminal activity as a two-tiered solution. Crime in this case will not only allow the transgressor to fight against what they see as an unfair system but may also provide them to achieve the desired levels of consumption, and thusly translate into a lifestyle adequately ‘urban’. Chapter 5 of the book goes into further discussion of the emotional and psychological reasons behind the urban crimes. Desire and longing play a subtle but important part in the etiology and commission of urban crime. “Social Exclusion” is rampant in the highly populous cities and is often achieved through the use of material boundaries. It directly impacts the “new urban poor” who are highly aware of both their position in the society and their future prospects due to the prominent and interconnected communication pathways of the modern world and. Hayward mentions that the field of Criminology often over looks or undermines the importance of these social and emotional factors behind the development of crime and delinquency, one of the major attempt of City Limit is to relate this aspect of Urban studies to the research on crime, hence, the book is better described under the theme of Cultural Criminology. Hayward stresses that the connection between consumption patterns, modern communication and the myriad emotions that they evoke have to be considered by criminologists in order to better analyze the motivations behind urban crime. A point is made that the new generations who have grown up in this capitalist system have internalized the messages about material consumption very thoroughly- one can argue that the shopper and the shop-lifter share the same thrill of acquisition and gaining social status through that acquisition even though the means of acquisition were very different, in a certain sense they were still following the same rules of conspicuous consumption. This youth will shape the future culture of the cities both in upward development and downward development and sociologists have to be aware of the variables that can support the downward movement into crime. So that some control may be exercised on it. The crime mentioned here does not only refer to the petty thievery and small crimes most people would associate with criminals who are looking for easy money. The unequal distribution of power (again symbolized by how much one could consume openly and with freedom from financial or social restraints) also played a part in the rise of organized crimes, specially ‘gang’ warfare which exactly duplicated the desire for power, status, wealth and commodities that existed in the more law-abiding sectors of the society. In a way the capitalist system also put a value of criminal activity, leading to a form of commodification on (and of) criminal activity. Many could now rationalize the path of crime as something that was not morally reprehensible or damaging to the society and their fellow citizens, but simply another form of a competition within the system already thriving on a sense of urgency and wealth-gaining. Since the cities seem to reward and give high esteem to the consumerism lifestyle, it provides criminals with the go-ahead to participate in the system in any way that they can and laws, legal requirements and moral questions become secondary to this quest. Conclusion In relating crime, cities and the youth, Professor Hayward brings another novel idea to the table that of “Concomitant Subjectivity” that is a by-product of a society obsessed with material growth and gains. The younger generations have an increasingly subjective attitude about the moral structure and system of the society; where every caveat is analyzed dispassionately in the context of the capital principles. While this attitude could theoretically be utilized and guided towards development of novel, innovative ideas and an encompassing culture there is also the danger that it may lead to further disillusionment and feelings of detachment. The Urban environment, coupled with such attitude can create conditions where without proper control, illegal activities may prosper. The rich content and substantial research that has gone into writing this book makes it an important addiction to the Criminology studies as well related genres such as social theory, urban studies and cultural studies. The examination of the cross-cultural influences on the occurrence of crime and the comprehensive illustration of the variables that have been introduced by the modern culture allow the reader to form a multi-layered, complex understanding of the city and its criminal dwellers. Furthermore, the book also discusses the idea that the nature of human development is such that change is the only continuous option and the evidence points out that it may be that the motivations for crime may change as the city changes its shape. However, whatever the next mass lifestyle and culture, Professor Hayward manages to convince the reader that the impact of the metropolis and the powerful need for consumption cannot be divided away from the study of crime and the psychological motivations that lead to it. One of the strengths of the book is, that it makes uses of theories and themes from a wide variety of academic sources very different form the constraints of criminology. Going from everything from art and architectural discourse to established social ideas and constructs regarding cities. The Urban environment and its characteristics are first described through the lens of Criminology and then broadened by inclusion of different academic frameworks. The multidisciplinary approach allows Professor Hayward to bring in as many different ideas for the readers as possible and then to built upon them using his own thesis. Crime and the Urban experience is linked through the concept of mass consumption and the economic and social divide it creates in the cities. The book is challenging read as the reader is expected to understand and retain the viewpoints and research of many contemporary scholars and then follow Professor Hayward through the cases and stories that built up and illustrate his own ideas. But the book is a richer and compelling read that adds a very important element of study in the field of Cultural Criminology. For its efforts the book was nominated as a Runner-up for the British Society of Criminology Book Prize (2004). Bibliography Hayward, Kieth. City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience.  Routledge-Cavendish, UK, 2004. Criminology Team. What is cultural criminology?. Cultural Criminology, Univerity of Kent, 2014. Retrieved 28 Aug 2014. < http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/culturalcriminology/> Read More