EFFECT OF SOCIO ECONOMIC STATUS AND SEX ON ATTITUDE TOWARDS CRIME

ABSTRACT

The research provides a theoretical appraisal of the eect of socio economic status and sex on attitude towards crime. It elucidates levels of socioeconomic status and its eect towards crime. it is intended that the study shall serve as repository knowledge for attitudinal reformation framework towards crime.

INTRODUCTION

Social class, or socioeconomic status (SES), refers to an individual’s rank vis-à-vis others in society in terms of wealth, occupational prestige, and education . Abundant resources and elevated rank allow upper-class individuals increased freedom and independence , giving rise to self-focused patterns of social cognition and behavior . Relative to lower-class individuals, upper-class individuals have been shown to be less cognizant of others and worse at identifying the emotions that others feel .Socio-economic status refer to the social and economic position occupied by parents in the society, Ivor (1978) defined it as a level made up of individuals who deem themselves equal due to similarities in family background, level of education, occupation, race and attitude towards social issues. Adebayo (1981) observed that the social status of individuals is a reflection of their economic status and he went further to explain that socio-economic status is usually a measure of the income and occupation of the individual, irrespective of his or her educational or social standing. According to him this has a tremendous influence on students’ behaviour.

CHAPTER 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Ezewu (1987) posited that socio-economic status can aect the academic performance of students in terms of early attendance at school, attendance of best schools and the provision of necessary materials. The students from low socio-economic status would find it diicult to obtain his needs from his parents. So he or she may be lured into cultism in order to meet his needs. Giddens (1996) in a longitudinal study of the influence of socio-economic status of parents on children’s behaviour found out that children with behavioural problems come from families with lowsocio-economic background. Also Chauhan (2002) posited that, there is a positive correlation between poverty and crime involving very high earnings and very low risks.

He observed that the highest percentage of criminals come from low socio-economic background. Furthermore, he observed that all persons who come from under-privilege class are criminals. The crucial factor in poor homes is that parents cannot fulfill the legitimate needs of their children. This financial incapability makes students vulnerable to the deceit of cultism, who deceives them that they will empower them and meet their needs only to end up being a cultist. On his part, Ekpo (2000) view socio-economic status as a complex phenomenon which exerts pervasive influence on all aspect of one’s life. He noted that socio-economic status is a liability that renders students vulnerable to the mischievous antics of cultists in order to make ends meet. Ukpong (1999) observed that socio-economic status has some sociological implication on the society. She explained that crime rates like cultism, gangsters, rape, street life such as hawking, prostitution and drug addiction are seriously on the increase because of poverty.