Understanding the link between masculinity and crime

Abstract

This dissertation is titled "The link between Masculinity and Crime". The main notion of this study is to explore the link between societal gender role expectations and criminality. Academic debate has generally accepted that crime and criminality are of the male domain, a view supported by statistics and other studies. For the purpose of this study, qualitative interviews were carried out with five professionals in this subject. The interviews were recorded, and later transcribed and analysed. The findings revealed that men hold the highest percentage of prison occupancy and that they are more implicated in crime as opposed to women. This observation was also demonstrated by the informants. The findings also indicate that Societal expectations play an important part in such behaviour as gender roles are still predominant, highlighting that upbringing, peer pressure and education play an important role. This was substantiated by the informants, whom all agreed that upbringing is one crucial element.