Comparison between Parenti and Neocleous in the Presentation of the Functions and Strategies of Policing
Neocleous and Parenti are some of the most popular authors in sociology. Their assertions have, over the years, been used to explain critical issues on the militarization of police. While there are some similarities between their presentations, there are striking differences in how they present the policing issues. Parenti’s focus was largely on the modern neo-liberation era, while Neocleous focused primarily on the industrialization era. The following study will specifically delve into a comparison of how both authors present their issues in these two different eras.
There are some similarities between the presentations of Parenti and Neocleous in the fact that they both focused on the social issues in society. Neocleous focused primarily on crime, while the focus of Parenti was on drug trafficking. The focus on both was, however, on how to combat crime.
Despite the similarities mentioned above, there are striking differences in how they present their issues. Neocleous mainly focused on social security, which encapsulates good economic policies, promotion of health services, access to employment, and maintenance of stable prices. In his presentation, social security was the key to solving issues of crime. According to Neocleous, providing the aforementioned social security to police officers will improve how they work. Additionally, the lack of social security by the community was one of the primary triggers of crime, and the access to factors mentioned above would go a long way in solving a crime.
On the other hand, Parenti postulated that those who lack this social security are the cause of crime in society. Parenti mainly blamed the high birth rates after world war 11, as the basis for the high levels of crime in the United States. He particularly mentioned that the increased population led to heightened cases of unemployment. Additionally, there was increased immigration of Americans to the northern states and coupled with the increased racism, many people settled in the ghetto, which later led to the high levels of crime.
According to Neocleous, the solution to the high levels of crime was to craft the policing authority to the initial state, where it was once a part of the state power. Additionally, Neocleous proposed a resuscitation of the police force back to the mainstream social and political theory where the primary job of the police was to promote good order.
Parenti, on the other hand, deviated from the suggestions by Neocleous. According to him, crime was only caused by the unemployed and the low cadre groups in society. He blamed capitalism for the high levels of crime. Therefore, the solution was to target low-income and unemployed persons in society. Parenti mentioned that they were a threat to high income and racial classes. Parenti’s policing theories, therefore, advocated for more segregation and repression as a way of promoting criminal justice. Parenti believed that social dynamite was a threat to the racial and social classes, and militarization of policing should, therefore, target this area. Additionally, he also focused more on drug trafficking as the leading level of crime. Neocleous, on the other hand, focused more on theft and robbery.
In conclusion, it is palpable from the study that Parenti and Neocleous assertions are essential in the field of sociology. Their presentations, however, differed in various ways, as revealed in the study. Neocleous primarily focused on social insecurity as the leading cause of crime and a solution that was geared towards promoting social security. Parenti, on the other hand, blamed capitalism and the baby boom after the Second World War for the rise in crime and suggested segregation and repression as the solution.