There has been a lot of press covereage about the Shannon Matthews case. Understandably, the world is shocked that a mother could actually construct her own daughter's kidnap. Questions regarding child protection have been raised and everyone from the police, social services, and Karen Matthews has been blamed for this act of cruelty.
From what we have learned in Sociology so far, can we explain this situation? How would different sociological theories explain this shocking occurence? Can it be explained in more than one way?
Or do we just blame Karen Matthews and forget the whole sorry business?
20 comments:
The Shannon Matthews case has been quite surprising. I think one of the reasons behind this case is the fact that the reconstituted family are from a working class background and live on a council estate in Dewsbury. As the family probably rely on benefits, Shannon's mother needed more money and the only way she could have done this is by kidnapping her own daughter, just so she could claim the reward money.
personally i dont think that the case can be explained in a sociological way as there is no generalisation that can be brought from that familly as they have acted unlike any "normal" familly and so the theories that are put in place that are generalised around the "norm" cannot be used in this case.
James Ghafoor 12RAS
In terms of sociology this can be explained due to the type of family shannon came from. For example she wasn't from the 'ideal' nuclear family, which is seen as perfect. Her mum had a partner that wasn't Shannon's dad, this portrayed them as a re-constituted family and this can have affects on both partners and children.
The marxist theory could be applied to this case. Marxism supports the fact that society is based on class conflcit. The mathews family can be seen as the proletariat who own nothing but thier own labour.As the family kidnapped Shannon for money , it can be aruged that they were doing this in order ot survive in a society based on class inequality where they have a lack of oppotunites.
Priya
It's a very tricky subject, with not all of us knowing what ACTUALLY happened first hand i guess that's the first thing an interactionist would say.. we need to first understand WHY she did it and her thinking behind it before we can come to a judgement.
Marxists could say that because she is proletariat living in a bourgeoisie ruled time the attraction to £50,000 reward money was too attractive to leave, even to the extent allowing the drugging and kidnapping her daughter. I'm sure Marxists would, instead of blaming her, would blame capitalism and the bourgeoisie perhaps even pitying her.
-Helen 13SEV
The Shannon Matthews case was so shocking because of the thought that her own mother had kidnapped her. I think it could be possible to attempt to explain the situation sociologically. However it is a rare occurrence and although it could be explained using the working class background and reliance on benefits this anomaly has to be looked at individually and not sociologically.
Jessica Iveson 12RAS
Shannon’s family tree shows how over the years the family has been undergoing social breakdown. Where a family unit could once support themselves they are now being replaced by single parenthood, multiple partners and reliance on state benefits. This behaviour starts a pattern of gradual social disintegration. Marriage within the family no longer exists and neither does the nuclear household and the maternal bond. All of these factors can explain the downfall of the Shannon Matthew’s family. Complicated, reconstituted families can face many problems such as divided loyalties. Karen Matthews partner Craig Meehan is only 22, many sociologist say that young men who are little more than boys themselves, suddenly see themselves in a position of authority over children not a lot younger than themselves and that in these situations often end in violence and abuse.
Emma Halliday 13BW
A Marxist perspective would clearly note the difference in media coverage of this case to the Madeleine McCann incident. Assumptions were made about Karen Matthews which were based on class and her lifestyle. Marxists would claim this to be an obvious sign of class divide in British society.
However a New Right sociologist may point out that many peoples assumptions were right, and that these valid assumptions were based on Karen's lifestyle choices such as the 7 children from 5 partners she had, which ultimately for a person reliant on benefits, would have been far too many to look after.
A post-modernist would argue that the "stability" of marriage is an illusion and that cases of child abusers such as Josef Fritzl can occur in the "stability" of marriage.
The Shannon Matthews case could be described from a Marxist view in the sense that the media coverage of the case, from the start seemed to be less than that of the Madeline Mcanne case, which was somewhat similar. A Marxist would say that because the family was working class their struggle was seen as not as important than that of a more upper class family such as the Mcanns.
Matthew parry 12SD
The which Shannon's mother responded to her conditions isn't suprising, the pressure which she would have felt would be over welming, financially it would seem to her that it is the only way out of poverty, as she wouldn't understand that education is the key, although some would argue that the major problem would be being part of a reconstituted family, I would say that it has little effect as it was the mothers action not the step fathers, and I would argue that it is to do with the mother and daughters attachment
I don't think under the circumstances what Shannon Matthews mother did is suprising, because of the poverty of which they live in, having very little money when weighing up the risks it would of, at the time seem a positive thing to do and the only way to get out of the strenuous situation, some would argue that it is because of the family type, however I it was the mother who did this to her daughter so I would question her family type (continuity hypothesis) rather then Shannons
Nyomi Bates 12EJ
this case supports charles murray's theory that the wlefare state creates a 'dependancy culture' with karen matthews having 7 children whilst being unemployed and thinking that the state will pay for all her needs and when that doesnt work she intends to recieve money from a private fund. as well as this we see the class difference between the case of shannon matthews and madaleine McCann in the media coverage that has been given to both cases but the suspicion from the start in the matthews case.
on the other hand could this case be blamed on the class divide in education with karen matthews forced into unemployment because of a poor education due to social class thus forcing her to take drastic action in an attempt to change her social standings.
In my own opinion this case is quite shocking as her mother kidnapped her, herself. This case could be explained using the class differences but can also lead to the different family groupings as Shannon's mum's partner isn't Shannon's real dad. However, I think this case would be more effective examined individual not sociologically.
Vicki Ingham 12SD
A marxist view of the Shannon Matthers case may be that Karen Matthews' kidnap of her own child was a way of the proletariat attempting to rebel against the bourjoursie.
Due to the ammount of media coverage which got involved in this that Marxism. This case is rare but can still be described using the working class idea. Assumptions that Karan Matthwes was invovled were correct due to looking at her lifeystyle.
Andy Green 12EJ
I think the 'kidnapping' of Shannon Matthews was more the mothers blame. I feel that Karen Matthews may have been from a single-parent family or maybe a reconstituted family which may have lead to the misunderstanding of how families work. I feel that a reason why this unfortunate event may have taken place is because of Karen Matthews bad experiances with her own life and family.
In sociological terms the Shannon Matthews case could be seen as the effect of the class divide in Britain today, as the family was working class and lived in a deprived area. This could be supported by marxist theorists, who could see the problem as being caused by the class divide. It could also be supported by the New Right as they would claimed this was caused by the breakdown in society as a consequence of the decline in nuclear families and the great increase of single parent families.
Ashanti Bolloten 12KK
The marxist perspective can be applied to this case in that the media made assumptions and jumped to conclusions in the Shannon Matthews case due to the lifestyle and class background of her mother, where as in the Madelyne Mccann story the media and general public were supportive and sympathetic with the mccann family, and in truth, only slowly began to turn on the family. Sociologists would say this is due to the upper-middle class background of the mccann's, and the stereotypes of the working class in reference to Shannon Matthews.
This case can be seen from a marxist viewpoint. Shannon Matthew's family and their associates playing the role of the working class, proletariat, who own nothing but their own labour and who have laid out a deceptive scheme to progress in life with the available money at hand.
Abu 13SEV
I think that the case can be explained sociologically through a Marxist point of view, and this is firstly because the Matthews family can be seen as the Proletariat, and the general public and media being the Bourgeosie. Shannons family resemble the features of a working class re-constituted family, and the way in which they speak and their manners suggest that they are of a low status too. The fact that shannons mum may have kidnapped her own daughter shows the level of deprivation of this family, and the media controlled the whole situation by exploiting the story in the way they wanted to. The general public also made their own assumptions from what they had seen in the media, which gives them some control over the situation too.
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