Routine Activity Theory

Chewing on conspiracies

Kanchan Gupta

We will never get to know whether Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s office in North Block was actually bugged or not. If it was indeed bugged, the identity (or identities) of those snooping on him must remain in the realm of idle speculation. The Government and the Congress would like us to believe that there’s nothing more to the entire episode than ill-mannered visitors to the Minister’s office sticking chewing gum, or the sticky stuff it is reduced to after being chewed upon for a while, under the edge of his table and at other odd places, and there really is no need to get excited about it.

Many of those who live in Delhi, or the National Capital Region as the Dust Bowl of India is grandly referred to, would have experienced something similar: Sticking chewing gum on the windscreens of parked cars is not an unknown hobby in this part of the world. So we can’t rule out the possibility of visitors to Mr Mukherjee’s office leaving their trash behind, cleverly concealed till accidentally discovered by a Minister known for being extremely fastidious.

If we were to recreate the sequence of events leading up to the offensive bit, it would be something like this. A group of three bankers — and I am taking a random example — calls on Mr Mukherjee. Among them is a twenty-something furiously chewing on a strip of Wrigley’s fresh mint which no longer tastes either fresh or like mint. So the twenty-something, a B-school graduate in a sharp business suit, wants to get rid of the once flavoured strip of sugared rubber, but doesn’t quite know how to do it. The B-school trained mind begins to race through options as the urge to spit out the piece of tasteless rubber gathers intensity with each passing moment.

Option One: Seek permission to be excused from the meeting, leave the room, look for a washroom, spit out the gum, rinse the mouth with fresh water, take a quick look in the mirror, saunter back into the Minister’s office, smile at everybody and pick up the threads of the conversation. With a Minister like Mr Mukherjee, whose demeanour is that of a stern headmaster, this option wouldn’t quite work.

Routine Activity Theory « kcooper160

The routine activity theory that Mustaine and Tewksbury use to identify stalking victimizations shares parallels with traditional feminism theories for violence. For starters, the routine activity theory focuses on the victim by recognizing precursors of victimization, rather than drawing attention to characteristics of perpetrators. Also, by emphasizing what types of behavior solicited by women that motivate stalking, the theory is better able to identify violence from a cultural perspective. The routine activity theory distinguishes lifestyle factors that are associated with stalking victimizations. One characteristic for example that increases the risk for stalking is participation in the public domain. The survey identified age, employment status, social class, and place of residence as variables associated with the public domain. Also the more leisure or activities such as alcohol and drug use in public settings also reinforce likelihood for victimization. There are thus behavioral traits that motivate stalking; the routine activity theory helps to align these risk factors with lifestyle and cultural characteristics that feminist theories also use to explain violence.

I really liked how you tied in risk factors with lifestyle to the routine activity theory and cultural characteristics with feminist theories. I think thats exactly right. The routine activity theory helps to explain what some of the risk factors might be when it comes to your lifestyle choices and the feminist theories helps to explain the violence that might occur. I think that there needs to be both to compliment each other to see the whole picture.

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