The criminal law, armed only with punishment, is only ever capable of controlling a tiny minority of criminals. Communities can exert control over the behaviour of most people in much more positive ways, through the disapproval of one's neighbours and fellow citizens, and through a whole host of accepted social attitudes. Mass unemployment creates a large class of people who reject these attitudes and who are prepared to encourage, or at least tolerate, illegal ways of making a living, and hence has a profoundly subversive effect on society.