crime and deviance MARXIST THEORY

traditional Marxist
1. criminogenic Capitalism
  1. crime is inevitable in capitalism because it is criminogenic - causes crime
  2. 1. poverty may mean that crime is the only way the working class can survive. 2. crime may be the only way they can obtain the consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in theft. 3. alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence. 4. need to win at all cost of business, along with the desire of self-enrichment, encourages capitalists to commit white collar crime and corporate crime .e.g. tax evasion
2. corporate crime
  1. Snider (1993)
    1. argues this is the most serious crime in modern industrial countries
    2. EXAMPLE found that street crime in the USA cost $4 billion to fix whereas corporation crime cost $80 billion to fix.
3. law enforcement
  1. Gordon (1976)
    1. found in all social classes. even though official statics make it appear to be largely working class phenomenon
      1. WHY 1. economic infrastrure social relationships, values (max profit and wealth) 2. economic self interest above collectibe well being 3. competition encourages individuals achievement at expense of others
  2. HOW DOES LAW ENFORCEMENT SUPPORT CAPITLISM - by punishing the w/c, blaming them and drawing attention away from the 'system'. and imprisoning the w/c neutralises opposition 'legitimately'
4. the state and law making
  1. only serving the interests of the capitalist class
    1. Chambliss (1975)
      1. argues that the law protects provate property are the cornerstone of the economy. he illustrates this with the case of the introduction of English law into Britains est Africa colonies. since tgis the law served the economic interests of the capitalist plantation owners.
      2. the ruling class have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests
5. selective enforcement
  1. although all classes commit crime. while powerless groups such as the w/c ad ethnic minorities are criminalised, the courts tent to ignore the crimes of the powerful.
6. Ideological functions of crime and law
  1. Pearce (1976)
    1. laws that appear to benefit the working class often benefit the ruling class too
      1. keeping workers fit for work, largely working class phenomenon. this divides the working class by encouraging workers to blame the criminals in their midst for their problemsd, rather than capitalism
7. EVALUATION
  1. 1. largely ignores the relationship between crime and important non-class inequalities such as gender. 2. too deterministic and over- predicts the amount of crime in the working class, not all poor people commit crime despite the pressure of poverty. 3. not all societies have high crime rates e.g. japan has homicide rate of 1 per 100,000 whereas the USA have 5.6 per 100,000. 4. left realists argue Marxism focuses largely on the crimes of the powerful and ignores intra- class crimes (where both criminals and victims are w/c)
Neo- Marxism
1. Taylor et al
  1. agree with the traditional Marxist
    1. class conflict and characterised by extreme inequalities of wealth and power. criminalises members of the working class
2. Anti- determinism
  1. Marxism is deterministic- rejects theories that claim crime is caused by external factors such as subcultures.
  2. Taylor takes ore of a Voluntaristic view. argue that crime often has a political motive.
  3. importance of individual liberty and diversity - should not be labelled deviant just because they are different
3. a fully social theory of deviance
  1. 1. traditional Marxist views on the unequal distribution of wealth and power to enforce the law. 2. ideas from interactionism and labelling theory of the meaning of the deviant act of the actor and society and hat effects this has on the individual
  2. 1. the wider origins of the deviant act- unequal ditribution of wealth and power in capitalist society
  3. 2. the immediate origins of the deviant act- the particular context in which the individual decides ro commit the act
  4. 3. the act itself and its meaning for the actor - e.g. was it a form of rebellion against capitalism
  5. 4. the immediate origins of social reaction - the reactions of those around the deviant e.g. police and community, to discovering the deviance
  6. 5. the wider origins of social reactions in the subculture of capitalist society - especially the issue of who has the power to define actions as deviant and why some acts are treated more harshly then others.
  7. 6. the effect of labelling on the deviant's future actions - e.g. why does labelling lead to deviance amplification in some cases but not others?
4. EVALUATION
  1. 1. feminist criticise for being 'gender blind'. 2. left realists criticise critial crimonology romanticises w/c criminals 'robin hood' who are fighing capitalism and by re-distributing wealth. and ignores the effect on w/c victims. 3. Burke (2005) argues critical crimonology is both too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime.
white collar crimes
1. crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation
2. Hughes and Langan (2001)
  1. why does it go undetected?
    1. Low visibility
      1. occur mainly in offices and are largely hidden from the public gaze. Even when pin pointed it is hard to portion the blame to any one person
    2. Complexity
      1. large scale fraud is often highly complex and very hard to unravel and allocate blame
    3. Diffusion of responsibilities
      1. so many different people involved it was very hard to blame one particular person
    4. Diffusion of Victimisation
      1. no obvious victims are involved here so it less likely individuals will pursue claims
Corporate Crime
1. crime carried out on behalf of an organisation
  1. EXAMPLE during the 20s and 30s Sutherland found that this was extensive 70 of the largest companiesin America were involved.

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crime and deviance MARXIST THEORY

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