Crime and deviance: Marxism and Realism
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- Created on: 27-03-21 18:06
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- Crime and deviance: theory
- Marxism
- Jeffrey Rieman (2009)- book called 'The rich get richer and the poor get prison'
- Lack of opportunity is not the result of something going wrong wit industrial societies (like Merton and Cloward and Ohlin) but is instead a 'structural feature' of capitalist society
- Lauren Snider (1993)
- In capitalist societies eg. UK OR USA, laws that threaten the interests of large corporations by undermining their profits are rarely passed
- E.G. The banking crisis of 2008 / Chernobyl(power plant explosion)
- Corporate crime does more harm than street crimes, both economically and physically
- E.g. pollution, oil spills
- In capitalist societies eg. UK OR USA, laws that threaten the interests of large corporations by undermining their profits are rarely passed
- William Chambliss (1975)
- Capitalism is based on competition, selfishness and greed and this forms people's attitudes to life
- Crime is a result of the system
- Taylor, Walton and Young (1973)- created a neo-marxist approach to crime
- Stuart Hall (1978) 'Policing the crisis'
- Sees moral panic about mugging as an ideological attempt that sees the moral panic to distract attention from the failings of capitalism
- Althusser- The ruling class aim to monopolise the right to legitimise and use violence through state apparatus e.g. law. They also impose their values.
- People don't always believe in/accept the views they impose
- Evaluation
- Is too deterministic- not all poor people commit crime despite pressures of poverty
- The CJS sometimes acts against the interests of the capitalist class e.g. prosecutions for corporate crimes occur
- Recognises most offenders and victims are working class
- Jeffrey Rieman (2009)- book called 'The rich get richer and the poor get prison'
- Left Realism
- Subculture- group solution to relative deprivation and marginalisation
- Marginalisation- face social exclusion/ find themselves politically and socially 'on the edge'
- solution- training, vocational qualifications
- Relative deprivation- more deprived compared to others, this generates discontent and resentment
- Solution- sure start, bursaries
- Jock Young
- Bulemic society- people gorge on media and are then forced to purge out their raised expectations as they cannot financially afford it
- Means they are excluded from participating in society
- The square of crime
- Formal control
- Informal control
- Victims
- Offenders
- Informal control
- Victims
- Offenders
- Offenders
- Victims
- Informal control
- Offenders
- Victims
- Informal control
- Formal control
- Bulemic society- people gorge on media and are then forced to purge out their raised expectations as they cannot financially afford it
- Evaluation
- Draws on a range of theories to produce a fuller explanation for crime
- Recognises the consequences of crime
- Doesn't explain why most deprived working class youth don't turn to crime
- Neglects gender as a significant issue
- Recognises most offenders and victims are working class
- Right Realism
- James Q Wilson (1975) - Rational choice theory
- weigh up the benefits of criminality such as financial gain or increased status balanced against risks such as getting caught
- Solutions- more police, CCTV, street lights
- weigh up the benefits of criminality such as financial gain or increased status balanced against risks such as getting caught
- Wilson and Kelling (1982)- Broken windows
- It is crucial to try to maintain informal social controls in neighbourhoods if crime is going to be kept in check
- Spiral of decline
- Police should concentrate on deterioration and exercise a policy of zero tolerance in those areas
- Like boundary maintenance- functionalism
- Cohen and Felson (1979)- Routine activity theory
- Further developed the rational choice theory (Wilson)
- 3 conditions needed for crime to happen: motivated offenders, opportunity and targets, lack of capable guardians
- Opportunist crime rather than carefully planned in advance
- Charles Murray and the underclass
- The underclass have attitudes and values related to crime
- Wants to cut benefits so the underclass work
- AO2- ASBO(anti-social behaviour order), curfews, tagging
- Causes displacement
- Evaluation
- Provides policies for reducing the opportunities for crime
- Doesn't address the wider structural causes
- Doesn't pay attention to 'hidden crime' like corporate crimes
- Recognises the importance of community controls and community responses
- Suggests offenders act rationally
- Katz (1988) and Lyng (1990)- emotional appeal or thrill of crime
- Target hardening AO2 stopping the homeless with slanted benches/spikes, mosquito(to move anti-social groups or gangs)
- Displacement
- James Q Wilson (1975) - Rational choice theory
- Marxism
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