Marxism, class and crime
- Created by: zoe_chetty
- Created on: 11-01-19 10:56
View mindmap
- Marxism, class and crime
- Marxists argue the law is enforced disproportionately against the working classes
- Marxists explanations of crime come from their view of capitalist society
- According to Marxists, the criminal justice system's function is to serve the needs of the ruling classes just like the other social institutions
- Three main elements of crime
- Criminogenic capitalism
- Marxists believe that crime is inevitable within a capitalist society
- Capitalism by its very nature causes crime
- Because capitalism exploits the working class it is particularly damaging to this class group and may cause crime because:
- Poverty may drive the working class to crime as it is the only way to survive
- Crime may be the only way to consume certain products encouraged by capitalist advertising
- Alienation may lead to violence and vandalism
- Marxists see that crime isn't confined to the working classes but also among capitalists due to ruthless competition
- The need to win at all costs encourages corporate and white collar crime
- David Gordon argues that crime is a rational response to capitalism and can be found in all social classes
- The state and law making
- Marxists see law making as reflecting the interests of the ruling class
- Chambliss argues that laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy
- The ruling class also possess the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests
- Marxists argue that powerless groups such as wc and ethnic minorities are criminalised and that the CJS ignore the crimes of the powerful
- Ideological functions of crime and law
- According to Marxist theory, the law, crime and criminals also play an ideological function for a capitalist society
- Laws occasionally are passed that appear to support working class rights
- Pearce argues that these laws also benefit the ruling class by keeping workers fit to work
- The working class are encouraged to blame criminals for their problems, rather than capitalsim
- Criminogenic capitalism
- Neo-marxism and crime
- Critical criminology
- Taylor, Walton and Young argue that marxism is deterministic; where it views the workers driven to commit crime out of economic necessity, they disagree with this explanation
- They argue a 'voluntaristic view'
- They see crime as a meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor. Criminals are consciously attempting to change society with their criminal act
- Evaluation
- Feminists criticise it for being 'gender-blind'
- Romanticises working class criminals as people who fight capitalism
- Ignore the effects of crime on its wc victims
- A fully social theory of deviance
- Taylor et al aim to create a 'fully social theory of deviance'. A comprehensive understanding of crime and deviance that would help to change society for the better
- This theory has two main sources
- Marxist ideas about the inequality of wealth and power. Therefore, who has the power to make and enforce laws
- Ideas taken from interactionism and labelling, such as societal reactions to crime and the deviant label
- A complete theory of deviance needs to unite six factors
- The wider origins of the deviant act within a capitalist society (unequal distribution of wealth)
- The immediate origins of the deviant act (the context in which the person decides to commit the act)
- The act itself (the meaning for the individual)
- The immediate origins of social reaction (the reactions to the deviant from those around them)
- The wider origins of social reaction (who has the power to define actions as deviant?)
- The effects of labelling (on future actions- why does labelling lead to deviance amplification?)
- Critical criminology
Comments
No comments have yet been made