Marxist Explanations of Crime
- Created by: MissRaja101
- Created on: 15-10-18 14:35
Marxist Explanations of Crime
Marxist Explanations of Crime
Marxist Explanations of Crime
Marxists use the features of capitalist society to explain crime & the workings of the Criminal Justice System by:
- Criminogenic Capitalism - Crime is inevitable in capitalist society because opportunity breeds crime
Capitalism causes crime = it breeds greed, selfishness & competition. Crime is a normal outcome (Bonger)
The State and the Law - Law making & law enforcement serves the interenst of the rulling class & protect the rich and powerful.
Ideological Functions - Some laws give illusion of benefiting the W/C; in reality, they support the growth of capitalism instead.
Crime is rational response amongst all social classes. WC = live in poverty (utillitarian) & feel alienated/frustrated (riots). MC = relative deprivation (white collar/corperate) (Gordon)
- Explains relationship between crime and capitalism
X Too determanistic = not all poor people commit crime; not all capitalist societies have high crime rates
Corporate, White Collar & Occupational
- Corporate Crime: By an employee or an organisation
- White Collar Crime: By a person of status in course of their occupation
- Occupational Crime: By an employee for their own personal gain and often against company.
Types of Corporate Crime:
- Financial crime (fraud)
- Crimes against consumers (Advertising)
- Crimes against employers (Harrassment)
- Crimes against the environment (Waste dumping)
- State Corporate crime (State knows there's widespread crime, doesn't do anything about it)
Corperate Crime is invisible because:
- Limited media coverage
- Lack of police resources
- Corporate crime is complex - law enforcers understaffed
- CC is delabelled
- CC is under reported
Explanations of Corporate Crime 1
- Marxist - Criminogenic capitalism has encourages growith of corporate subcultures
- Corporate subcultures emphasise pursuit of wealth, profit & taking of financial risks
- 'Selective law enforcement' means these crimes of the powerful go unoticed.
- Strain Theory - Merton might suggest as many MC are successful in terms of these goals, may still have a sense of relative deprivation (may want even more than tehy can achieve by legitimate approved means)
- Corporate crimes also seen as forms of innovation
- Control Theory - Suggests these individuals who carry out CC are driven by socialisation into & conforming to self-seeking management cultures.
- Welken suggests some are successful, people who have material goods associated with success may have got into financial difficulties trying to maintain lifestyle.
Explanations of Corporate Crime 2
- Differential Association - Sutherland suggests that if people associate with others who support illegal activities more likely to commit crime.
- The aggressive management in bussiness circles may generate a favourable climate for corporate cirme driven by loyalty to the firm
- Labelling Theory - Nelken suggests the offenses are more likely to escape labelling as 'criminal' as tehy are similar to normal business practice.
- Points out powerful individuals / corporations will employ accountants / lawyers to develop their techniques of neutralization to redefine their crimes as non criminal.
- Edgework - Postmodornists Katz and Lyng suggest crime can be seductive / pleasurable experience. Thrill seeking/risk taking may be motivations for crime rather than material gain
- Nelken - Excitement for young men of living life in fast lane & making hard choces in high risk situations is as important as the money benifits themselves.
- Explains social constructions of OCS
X - Most MC individuals do not commit crime; many non capitalist countries have high corporate crime
Law Creation
- Law making law enforcements serves the interest of the rulling class and protects the rich and powerful E.g, bedroom tax VS mansion tax
- Sneeder - Rulling class especially reluctant to pass laws that will threatn their profitability or regulate their bussiness
- Chambliss - The intro of British Law into East African Colonies served the needs of the rulling class
- British introduced a tax on local people; non payment of which was a punishable crime
- Local people worked at tea/coffe plantations, serving the interests of the capitalist plantaion workers
Ideological Function
Some laws (eg, health & safety legislation) appear to be for the benifit of WC rather than capitalism. Marxists believe this is a myth
- Pearce - Such laws give capitalism a 'caring face and created false conciousness among workers
- Health and safety laws benigit rulling class by keeping workers fit for labour
- The media can helo enhance ideological function of the law
- Media portrays criminals as disturbed individuals, thus diverting attention away from real cause - capitalism
- The WC begin to blame each other rather than capitalism for crime.
Shows how social institutions work together as ISAs
X - CJS does sometimes act against the rich and powerful
Evaluation of Marxism
- Explains the relationship between crime and capitalism; for example, criminiogenic capitalism and poverty
- Links law making and enforcement with the interests of the capitalist class, this raises questions about wheather the OCS is accurate
- It ignores the relationship between crime and non class inequalities (ethnicity and gender); therefore it is one dimentional
- The Criminal Justice System does sometimes act against the interests of the rulling class; therefore, suggestions that the law acts only in the interest of hte rulling class are discredited
Neo-Marxist Explanations of Crime
Neo-Marxist Explanations of Crime
Taylor, Walton & Young - New Criminology
- Agree with Marxism - although argue it is too determanistic (Voluntarism)
- Aimed to create a 'Fully social theory of deviance'
- Combines marxist (capitalist structure of society) and interactionalist (influence of victim, offender, media and and CJS) ideas
Fully social theory of deviance:
- Wider and immediate origins of the acts + the wider and immediate origins of societl reactions + effects of labelling
Stuart Hall: 'Black Muggings'
- 1970's crime stats reported sharp increase in muggings committed by black men
- Neo Marxists attempted to explain theis by considering wider and immediate causes and consequenses
Considers role of police, media and CJS
X - Feminists regard Marxists/ Neo Marxists explanations as Malestream (focus on male criminality)
X - Left Realists criticise Neo Marxists explanations forr romanticising crime
X - Some crimes have no political motive
Marxists Subcultural Theories of Crime
- Brake - Skinheads was white, WC male youth subculture - 1960's in England - Shaved heads, Doc Martins
What did they do?
- Violence + gangs
- Promote racism and neo-nazism
Why did they do it?
- Political divide between MC & WC mods
- Resistance against government
Marxist Subcultural Theory (MST):
- Strand of thought developed from marxism, explained the existance of 'deviant' subcultures amongst the WC
- MST can be used to explain actions of Skinheads in 1960's - demonstates resistance through clothing, language & behaviour
Insight into 'meanings' of group deviance
X - Bias researchers
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