AC 2.3 - marxism & interactionism

Question 1

Class, capitalism and crime

Answer 1

• crime is linked to power inequalities in the structure of the class system created by capitalism
• capitalists (bourgeoise) own means of production

Question 2

Conflict theory

Answer 2

Bourgeoise makes rules that exploit the Proletariat

Question 3

Exploitative Economic Structure of Capitalism

Answer 3

• society is set up to protect the interests of bourgeoise
• they create laws to protect their economic base
• their need to protect their economic base influences law enforcement

Question 4

Chambliss (1975)

Answer 4

• Capitalist society was criminogenic

Question 5

Criminogenic

Answer 5

• (Of a system, situation or place) causing or likely to cause criminal behaviour
• inevitable
• “criminogenic nature of homelessness”

Question 6

Reiman (2009)

Answer 6

• Argued that crime is invariably portrayed in media and by other capitalist elites (bourgeoise) as the result of some moral failing by individual offenders
• Proletariat = blamed for society’s problems (crime)
• is a type of social control

Question 7

Snider (1993) - capitalist pass laws to protect their interests

Answer 7

• Lawmakers in the UK & the USA rarely pass criminal laws that threaten the interest of business owners
• Pass laws that protect capitalist businesses and profits

Question 8

Reiman & Leighton (2009) - capitalist pass laws to protect their interests

Answer 8

• Criminal laws are created by Bourgeoise elites
• Means harsher punishments for Proletariats

Question 9

Sayer (2015) - capitalist pass laws to protect their interests

Answer 9

• Bourgeoise frames the criminal law to minimise their chances of punishment
• ruling elites create laws to foster a false consciousness that capitalism works and it is fair to all of us
• e.g = health & safety laws intended to protect workers make workers believe capitalism cares for them

Question 10

Slapper & Tombs (1999) - capitalist elites commit crime

Answer 10

Questioned why there may have been so few prosecutions for misselling of pensions in the UK

Question 11

Reiner (2012) - capitalist elites commit crime

Answer 11

• Few bankers were prosecuted for economic crimes after the 2008 financial crash.
• E.G = Union Carbide Plant India (1984) - the world’s worst industrial disaster as a leak exposed over 500,000 people to a highly toxic gas.
  
  • at least 3,787 people died

Question 12

Howard Becker (1963) ‘ Deviance’ is a label

Answer 12

This is because
- deviance is shaped by interactions (like social norms)
- labelling is an example of a social interaction that can change an individuals self-concept & social identity

Question 13

Key assumptions of Howard Becker’s Labelling Theory (1963)

Answer 13

• the labelling theory is concerned with the effect of labelling people as ‘deviant’
• -to ensure social conformity, some deviance is punished more severely (e.g = blue collar crime)

Question 14

Becker & later Lemert (1972)

Answer 14

distinguished between primary deviance and secondary deviance

Question 15

Primary Deviance

Answer 15

• Pointless to try and understand the cause of primary deviance (widespread & trivial which means it mostly goes undetected)
  -not part of organised deviance (not habitual)
• primary deviants don’t see themselves as deviants

Question 16

Secondary Deviance

Answer 16

• publically labelled as a criminal, individuals are stigmatised, shamed or excluded from society
• label becomes their master status, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby further deviance occurs

Question 17

Becker: master label leads to deviant careers

Answer 17

1. master status takes precedence over other labels
2. those with negative master labels will be treated negatively by others in society
3. those labelled respond negatively embracing the label as their new master status (developing deviant careers)
4. process creates a self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 18

Media labelling can lead to stereotyping of groups

Answer 18

• Stanley Cohen (1972) - ‘Folk Devils & Moral Panics’
• Stuart Hall (1978) - ‘Policing the crisis’

Question 19

Young (1971) and the Drugtakers - Applications of the labelling theory

Answer 19

• applied the labelling theory to his study of weed users in Notting Hill

Found that :
- users accepted the master status of ‘hippie drug user’
- police targeted users more often
- users found it increasingly difficult to be accepted into normal society

Question 20

Chambliss (1973): The saints & the roughnecks

Answer 20

• The saints = group comprised of 8 middle-class delinquent boys
• The roughnecks = group comprised of 6 working class delinquent boys

Question 21

The saints (Chambliss 1973)

Answer 21

• committed anti-social behaviour outside of town
• had less contact with the police
• when they did have contact with the police, they used their cultural capital to get out of trouble
• all 8 graduated from college and got professional jobs

Question 22

The Roughnecks (Chambliss 1973)

Answer 22

• anti-social behaviour committed locally
• had more contact with the police
• labelled as delinquent
• 4 become offenders

Question 23

Chambliss (1994): Labelling influences policing

Answer 23

• study of the rapid deployment unit (RDU)
• black areas of Washington DC policed more aggressively than white areas