Chapter 11: Conflict Theory Flashcards
What is Cultural Conflict Theory?
States that Society is a jumble of cultural that all have their cultural norms, and those norms clash which explains crime. In large societies, there are inevitably lots of cultures, and lots of urbanization and industrialization. The DOMINANT culture has the most influence on laws. Criminal norms are norms that the dominant culture perceives as criminals
What is Group Conflict Theory?
There are different interest groups that have conflicting values. Laws are made when one of these groups advocates for a law, and if they are louder than all the groups that don’t like the law, the law is passed! Conflict/crime has two classes:
- Crime comes from minority groups and the legal societal norms
- Crime comes from conflicting interest groups all trying to decide what counts as crime.
* Does not account for individual crime. Any crime one person commits is out of loyal service to their interest group. Only really applies to a narrow segment of crime
Who is Richard Quinney? What did he do?
Quinney was a conflict theorist. Looked at society in “segments”, and that law is created by the most powerful segment, and is dependent on there being an unequal distribution of power. He had six propositions
- Crime: The product of leal definitions that outline undesirable behaviour (whatever powerful segment wants)
- Criminal behaviour: Anything that goes against the interests of the most powerful segment
- The behaviour itself is not criminal, rather society’s reaction against that behaviour
- Criminal definitions are created and enforced by the most powerful segments!
- Social media distributes powerful segment definitions of criminal behaviour
- Social Reality of Crime: Sums all these up - the formation and application of criminal definitions, the development of behaviour patterns based on those definitions, and the construction of criminal conceptions through social media
Sum up Marxist Conflict Perspectives
Crime is analyzed in its relationship to society, and it’s all capitalist’s fault! Capitalism relies on the existence of classes, and unemployment caused by these political and economic structures leads to crime! Everything relates back to production - forces of production are things used to produce crap, mode of production is the economic system where crap is made and used, social relations of production are how humans relate under the owners of the means of production
What is instrumental marxism?
The ruling class uses the state to further their own interests and maintain power. Here comes Richard Quinney again! 6 propositions for crime CONTROL
1. American society has an “advanced capitalist economy”
2. The state serves the interests of the dominant class
3. Criminal law is an instrument used to maintain social order by the state
4. Crime control is accomplished through institutions that represent the states interests
5. Advanced capitalism REQUIRES oppression !
6. Socialism is the only way!
Criticisms: 4
1. Ruling class is assumed to be a unified and homogenous group
2. ignores how the actions of the ruling class are also constrained by societal structures like the stock market.
3. Doesn’t look at law that are not made for the IMMEDIATE interests of the bourgeoisie, like minimum wage laws and health care
4. It has a very rigid view of the base/superstructure theory. Doesn’t account for the fact that any economic base will have some sort of superstructural effect!
What is structural marxism?
Structural marxism states that the state works in the long-term interests of capitalism. Came up with the concept of relative autonomy, that the state is unaffected by the ruling class, but only to a certain degree. Not all capitalists are the same, so this way it can mediate between the warring capitalist factions. This explains why there are lots of “symbolically made” laws that are made simply to give the illusion that the state cares about the people, when it’s really just to maintain consent for capitalism to continue.
Law is ideological, because it legitimizes and reproduces the desired social order. This is because the ideals, values, and beliefs that go into making the law come from the ruling class!
Name two people who studied the crimes of the powerless, as well as their discoveries
Stephen Spitzer: Looked at “surplus population”. There are only so many jobs available in the labour market, and when they’re all gone the population that remains is “surplus”. These “surplus” are the ones who commit crime. Surplus population largely occurs from:
- Direct contradictions in the capitalist mode of production, such as outsourcing work, or replacing labour with technology
- Indirect Contradictions through the institutions that are meant to prepare people for capitalism, e.g. schools where kids are introduced to the alienation of capitalism
Problem populations: Those that disturb
- Capitalist modes of appropriating labour e.g. Robin Hood is a problem
- Social conditions of capitalist production e.g. those who are not content with wage labour
- Patterns of distribution and consumption e.g. those who use drugs as an escape, don’t contribute to society
- The process of socialization into capitalism
- Capitalist ideologies
What does structural marxism say about the crimes of the powerful?
- These crimes occur from WITHIN the means of production.
- Mode of production is the law, the state, corporate crime and social harm
- Criminal behaviour is based on a desire to maximize profit
- Finds a contradictory role between the law’s need to ensure the continuation of capitalism, as well as its need to prevent certain behaviours within capitalism
Criticisms:
- Structural marxism possesses a circular reasoning, reliant on the assumption that class exploitation exists under capitalism in order to claim that this class exploitation causes crime
- Claims that social structure has more of an effect on crime than human agency
- Completely negates other causes for criminality like oppression of races and gender
What is left realism?
- Based on left idealism, which states that all other criminological theories are superficial accounts of crime
- Square of crime: The offender, the victim, the police, and the public. This makes up “street crime”
- Specific focus on the vulnerable segments of society, such as women and racial minorities
- Most street-crime is intra-class, towards fellow “proletariat”, “should be taken seriously”
- Makes a case for non-repressive crime control policies, such as pre-emptive deterrence and police accountability
Contributions: Raised awareness to various street crimes
Criticisms: It only takes victimization surveys into account, and makes obvious points, not a defensible theory
