class and crime Flashcards
m/c crime - traditional marxism
CC is result of normal functioning of capitalism - goal is to maximise profit so it inevitably causes harm which can also be criminal e.g avoiding H&S legislation which harms workers
box - capitalism created mystification - spread ideology that WCC and CC is less widespread and harmful and state doesn’t enforce such laws to protect r/c
marxists criticism
argue there’d be no crime in communist states but these states committed crimes against their own people
m/c crime - relative deprivation
lea - in late modernity m/c likely to experience relative deprivation - feeling of lacking something in comparison to what others have - turn to crime to obtain what they feel they dont have. advertising & increased individualism leads to crime as people concerned about themselves at expense of others.
individualism - causes disintegration of communities and breakdown of informal social control - leads to anti social behaviour and crime
w/c crime - left realists
lea and young - w/c more likely to experience relative deprivation caused by capitalism
relative deprivation - subjective feeling of lacking consumer goods others seem to have. media promotes consumerism and materialism, but w/c don’t have means to obtain goods so turn to crime to obtain them - do this by joining s/cs which give illegitimate means to obtain consumer products.
left realists criticism
traditional marxists - ignore WCC and CC which do happen but aren’t in OCS
w/c crime - cicourel
w/c overrepresented in OCS - arrests based on typifications - stereotypes held by police about typical offenders so w/c tend to be seen as more likely to be criminals - w/c areas more intensively policed than m/c areas, resulting in more arrests and confirming stereotypes that w/c are more criminal.
argues when m/c youths are arrested they’re less likely to be charged - background doesn’t fit with the stereotype of a typical criminal and parents have cultural capital to negotiate with police.
concludes justice is not fixed - is negotiable and w/c end up being overrepresented in OCS.
cicourel criticism
fails to explain why the police label and why they have the power to label.
WCC dont appear in OCS - selective enforcement of laws
traditional marxists - law is selectively enforced - police and other agencies within CJS targeting w/c and ignoring WCC.
reiman - this makes crime appear to be a w/c phenomenon - turns w/c members against other w/c and distracts them from real cause of their suffering - capitalism
selective reinforcement of laws criticism
merton - w/c more criminal so CJS does not target them unfairly.
WCC dont appear in OCS - difficult to detect
professionals may use expertise to cheat clients e.g accountants syphoning clients’ money but clients not realising due to complexity of accounting books and trust they have in professionals - means WCC go undetected and unreported - means they cannot be prosecuted.
even when they are reported, they are often not prosecuted because of lack of evidence as it can be easily destroyed.
