Class and crime Flashcards
Marxists on crime
crime is inevitable in a capitalist society. it encourages poverty, competition and greed. Although all classes commit crime, the working class are largely criminalised for their actions because the ruling class control the state and can make and enforce laws in their own interests. In this instance, white collar and corporate crimes are often ignored.
Criminogenic capitalism
Crime may be the only way the working class can obtain consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes such as theft. Alienation and lack of control may lead to frustration and aggression, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence and vandalism.
the state and law making - marxist
Chambliss state that laws to protect private property are a cornerstone of the capitalist economy.
Snider - capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten their profitability.
Selective enforcment
powerless groups such as the working class and ethnic minorities are criminalised, the police and court tend to ignore the crimes of the powerful.
ideological functions
the state enforces the law selectively, crime appears to be largely a working class phenomenon. This divides working class due to how it encourages workers to blame criminals in their midist for their problems, rather than captilaism
Neo Marxism - Taylor
criticise Marxists for economic determinism and instead see crime as meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor. Criminals are not passive puppets whose behaviour is shaped by capitalism: they are deliberately striving to change society.
‘fully social theory of deviance’: The wider origins of the deviant act - the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society
Immediate origins of the deviant act - the context in which the individual decides to commit the act
The act itself - its meaning for the actor
Immediate origins of social reaction - the reactions of those around the deviant act
The wider origins of societal reaction - who has the power to define actions as deviant and to label others, and why some acts are treated more harshly than others
The effects of labelling - what effects does the deviant at have on the future actions
White collar + Corprate crime - Reiman and Leighton
the more likely a crime is to be committed by high-class people, the less likely it is to be treated as an offence. Also, there is a much higher rate of prosecutions for the typical ‘street crimes’ that poor people commit (e.g. burglary and assault). Crimes committed by the higher classes (such as tax evasion) are more likely to get a more forgiving view from the justice system
Tombs - corprate crime
Tombs notes that corporate crime has enormous costs: physical (deaths, injuries, illnesses), environmental (pollution) and economic (to consumers, workers, taxpayers and governments).
how is corprate crime invisible
The media - give very limited coverage to corporate, thus reinforcing the stereotype that crime is a working-class phenomenon
Lack of political will to tackle corporate crime - politicians rhetoric of being ‘tough on crime’ only applies to street crime.
Crimes are complex - law enforcers are often understaffed, under-resourced and lack technical expertise.
Delabelling - at the level of laws and legal regulations, corporate crime is consistently filtered out from the process of criminalisation.
Under-reported - individuals may be unaware they have been victimised.
explanaitions of Corprate crime - Box
if a company cannot achieve its goal of maximising profit by legal means, it may employ illegal ones instead.
Differential Associtaion - Sutherland
crime as behaviour learned from others in a social context. The less we associate with people who hold attitudes favourable to the law and the more we associate with people with criminal attitudes, the more likely we are to become deviant ourselves.
