Class, Power and Crime Flashcards
(Marxism) criminogenic capitalism
capitalism, by its very nature, causes crime. poverty (caused by capitalism) means crime may be the only way for the working class to survive. crime my 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
(Marxism) Chambliss - the state and law making
states that laws to protect private property are a cornerstone of the capitalist economy
(Marxism) Snider - the state and law making
argues that capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten their law making
(Marxism) selective law enforcement
marxists believe that although all classes commit crime, when it comes to application of the law by the criminal justice system, there is selective law enforcement. while powerless groups (working class, ethnic minorities) are criminalised, the police and court tend to ignore crimes of the powerful
(Marxism) Pearce - ideological functions
theorises laws give capitalism a ‘caring face’ - creates a false consciousness among workers. this is because the state enforces 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 midst for their problems, rather than capitalism
(Neo Marxism) Taylor et al
criticise marxists for economic determinism and instead see crime as meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor. they argue crime often has a political motive (e.g: to redistribute wealth from the rich to poor). criminals are not passive puppets whose behaviour is shared by capitalism, they are deliberately trying to change society
(Neo-Marxism) ‘a fully social theory of deviance’
Taylor et al: used to understand crime in society, it takes into account:
1: the wider origins of the deviant act - the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society
2: immediate origins of the deviant act - the context in which the individual decides to commit the act
3: the act itself - its meaning for the actor
4: immediate origins of social reaction - the reactions of these around the deviant act
5: 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
6: the effects of labelling - what effects does the deviant act have on the future actions
white collar and corporate 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. there is a much higher rate of prosecutions for the typical ‘street crimes’ that poor people commit (e.g: burglary and sassily). crimes committed by the higher classes (e.g: tax evasion) are more likely to be get a more forgiving view from the justice system
white collar and corporate crime - Tombs
corporate crime has enormous costs: physical (deaths, injuries, illnesses), environmental (pollution) and economic (to consumers, workers, taxpayers and government)
the invisibility of corporate crime
- the media: give very limited coverage to corporate crime, 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
Box - explanations of corporate crime
argues that if a company cannot achieve its goal of maximising profit by legal means, it may employ legal ones instead
Sutherland - explanations of crime
differential association - sees 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 other people with criminal attitudes, the more likely we are able to become deviant ourselves
Cicourel - explanations of corporate crime
labelling theory - argues the working class are more likely to have their actions labelled as criminal. the middle class are more able to negotiate non-criminal labels for their misbehaviour
