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Sociology- Crime and Deviance > Class, Power and crime > Flashcards

Class, Power and crime Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Functionalist explanation for class differences in crime

A

Miller- the lower class has developed an independent subculture with its own distinctive norms and values that clash with those of the mainstream society, leading to higher crime rates
-the lower class haven’t been adequately socialised into mainstream society’s norms and values
-subcultural norms e.g. toughness and the pursuit or excitement, often contradicts the laws in place

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2
Q

Strain theory explanation for class differences in crime

A

-there is a strain between the w/c’s goals and their abilities to achieve these goals through legitimate means
-these means are blocked so they seek illegitimate means to achieve this ‘money success’ goal- ‘innovators’
-explains why the w/c have a high rate of utilitarian crimes

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3
Q

Subcultural theories explanation for class differences in crime

A

-w/c suffer blocked opportunities (Merton)
-Cohen- w/c youth are ‘culturally deprived’ so lack the means to achieve in education and -> bottom of official status hierarchy -> status frustration -> join delinquent subcultures and invert mainstream values

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4
Q

Labelling theory explanation for class differences in crime

A

-stereotypes made my law enforcement agencies see the w/c as ‘typical criminals’ -> labelled -> self-fulfilling prophecy

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5
Q

Marxism and crime

A

-see all of society’s institutions like the family, education, religion and the government as helping to maintain these class inequalities and crime is no different
-law is disproportionately enforced against the w/c so official statistics cannot be taken at face value
-capitalist societies encourage crime and explain why it exists

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6
Q

What are the 3 main theories of Marxism’s theory of crime?

A

-crimogenic capitalism
-the state and law-making
-ideological functions of crime and law

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7
Q

crimogenic capitalism

A

-crimogenic- by its very nature, it causes crime
-exploitation of the w/c for profit can be damaging for the w/c and may give rise to crime for these peopledue to many reasons
-BUT not just the w/c
-there are also white collar and corporate crimes (‘dog eat dog’ system-> motivated by greed, self-interest, win at all costs, self enrichment
-Gordon

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8
Q

Why might capitalism give rise to w/c crime?

A

-poverty may mean crime is the only way the w/c can survive
-crime may be the only way they can obtain consumer goods -> theft
-alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and anger -> violence, vandalism

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9
Q

Gordon

A

crime is a rational response to the capitalist society and so is found in all social classes even though official statistics portray crime as a w/c phenomenon

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10
Q

The state and law-making

A

-law making and enforcement only serve the interests of the capitalist class
-Chambliss: laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy
-ruling class have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests e.g. laws that would challenge the distribution of wealth
-Snider
-the w/c and ethnic minorities are punished harshly while crimes of the powerful go unnoticed

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11
Q

Chambliss

A

-the introduction of English law into Britains East African Colonies
-colonies’ tea, coffee, plantations etc. needs lots of local labour
-but since the local economy wasn’t a not a money economy, Britain introduced a tax payable in cash, if not -> punishable criminal offence
-the cash to pay the tax could only be earned by working on the plantation so this served the interests of the plantation owners

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12
Q

Snider

A

capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate activities of businesses/ threaten their profitability

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13
Q

Ideological functions of crime and law

A

-some laws that occasionally passed do benefit the w/c e.g. workplace health and safety laws) but PEARCE: such laws often benefit the ruling class too e.g. gives capitalism a ‘caring face’ and keeps them able to work and creates a false consciousness amongst workers
-these laws are not rigorously enforced e.g. JENABI
-because the state enforces laws selectively-> ‘w/c phenomenon’ so divides workers to blame criminals > capitalism
-the media and some criminologists portray criminals as disturbed individuals so conceal how crime is the nature of capitalism

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14
Q

Jenabi

A

2007 law against corporate homicide- in its first 8 years, there was only one successful prosecution of a Uk company despite large no. of deaths at work expected to be cause my employers’ negligence

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15
Q

Laws that benefit the working class

A

-Health and safety laws (safe environment for workers to earn an income)
-Anti-monopoly laws (keeps prices down)

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16
Q

Laws that benefit the ruling class

A

-Health and safety law
-Inheritance laws (keeps money in the breadline)
-Laws protecting property from theft
-copyright law

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17
Q

Functionalist view on law creation

A

law reflects the will of the people

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18
Q

Marxist view on law creation

A

law is a reflection of the will of the powerful
-As economic power guarantees political and social power, the rich can manipulate the rest of us, and pass laws that benefit them as they ‘set the agenda’
-Marxist argue that laws passed to combat, terrorism, or sexual harassment have, in fact, being used to undermine the right to protest as loss against terrorism, and prevent the working class and subcultures revolting against the ruling class

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19
Q

Why enforce the law?

A

it helps keep capitalism going:
-Criminals are scapegoats for the working class problems
-Individuals who are threats to capitalism can be imprisoned
-if the odd rich person is prosecuted, it makes the working class think everyone is equal

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20
Q

What crimes are more likely to be pursued by police and why?

A

-‘Street crime’ is more likely to be pursued by police than ‘white collar crime’
-intensified, policing and punishment of poor individuals and communities
-The poor are filtered into the criminal justice system, the rich are filtered out
-dole ‘cheats’ are demonised while corporate and individual tax avoidance is tolerated

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21
Q

Richard Murphy of Tax research

A

estimates that tax avoidance now amount to £25 billion, evasion to £70 billion and outstanding debts to the tax service to £28 billion so a total of £120 billion
BUT benefits fraud amounts to around £1 .1 billion annually

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22
Q

Why might people on benefits be demonised in society

A

-put a burden on the dependency ratio, so it may mean that the middle class need to pay more taxes

23
Q

White collar crime

A

financially motivated, nonviolent crime, committed by business and government professionals

24
Q

Corporate crime

A

A crime committed by a corporation or business entity, or by individuals who are acting on behalf of a corporation or business entity

25
Q

Individual motivation for crime

A

-in capitalist societies, the cultural stress is on competition and the acquisition of wealth
-Desire for money can lead those who are blocked off from legitimate chances of gaining wealth to turn to criminal method (anomie)
-greed is built into the capitalist system

26
Q

Capitalism as crimogenic and its motivations for people

A

-makes us selfish, emphasises personal gain, gives us false needs and alienates us
-The only variation between the working class and ruling class is that they will commit crimes in different ways
-But no matter what class you are from you commit crime for this reason

27
Q

Strengths of Marxism

A

-offers a useful explanation of the relationship between crime and capitalist society and shows the link between lawmaking and enforcement and the interest of the capital class
-by doing, so, it puts into a wider structural context, the insights of labelling theory regarding the selective enforcement of the law

28
Q

Weaknesses of Marxism

A

): largely ignores the relationship between crime and non-class, inequalities like ethnicity and gender
): too deterministic and over predicts the amount of crime in the working class- not all poor people commit crime, despite the pressure of poverty
): not all capitalist societies, have high crime rates e.g. The homicide rate in Japan and Switzerland is only about1/5 of the US (however, as Marxist point out societies with little or no state welfare provision, such as the USA tend to have higher crime rates)
): the criminal justice system does sometimes act against the interest of the capitalist class e.g. prosecutions for corporate crime do occur (however Marxists argue that such occasional prosecutions perform an ideological function in making the system seem impartial)
): Left realists argue that Marxism ignores intra class crimes (where both the criminals and victims are the working class) such as burglary and mugging, which causes great harm to victims

29
Q

Taylor et al

A

‘new criminology’
a newer Marxist sub-approach who attempt to develop a more sophisticated approach to crime
-criticise the traditional Marxist perspective for being too deterministic which suggests that people are forced to commit crime due to external forces beyond their control e.g. capitalism
-thus crime is a VOLUNTARY, CONSCIOUS act
-agree that the causes of crime lay in the ‘material basis of society’ (class system) and inequalities of the capitalist system BUT wanted to take this further by recognising how acts of ‘deviance’ came to be labelled a ‘criminal’ in the first place, and criminals

30
Q

Neo-Marxists key beliefs

A

-crime is a VOLUNTARY and CONSCIOUS act
-crime often has a political motive i.e. redistributing wealth from rich to the poor
-criminals are not passive puppets, their actions are a deliberate choice, striving for change (crime is the w/c fighting back!)

31
Q

What is the neo-Marxist approach also known as and why?

A

‘critical criminology’ as it takes a very critical Marxist view of crime

32
Q

What were the 6 important aspects in this ‘fully social theory of deviance’?

A

(1) the wider origins of the deviant act
(2) the immediate origins of the deviant act
(3) the act itself
(4) the immediate origins of social reaction
(5) the wider origins of social reaction
(6) the effects of the labelling

all 6 parts are interrelated and need to be understood together as part of a single unified theory

33
Q

the wider origins of the deviant act

A

in the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society

34
Q

the immediate origins of the deviant act

A

the particular context in which the individual decides to commit the act

35
Q

the act itself

A

the act itself and its meaning for the actor e.g. was it a form of rebellion against capitalism?

36
Q

the immediate origins of social reaction

A

the reactions of those around the deviant e.g. police, family, community, to discovering the deviance

37
Q

the wider origins of social reaction

A

in the structure of capitalist society- especially the issue of who has the power to define actions as deviant and to label others, and why some acts are treated more harshly than others

38
Q

the effects of the labelling

A

on the deviant’s future actions e.g. why does labelling lead to deviance amplification in some cases but not others?

39
Q

What is symbolic resistance?

A

-the oppressed do not always have to challenge the powerful in an ‘obvious way’
-they can challenge the authority and ideology of the powerful through symbolic gestures
-these are acts which carry a particular message/embedded with meaning (although sometimes implicit/hidden)

40
Q

criticism of neo-Marxism

A

): Feminists- criticise it for being ‘gender blind’, focusing excessively on male criminality at the expense of female criminality
): Left realists- critical criminology romanticises w/c criminals as ‘Robin Hoods’ who are fighting capitalism by re-distributing wealth from the rich to the poor
-Taylor et al do not take such crime seriously and ignore its effects on w/c victims
): Roger Hopkins Burke- critical criminology is too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime BUT Stuart Hall et al have applied Taylor et al’s approach to explain the moral panic over mugging in the 1970s.

41
Q

Sutherland and white collar crimes

A

-set out to show that crime was not just a w/c phenomenon
-a white collar crime is a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation
BUT ): this does not distinguish between corporate and occupational crimes

42
Q

Examples of white collar crimes

A

-tax evasion
-fraud
-forgery
-insurance scams

43
Q

What is a corporate crime?

A

crime committed by companies against employees or the public (committed for the company)

44
Q

What is an occupational crime?

A

crime committed against an individual by an employee (committed for personal gain)

45
Q

What are some examples of corporate crimes?

A

offences committed by corporations/ businesses such as:
-not having correct permits/ licenses
-failing to comply with health and safety/ other legal regulations

46
Q

Tombs: 6 types of corporate crime

A

-financial crime
-crime against consumers
-crimes against employees
-crimes against the environment
-state-corporate crimes
-paperwork and non-compliance

47
Q

Financial crimes

A

e.g. tax evasion, bribery, money laundering, illegal accounting
-victims = other companies, shareholders, tax payers, governments

48
Q

Crimes against consumers

A

e.g. false labelling and selling unfit goods (e.g. food crime)
2011: French gov. recommended breast implants from ‘Poly Implant Prothese’ be removed as it was filled with dangerous industrial silicone > more expensive medical silicone
-300,000 sold in 65 countries
-this was a manufacturing offence

49
Q

Crimes against employees

A

e.g. sexual/ racial discrimination, violation of wage laws, health and safety laws, to take industrial action etc.
-Tombs: estimates that 1,100 work-related deaths a year involve employers breaking the law

50
Q

Crimes against the environment

A

illegal pollution of air, water and land
e.g. toxic waste dumping
-2015: Volkswagen admitted installing software in 11 million of its diesel vehicles globally which disguised emission levels that were 40x above US legal limit

51
Q

State-corporate crimes

A

harms committed when government institutions and businesses cooperate to pursue their goals

52
Q

Paperwork and non-compliance

A

having incorrect/ no permits/ licenses and/or falling to comply with legal regulations

53
Q

Why might corporate crimes often be missing from official statistics and be under-represented in comparison to w/c ‘street crime’?

A

-often not dealt with by the CJS
-hard to detect- ‘invisible crime’
-police priorities- more political will in tackling street crime
-powerful people
-media is controlled by the ruling class who use ‘sanitised language’ and give limited coverage to corporate crime
-‘victimless’ crime- can be society at large or the environment
-lack of awareness that they have been victimised
-crime may benefit all involved e.g. bribery
-lack of convictions- m/c offenders
-difficult to investigate effectively due to understaffed, under-resourced and lacking technical expertise

54
Q

criticisms

A

): strain theory and Marxism over-predict the amount of business crime: Nelken- unrealistic to assume that all businesses would offend if risk of punishment was absent- could instead be to maintain the goodwill of other companies theydo business with that may also prevent them resorting to crime
): doesn’t explain crime in non-profit making making state agencies e.g. police, army, civil service
): law-abiding may be more profitable than law breaking: Braithwaite found that US pharmaceutical companies that complied with Federal Drug Administration regulations to obtain licenses for their products in America were then able to access lucrative markets in poorer countries

Sociology- Crime and Deviance (11 decks)

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