Crime - Marxism Flashcards
Who are the Marxists who study crime?
Gordon, Chambliss, Pearce, and Snider.
What did Gordon believe?
- Capitalism encourages crime in all classes, and is inevitable in a capitalist society.
- Crimogenic capitalism: the nature of capitalism is competition and gaining wealth
Why does capitalism encourage crime amongst the lower social classes?
Not everyone has access to equal opportunities to achieve wealth, so may be forced into crime to survive, or to ‘get back at society’
Crime is a rational response to capitalism
Why does capitalism encourage crime amongst the higher social classes?
Due to the pressure of competition, even the wealthy can turn to crime due to greed. It is never enough to be wealthy, because you can always be MORE wealthy.
What are the evaluations of Gordon?
- Gives an explanation of all types of crime, considering those who face inequality, and may be forced into crime.
- Not all capitalist societies have a high crime rate, for example: Japan, Sweden, or Switzerland
- Not everyone in capitalist societies offends. These who do have CHOSEN to offend
What did Chambliss believe?
Law is a social construct.
What did Chambliss mean by this?
Laws are made by the wealthy, for the wealthy.
Where can we see this?
- Being homeless is illegal, but owning multiple homes isn’t.
- Tax laws set up in East African Colonies.
What are the evaluations of Chambliss?
Pearce would argue
H & S? Would say ..
What did Snider study?
White collar crime
What happens with white collar crime?
- Selective law enforcement, a lot of the time people get let off
- Capitalist societies allow huge corporations to get away with the most anti-social acts because capitalist society forces people to value profit over morals
Evaluations of Snider
- Big brands like Amazon have a lot of white collar crime
- Society has made more effort into tackling benefit fraud than tax evasion
