MARXISM Flashcards
In a nutshell, how do Marxists feel about crime?
Crime is inevitable in a capitalist society because it encourages poverty, competition and greed. Working class is largely criminalised because the ruling class control the state and enforce law in their own interest
For Marxists the structure of capitalism society explain crime. What are the four ways capitalism creates crime?
Criminologic capitalism: causes crime by nature
State and Law making
Selective enforcement
Ideological functions of crime and law
According to Marxists, how is capitalism criminogenic?
Capitalism encourages selfishness and is a rational response for all social classes.
Poverty is caused by capitalism and crime is the only way for the w/c to survive.
Capitalist advertising encourages obtainment of consumer goods, crime is the only way for w/c to obtain this
The alienation and lack of control may lead to frustration and agression
Who are the sociologists that discuss how the state and law making create crime?
Chambliss and Snider
What does Chambliss say about the state and law making and how it creates crime?
Laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy
The rulling class have the power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests, e.g. there are few laws that seriously challenge the unequal distribution of wealth
What does Snider say about the state and law making creating crime in a capitalist world?
Capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activity of business or threatened their profitability. Law making and law enforcement only benefit the capitalist class
According to Marxists what is selective enforcement and how does this create crime?
Relates to the state and law making Powerless groups such as the working class and ethnic minoritrd are criminalised, and the police and court tend to ignore the crime of the powerful
According to sociologists what are the three ways selective enforcement helps capitalism, and which sociologist comes up with this?
Gordon:
People are labelled as social failures so we ignore the actions of poverty
Imprisonment of specific individuals who are likely to trigger revolution
Imprisonment hides the failures of capitalism
What are the ideological functions of crime and the law and which sociologist comes up with this theory?
Pearce: Laws give capitalism a caring face and created a false class consciousness among workers. This is because the state enforces the law selectively, divides the worker in class by encouraging them to blame criminals for their problems
Give an example of laws giving capitalism a caring face according to Pearce.
Workplace health and safety laws appear to benefit the working class but actually benefit capitalism and the rulling class, by keeping workers fit for work. Creates false class consciousness
How do laws divide the working class according to Pearce?
Laws are selectively enforced, which makes crime appear to be largely a working class phenomenon. The state engorges working class to blame the criminals for their problems rather than capitalism
What is an example of the state creating a law to appear caring and yet failed to enforce it
A law against corporate homicide in 2007, in its first eight years there was only one successful prosecution of a UK company
How can you criticise the Marxists explanations of the relationship between crime and capitalist society?
Ignored the relationship between crime and non-class inequality lime ethnicity and gender
Too determinalistic, overproduction the amount of w/c crime
Not all capitalist societies have high crime rate, e.g. homicide rate in Switzerland is about 1/5 of that in the USA
Left realists: ignores interclass crime, when both the criminal and victims are w/c, e.g. burglary
Justice system doesn’t always ignores corporate crime, e.g. Jeffery Epstein
Who is Neo-Marxist sociologist in discussion the reason for crime?
Taylor et Al
In what way does Taylor et Al agree with the Marixst ideas?
Capitalist society is based on exploration and class conflict
The state makes and enforces laws in the interests of the capitalist class, and criminalised the w/c
Capitalism should be replaced by a classless society
In what way does Taylor et Al criticise the Marxists ideas?
Marxists is too determinalisticz it sees workers as driven to commit crime out of economic nessectity
How does Neo Marxist, Taylor et Al, view crime that is different to the Marxist view?
Take a voluntaritic view, they see crime a meaningful action and a conscious choice by the actor. Criminals are not passive puppets shaped by capitalism, they deliberately try to change society.
Crime often has a political motive, e.g, to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor
Taylor et Al produced a fully social theory of deviance to understand crime in society, what does it take into account?
- The wider origins of the act: society it occurred in, capitalist?
- Immedite origins of the deviant act: where it is, why the place triggered the act
- The act itself- the meaning/reason
- Immediate origins of social reaction: reaction of the public
- Wider society reaction: who has the power to label and decide the punishment and level of deviance
- Effect of the label: the effect of deivents future actions
What does Taylor et Al describe his approach as?
Critical criminology
How can you criticise the Neo-Marxist perspective on how to investigate the reason for crime?
Feminists: focuses on male crime
Left realists: romanticism of working class crime as Robin hoods, in relality these crimes prey on the poor, ignore effect on the victims
Burke: critical criminology is too general to explain crime and too idealistic to be useful in tackling crime
What is white collar crime?
Crimes committed in the furtherance of an individuals own interest, often gauanst the corporations of organisations within which they work
What is corporate crime?
Committed by or for corporatiojs or businesses which act to further their interest and have serious physical or economic impact on employees, consumers and the public. The desire is to increase profit
Who are the two sociologists that discuss white collar and corporate crime?
Reiman and Leighton
Tombs
What does Reiman and Leighton say about white collar amd corporate crime?
The more likely the crime is committed by a higher class people the less likely it is to he treated as an offence
Here are higher rate of preseuctiok for the typical street crime poor people commit like burglary and assault. Crimes committed by higher classes like tax evasion are more likely to gain a forgiving view
