Marxism Flashcards
what do traditional Marxists argue
Traditional marxists argue that society’s institutions act to promote the interests of the bourgeoisie. Crime is another institution in society that promotes those interests. The bourgeoise influences crime by defining what crime is and controlling the CJS. They also argue that capitalism promotes greed which leads to crime. Marxists agree with interactionists that the law is enforced disproportionately against the working class and therefore OCS cannot be taken at face value. They criticize interactionists for failing to examine the wider structure of capitalism which affects how the law is applied.
3 elements of crime
criminogenic capitalism
the state’s role in law-making and enforcement
the ideological functions of crime and the law
sociologist behind criminogenic capitalism
Gordon
criminogenic capitalism
For Marxists, crime is inevitable in capitalist society because capitalism is criminogenic, by its very nature it causes crime. Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class and according to Marxists this gives rise to crime. The WC live in poverty in a world obsessed with material wealth and crime is the only way for the working class to survive, this leads to utilitarian crime. Alienation and lack of success nay lead to frustration and aggression resulting in non-utilitarian crime such as violence and vandalism
how else does criminogenic capitalism cause crime
it encourages greed and self-interest, making people want things they lack and so they turn to crime. for the working class, they turn to crime to obtain goods they lack, for example the 2011 UK riots - WC youths in salford manchester engaged in sporadic looting of priced goods they cant afford, and for Gordon this is because capitalism encourages greed which leads the proletariat turning to crime to satisfy that need.
analysis of criminogenic capitalism
Gordon argues that crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and hence it is found in all social classes even though OS makes it appear to be a working-class phenomenon.
Gordon views the cause of crime to be capitalism itself as it causes greed and selfishness because of this criminogenic nature, the WC commit the most crime as they are more likely to suffer from strain.
middle class crime and criminogenic capitalism
Crime is not only confined to the WC. The MC are also stimulated to be greedy and are encouraged by profit to commit white collar crimes. Though little attention is paid to MC crime because the bourgeoise control the RSAs and ISAs so overlook these crimes. More focus is paid to WC crime as a way of dividing and conquering the WC
solution to crime
According to Gordon, the ultimate solution to crime would be communism. Under communism, there would be no greed since every thing would be shared ‘from each according to their own needs to each according to their own ability’
eval of criminogenic capitalism
- echoes mertons strain theory
- marxists argue that WC commit violent crime because they suffer from strain but not all WC people commit crime - deterministic. Pensioners are one of the poorest people and they do not commit crime
- it ignores the relationship between crime and non-class identities such as ethnicity and gender according to feminists
- According to realists it is too sympathetic to WC criminals and ignores the real victims such as WC victims of WC crimes. LR argue that it is difficult to see WC criminals as victims of capitalist society because they commit crime against other WC people
states role in law making sociologist
Chambliss
states role in law making and enforcement
Laws are not an expression of the value consensus as functionalists contend but instruments of the MC that reflect their values and serve their interests according to Marxists. Chambliss argues that crime only appears to be a WC phenomenon because the bourgeoise make laws in their interests and use agents of social control to protect their interests by criminalizing those who oppose them
ways the bourgeoise control the state
control law making
control the RSA to influence how laws are influenced controlling the narrative, ensuring the way wider society views crime is in their interests. This is done by controlling the ISA, especially the media
control law making
For chambliss, crime only appears to be a WC phenomenon because the bourgeoise controls areas of the state involved in law-making. They control the state body that makes the law so that laws are made in their favor. According to Sinder, the bourg control how laws are made by preventing the introduction of laws that challenge their capitalist status, regulate their activities, or threaten their popularity, most laws focus on protecting the influence or interests of the state, such as tax avoidance, most laws are concerning property rights meaning crime committed majorly by the WC. Thefit and burglary are most likely to be reported.
control the RSA
They influence how the law is enforced by controlling the RSA, this makes it possible for law enforcement to act in protection of bourgeoise interests against the working class, this is done through extensive police control in poor areas. For eg. the guardian article 2021 reported that 683 officers were deployed to birth schools with many assigned to areas of high deprivation, another way is that large corporate crime mostly committed by the MC are rarely investigated by the police
controlling the ISA
They control the way society learns about crime by controlling the ISA, meaning anything they consider a crime becomes a crime. As a result, little coverage or focus is placed on MC crime, this reinforces the stereotype that crime is a WC phenomenon. According to Croal, the media describe crime using soft language like con used to describe theft as opposed to fraud which should be used. According to Croal, the bourgeoise control the narrative around crime to ensure focus is placed less on their crime and more on WC crime
what was Chambliss’s study
Seattle Study
seattle study
He interviewed prostitutes, pimps, police officers, governors, chiefs, and drug runners. He found that crime was present in every strata of society but only the WC were getting caught, this is because of power and influence. Wealth helped give the MC a pass. He found that 70% of reported and recorded crime was for drunken disorder in working-class areas, this was because the police were focusing their attention on WC areas ignoring MC crime. He also found that Mc crime such as fraud, embezzlement, and organized prostitution was ignored by the police and courts because law enforcement focused all their attention on the low level criminals and ignore upper class crime
eval of states’ role in law-making
Laws are sometimes made against the interests of the bout - Marx would argue, however, this is an ideological function in making the system look impartial
MC doesn’t control the ISA, the media report crime as it appears
Func - the RSA are simply agents of social control who work to ensure that the value consensus is adhered to they do not necessarily act to repress the WC
the ideological function of crime and the law-
For marxists, crime plays a role in manipulating the beliefs and attitudes of the working class. Blaming the WC for crimes is ideological and the real problems are not those in prisons but corporate criminals who have stolen the wealth of the people
two ideological functions
Selective Enforcement
DIvide and Conquer
sociologist for ideological function
chambliss
selective enforcement
Chambliss argues that there is one law for the rich and one for the poor. The impression that crime is mainly a WC phenomenon is largely due to the selective enforcement of the law. This allows the elite to commit crimes that will be largely ignored because the law is selectively enforced. As a result, the real crimes in society white collar and corporate crime, are rarely prosecuted because WC crime acts as a distraction
divide and conquer
According to Marxists, the law is used to divide and conquer because it makes the working class out to be scapegoats, this leads to people focusing on WC crime, making the proletariat turn against each other as they blame WC criminals for their problem rather than the elite and capitalism, as a result, the MC continue to commit crime. Pearce argues that corporate persecutions are rare so as not to undermine the idea that the WC commit the majority of crimes. The law carried out this DC function through the help of the media and law enforcement agencies, portraying the WC as the real problem in society for example, targetting benefit fraud and ignoring financial crime
crimes of the powerful sociologist
Reiman and Leighton
crimes of the powerful
Reiman and Leighton the more likely a crime is t committed by the upper class, the less likely it is to be treated as an offence
definition of WCC sociologist
Sutherland
definition of WCC
Sutherland defines white collar crime as a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of their occupation
what does Sutherlands definition fail to do
His definition fails to distinguish between the two different types of crime.
Occupational crime - carried out by employees simply for their own personal gain often against their employer
Corporate Crime - Crime carried out by employees on behalf of their employers for eg tax evasion
This type of crime according to Box is a prevalent issue because companies suffer from strain if they cannot achieve their goals legitimately they will innovate to reach them
types of corporate crime
Tombs -
Financial crime - tax evasion, money laundering
Crimes against consumers - false labeling, selling unfit goods
Crimes against the environment - pollution
Crimes against employees - sexual and racial discrimination, occupational hazards, occupational hazards
State corporate crimes - marketization of education, private companies producing weapons for the government
why MC crimes go, undetected sociologist,
Hughes and Langan
why MC crime go undetected
Hughes and Langan -
Low visibility
Complexity
Diffusion of responsibility
Difussion and Victimisation
low visibility
Street crimes such as rape and burglary are highly visible - we see that they’ve happened particularly through the help of the media. The media and the law simplify these crimes and make us aware of any epidermis and the consequences, while they hide crimes of the powerful from the public gaze
complexity
Large-scale fraud or financial crimes are often simply complex and very hard to understand. For example, recent financial scandals like Libor are hard to understand and the laws guiding them also, so they don’t understand when one has been broken
diffusion of responsibility
It is difficult to find who to prosecute or apportion blame to due to the large sums of people involved. It is difficult to figure out who in the chain of command to blame. For example, in the Bhopal Disaster, a gas tragedy killing many people, blame the guards on duty? the company that made the plants? the company that supplied insufficient guards or the UCIL corporation?
diffusion of victimisation
Corporate/White color crimes are often seen as victimless crimes. There is no direct harm done to a person compared to a violent street crime. This makes it less likely for an individual to pursue claims,
why dont we care about WCC sociologist
Box
why dont we care about WCC
Box argues that the RC has promoted the idea that corporate crime is less serious and less harmful than normal crimes such as muggings and robbery
There is a lack of political will to tackle corporate crime as the politician’s rhetoric of being tough on crime only applies to street crime
Croal argues that the media tends to describe wcc using soft words such as fiddles and cons this contrasts with hard words which would be used like theft and fraud. As a result, the severity of such crimes are downplayed, resulting in more focus on street rather than corporate crime
evaluation
Not all laws protect/benefit the bourgeoisie. Pearce claims that occasionally, laws are made which appear to benefit the proletariat. Health and safety laws, min wage etc. However, Pearce claims that occasionally they are often just ways of protecting capitalist assets. The minimum wage keeps the low-paid stuck and legitimizes any lack of pay rise. The laws which appear to benefit the WC are often selectively enforced eg only when it suits the company but they tend to be overlooked or minimally punished when there are no infringements
cost of bourgeoisie crime
Crimes of the powerful go underreported and recorded. According to Pearce, the detected levels of WC and CC were twice as much as the total of all robberies in the UK. White collar crimes costs the US 1.45T, CC cost 1.57T
explaining corporate crime
Strain
Differential Association
Labeling Theory
Marxism
strain
Box argues that if a company cannot achieve its goal of maximizing profit by legal means it may employ illegal ones instead. Companies may be tempted to break the law when business conditions become worse. Clinard and Yeager argued that low violations by large companies increased as their financial performance deteriorated which suggests a willingness to innovate to achieve their profit goals
differential association
Sutherland sees crime as a behavior learned from others in a social context. The less we associate people who hold attitudes favorable to the law and the more we associate with those criminal attitudes the more likely we become deviant. Thus if a company’s culture justifies committing crimes to achieve corporate goals, employees will be socialized into criminality. For example, Geis found that individuals joining companies where illegal price fixing was practiced became involved in it as part of their socialization
what can we link differential association to
deviant subcultures
techniques of neutralisation
deviant subcultures
Company employees face problems in achieving corporate goals and may adopt deviant means to do so, socialising new members into this
techniques of neutalisation
Skyes and Matza argue that individuals can deviate more easily if they can provide justifications to neutralise moral objections to their misbehavior
labeling
Cicourel - negotiation of justice - Nelson calls this labeling, professionals often have the power to avoid labeling by affording expensive lawyers
marxism
criminogenic capitalism
evals
not all businesses commit crime
doesn’t explain non-profit making crime
law-abiding may be more profitable than law-breaking - Braithwaite found that US pharmaceutical companies that complied with FDS regulations to obtain licenses in America were able to access lucrative markets in poor countries
