Marxism, Class and Crime - THEORIES

Question 1

Aberfan

Answer 1

• Collapse of a colliery spoil tip in 1966.
• It slid onto a local school, killing 144 people.
• The National Coal Board got away with murdering hundreds of people.

Question 2

Reiman- the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (book)

Answer 2

• Shows that street crimes such as assault and theft are far more likely to be pursued by the police than much white collar crime such as fraud or insider trading in the City.

Question 3

Althusser

Answer 3

Ideological State Apparatus e.g. school, media, etc…
Repressive State Apparatus e.g. police, army, etc…

Question 4

Box

Answer 4

• Examines role of ideology in defining a criminal act.
• Argues definitions of serious crime are ideological constructs.
• These definitions do not refer to acts which objectively cause the most harm.
• E.g. acts of genocide and mass murder carried out by governments.

Question 5

Mishra (Criticism)

Answer 5

• Says that Marxists saying laws are made for the interest of the ruling class is called **left functionalism*
• He says that any law can be shown to be in some way ‘functional’ for the maintenance of capitalism.
• Makes any meaningful critical debate with Marxists impossible.

Question 6

The Bullingdon Club (1987)

Answer 6

Included members such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
- Negative attitudes towards women.
- A former member admitted:
*we caused £10,000 of damage.”
Never held responsible.

Question 7

Taylor, Walton and Young (Neo-Marxists)

Answer 7

1. Criminologist needs to understand way in which wealth and power are distributed in society.
2. They must consider the particular circumstances surrounding the decision of the individual to commit an act of deviance.
3. Necessary to consider the deviant act itself.
4. Criminologist should consider how/why members of society react.
5. Social structure - who has the power in society to make the rules.
6. It is necessary to study the effects of deviant labels.

Question 8

Weber

Answer 8

Level of cause = explaining the objective structural factors that shape behaviour.
Level of meaning = understanding subjective meanings individuals attach to their actions.

Question 9

Robert Maxwell - financial crime

Answer 9

Mirror group pension fund -> stole employees pension money, they could not retire.

Question 10

Rana Plaza - crimes against employees

Answer 10

A garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh,
1,000 people died.

Question 11

Bhopal tragedy - crimes against the environment

Answer 11

American company built a factory in India,
Not enough safety measures,
Led to a toxic leak.

Question 12

G4S - state-corporate crimes

Answer 12

Privately run young offenders institute,
Company got fined if any trouble was reported,
So therefore went to great lengths to prevent it.

Question 13

Tomb

Answer 13

White-collar crime costs the USA 10 times more than ordinary crimes.

Question 14

Harold Shipman (case study)

Answer 14

The Abuse of Trust:
- 2000 - convicted of 15 deaths, but suspected of 250.
- He was a doctor who gave patients loads of morphine.
- Committed suicide in 2005.
Effect on society:
- People are less-likely to trust officials.

Question 15

Box - utilitarian crime

Answer 15

People want more money then they can gain, so they turn to illegitimate means.

Question 16

Clinard and Yeager

Answer 16

Companies who are struggling are more likely to break the law.

Question 17

Sutherland

Answer 17

Sees crime as behaviour learned from others in a social context.
Thus, if a company’s culture justifies committing crimes to achieve corporate goals, employees will be socialised into this criminality.

Question 18

Box - mystification

Answer 18

• Capitalism has successfully created a mystification.
• It has spread the ideology that corporate crime is less widespread or harmful than W/C crime.