Marxist Theory/Neo Marxist Theory

Question 1

What are the three main elements of the Marxists view of crime?

Answer 1

• Criminogenic capitalism
• The state and law making
• Ideological functions of crime and law

Question 2

What does criminogenic capitalism mean?

Answer 2

Criminogenic means by its very nature, it causes crime. Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the W/C that is using them as a means to an end (profit), whatever fhe cost. Capitalism breeds crime.

Question 3

Why does crime occur according to Marxists?

Answer 3

1. Poverty may mean that crime is the onky way the WC can survive.
2. Crime may be the only way they can obtain the consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes such as theft. (Media).
3. Alienation and lack of control over their lives may lead to frustration and aggression, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence and vandalism.

Question 4

How does capitalism encourage people commit crime?

Answer 4

Everyone in capitalism is encouraged to be individualists, greedy, and self-interested. Even the middle class are encouraged to commit white collar and corporate crime.

David Gordan (1970) argues crime is a rational response to the capitalist system and hence it is found in all social classes to be a largely WC phenomenon.

Question 5

What is state and law making?

Answer 5

Marxists see law making and law enforcement as only seeing the interests of the capiatlist class.

Question 6

Who are the main sociologists in state and law making?

Answer 6

• Charabliss
• Pearce
• Snider

Question 7

What did Charabliss (1975) say about the state and law making?

Answer 7

Charabliss (1975) argues that laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of the capitalist economy.

Question 8

What did Pearce (1976) say about the state and law making?

Answer 8

Pearce (1976) suggests what counts as crime and deviance is based on subjective decision making by the powerful. Classical Marxists seek to explain ‘why’ criminal laws are created and in doing so have a stronger view on the links between defiance and power. They maintain most, although not all laws, are largely created by the state for the benefit of the ruling class.

Question 9

What did Snider (1993) say about the state and law making?

Answer 9

Snider (1993) argues the state is often reluctant to pass or enforce laws which regulate large capitalist businesses which might threathen their profitablitity, such as the legislation against pollution, worker pay, and health and safety issues. Pearce argues many laws which appear to benefit only the working class in reality also benefit the ruling class. Factory legislation protecting the health and safety of workers also benefits capitalists by keeping workers fit for their work and loyal to their employers, so ensuring profitability.

Question 10

What are some examples of businesses that are not sanctioned for committing crime?

Answer 10

• ‘Starbucks’ have avoided paying corporation tax. Some see this as a criminal offence, yet the UK government turns a blind eye or is reluctant to close the loopholes in corporate tax so as to not lose Starbucks business trade or investement in the UK.
• The Phillips Report on the government’s handling into BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy - also known as ‘mad cow disease’) showed the Government consistently misled the public as to the risks of eating contaminated beef. This was done to protect the profitability of the beef industry, and consumer interests were ignored.
• Reports into calamities such as the gas explosion at Bhopal, India (1984 - 5000 died), the MS Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster at Zeebrugge, Belgium (1987 - 193 died) and the Hatfield train crash, Hertfordhsire, UK (2000 - 4 died), showed all the companies involved had put profit before safety. Yet, the prosecution of such criminal acts was either minimal or non-existent.

Question 11

What is selective law enforcement?

Answer 11

Marxists argue there is a selective application of the criminal law. Pearce argues law enforcement agencies are more likely to focus on working class crimes and are therefore more likely to police, arrest and prosecute those committing working ckass crime, compared to crimes of the powerful. As a consequence of selective enforcement, a high level of the working-class is over-represented in criminal statistics (especialky black people) while white-collar crime is under-represented.

Question 12

What is the ideological function of crime and the law?

Answer 12

According to Marxists, although white-collar crime is more widespread and serious than working class crime, this is not the view of the general public, as there is a widespread belief in society that crime is predominantly a working class problem.

Question 13

How does crime form an ideological function?

Answer 13

• directs attention away from crime committed by powerful groups.
• criminalisation of WC directs attention away from real causes of problems in society - economic/poor government.
• business/corporations occasionally prosecuted so the WC come to accept the myth that the law is applied equally.

Question 14

Strengths of the traditional/classic marxist view

Answer 14

• Explanation for origins of crime, i.e. capitalism, something other theories such as those offered by functionalists or interactionists fail to do.
• Bringing attention to the use of selective law enforcement. Has real-life application. This approach has shown the ability to highlight how law enforcement agencies operate selectively and unfairly against the working class, which may explain why certain social groups can react strongly to being criminalised (e.g. the Brixton riots, 1981)
• Highlighting the relationship between power and crime. It also focuses our attention on the crimes of the powerful, which are largely neglected in the mass media and other theoretical perspectives.

Question 15

Weaknesses of the traditional/classic marxist view

Answer 15

• Crime in communist countries. Lacks real life application. Critics argue marxists falsely assume communism can eradicate crime, but this is not true as evidence suggests otherwise. For example, before the Soviet Union (a communist country) ended, crime was very much alive, demonstrating crime is not only found in capitalist countries.
• Capitalism with low crime rates. Research by Stephen Jones (1988), points out capitalism does not always produce high crime rates. For example, in Switzerland and Japan, the crime rate is very low and often much lower than in communist countries. This suggests that capitalism may not be the cause of crime and deviance.
• Too reductionistic. The idea that the cause of crime can be reduced to economic inequality in society may be seen as a simplistic view. It ignores other possible social and psychological factors such as ethnic differences, religion, geographucal location, as well as psychological factors that may lead to crime, e.g. depression.
• Feminists. Ignored the relationship between crime and gender. Marxists place too much emphasis on class inequality and ignore issues of patriarchy, e.g. the influence of patriarchy on the criminal justice system. This shows sociological theory and research is still very much male-centric - focusing only on male crimes. Only offer a partial view of crime and deviance.
• The ruling class are also sometimes prosecuted, comvicted and severley punsuhed, though this may seem the exception rather than the rule. An example is the prosecution and conviction of Bernie Madoff for running one of the largest ever financial fraud schemes (A Ponzi scheme). He was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
• Left realist. Left realists are critical of the Marxist approach for playing down the importance of street crime and the effect it has on victims (who are mainly from the WC), therefore ignoring intra-class crimes. They also point out not all laws are made in the interests of the powerful, but for the benefit of society as a whole, e.g. murder, theft and rape.

Question 16

How have Neo-Marxists been influenced by traditional marxists?

Answer 16

Neo-Marxists have been influenced by traditional Marxist views by incorporating and developing Marxist ideas further, as well as the ideas of interactionist labelling theory.

Question 17

What do Neo-Marxists accept?

Answer 17

Neo-Marxists accept:

1. The classical view of marxism, that crime is a product of capitalism, and the result of inequality of wealth and power is the basis of criminal behaviour.
2. Laws are largely created by the state for the benefit of the ruling class, and law enforcement agencies are more likely to focus on and criminalise working class crimes
3. The replacement of capitalism with a classless society and the redistribution of wealth will help reduce crime to a nominal level.

Question 18

What do Neo-Marxists believe?

Answer 18

Neo-marxists believe people have free will - the ability to freely choose how to act (the opposite of determinism). A person makes a conscious choice whether to commit a crime or not. They do agree external factors may play a part, but ultimately it is the person who chooses how to act.

Question 19

What do Neo-marxists reject?

Answer 19

Neo-marxists reject criminal determinism - the view a person’s criminal behaviour is the consequence of outside forces they have no control over, e.g. economic inequality, anomie, labelling and subcultures, and biological or psychological factors. And for this reason, it rejects many of the other sociological and non-sociological theories of crime.

Question 20

Why are Neo-Marxists regarded as radical or critical criminologists?

Answer 20

Because Neo-Marxists are critical of the marxist approach, as well as other approaches which are deterministic.

Question 21

Who came up with the six aspects of a full social social theory of deviance and what are they?

Answer 21

Ian Taylor, Paul Walton and Jock Young (1973) who attempt to offer a full explanation of crime called a full social theory of deviance which will make society a much better place. There are six aspects to their theory, which are:

1. The wider origins of the deviant act: the need to look beyond the individual and see the broader influences that can cause deviance and criminality; that is, the unequal distribution of wealth and power in capitalist society.
2. The immediate circumstances (origins) of the act: the need to examine the context (poverty, location etc.) that led to a deviant or criminal act.
3. The act itself: the need to understand why a person was motivated to carry out the act - was it out of frustration with being unemplyed for example?
4. The immediate origins of social reaction: how family, friends, and the police respond to person’s deviant act.
5. Wider origins of social reaction to deviance: the need to examine those who have the power to define and label behaviour in a particular way, e.g. the agencies of law enforcement need to provide a fairer response.
6. The effects of labelling: the need to examine the effects of labelling a person. What will be the impact on their future? Why do some acts that are labelled lead to deviant amplification while others do not?

Question 22

What did Hall’s study show about the criminalisation of ethnic minorities?

Answer 22

The classic study from the neo-marxist perspective is Stuart Hall’s Policing the Crisis (1979) in which he examined the moral panic that developed over the crime of mugging in the 1970s. Despite sensationalist newspaper reports that claimed there was an increase in mugging, particulalry among young black men in London, Hall’s own research showed that it was actually growing more slowly than in the previous decade. Hall argued that a moral panic over black criminality at the time created a diversiin away from the wider economic crisis - ‘black youths out of control’ being the headlines rather than ‘Capitalism in Crisis’.

Question 23

How did Hall break down his analysis?

Answer 23

Hall broke his analysis down into several dtages - focusing firstly on how Capitalism caused crime, and then on how the media, state and the police responded to this, and finally on the further reaction of thr criminalised black youth:

1. A major economic recession in the mid 1970s increased unemployment and lead to wider civil unrest - such as mass strikes.
2. Capitalism faced a ‘legitimation crisis’ - it appeared not to be working - government needed a scapegoat to divert attention away from the failung Capitalist system.
3. Fortunately, (for the Capitalist Class and the government) the recession also lead to further social and economic marginalisation of black youth which lead to an increase in street robbery.
4. The media picked up on these street robberies, creating a ‘moral panic’.
5. The government responded to this by putting more police in areas with increasing crime rates.
6. This lead to higher arrest rates which the media of course reported.
7. The end consequence of all of this is that the public’s attention is firmly focused on the problem of black criminality, rather than the deeper problems of the capitalist system which both causes crime in the first place and then further criminalises certain people (young, black and working class).

Question 24

Evaluation of Hall

Answer 24

• Stuart Hall seems to contradict himself - On one hand he claims that black crime is exaggerated; on the other hand, he states that crime is bound to rise because of factors such as unemployment. If crime rates do rise, then it isn’t a moral panic but a real event.
• The association between criminality and black youth has continued since the economic crisis of the 1970s, so it’s not clear that this is the ultimate cause of the ‘moral panic’.

Question 25

Strengths of the Neo-Marxist approach

Answer 25

• Integrative approach. It combines several persoectives to provide a full socisl theory of deviance. By integrating a Marxist perspective, labelling theory, moral panic and deviancy amplification, it offers a more comprehensive picture than other theories of crime.

Question 26

Weaknesses of the Neo-Marxist approach

Answer 26

• Ignores female crime. Focuses on mail crime and fails to analyse female crimes. For example, Pat Carlen (1988), points out that in the New Criminology book, there was no analysis of the relationship between power, patriarchy and crime and how this had an impact on females. For example, feminists would argue sexual violencd is used by men to maintain the relationship of male dominance and female subordination, which is central to the patriarchal social order. A patriarchy society shapes how women experience sexual violence and the response of the police and others.
• Romanticises working class crime. Left realists accuse the Neo-Marxists of focusing too much on the ‘criminal’ and neglecting the impact of crime on victims. However, this criticism may seem a bit unfair, as the other sociological theories do not look at the victims of crime either. Notably, neo-marxists have been critiicsed for romanticising the working class. They present ‘criminals’ in a sympathetic way, seeing them as ‘victims’ who are protesting against the inequality and injustices of an unfair society. This may be true for a small section of criminals, but this explanation cannot justify rape and murder.

Question 27

Why are white collar crime and corporate crime under-represented?

Answer 27

White collar crime is hard to detect because:

1. They’re hidden from view and hard to detect. Some may never be discovered. Chance (1990) and Croall (2001) say these offences are rarely visible - looks like doing normal job - corporate cover up, powerful businessmen.
2. They’re often without personal/individual victims. Croall (2007) says there is less obvious, personal harm/‘blood on the streets’ - victims appear impersonal. Complaint-less crimes, no individual victim to report any offence.
3. They may benefit both the parties concerned. In cases of bribery or corruption, both parties stand to gain something for and will both be in trouble if discovered and seek to conceal the offence, making it hard to detect.

Corporate crime is hard to detect:

4. They’re hard to investigate. Even in offences like business or computer fraud, detecting and investigating it may involve technical/insider knowledge - complex. Police may lack this skill - hard to discover and look into the offender.
5. Often lack of awareness of crime being committed. Croall (2007) says victims may lack the expertise to know if they are being mislead/defrauded. Victims may blame themselves (making risky investments).
6. Even if detected, crimes often not persecuted and dealt with. Many are things like health and safety violations, price fixing and environmental offences - only lead to reprimand -fine on enforcement notices - institutional protection (often conceals).