Neo Marxism Flashcards
What is the Neo marxist perspective of crime?
“Voluntarists” - they believe that individuals have free will.
Working class experience the constraints of capitalism and then make choices about how they should react.
Taylor, Walton & Young
Crime as a Deliberate and Meaningful Response
Crime is a deliberate and meaningful response by the powerless (proletariat) to their position within the capitalist system.
The poor and powerless commit crime as a way of protesting against injustice, and their exploitation and alienation.
Utilitarian = redistribution of wealth, taking from one person for the benefit of another, criminals are therefore not the passive victims of capitalism, they are struggling to alter capitalism and change society for the better.
Non- utilitarian = symbolic attack on society’s obsession with materialism.
Stuart Hall
Policing the Crisis
Claimed that moral panics about potentially disruptive groups are often created by the mass media working on behalf of the state, in order to divide and rule the working class.
This has the function of dividing the black and white working class and setting them against each other, thereby diverting attention from the problems experienced through capitalism during this period.
