Neo-Marxism & Marxist Subcultures Flashcards
What is the difference between marxists and neo-marxists?
Marxists: See the wc as passive victims of capitalism, who are driven to criminality by factors beyond their control.
Neo-Marxists: Reject the ideas of traditional marxists, instead they are ‘voluntarists’ which means they believe that individuals have free will. They argue that the wc and members of ethnic minority groups experience the constraints of capitalism and then make choices about how they should react to this experience.
Taylor, Walton & Young: Crime as a deliberate and meaningful response
Crime is a deliberate and meaningful response by the powerless to their position within the capitalist system.
They commit crime as a way of protesting against injustice and their exploitation
Claim that crimes against property (theft and burglary) are a reaction to wealth inequality.
Vandalism and other non-utilitarian crimes are a symbolic attack on society’s obsession with materialism.
Criminals are therefore not the passive victims of capitalism, they are struggling to alter capitalism and change society for the better.
Stuart Hall: ‘Policing the crisis’
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.
Hall analysed how the media presented ‘mugging’ and street robbery in the 1970’s, in which black criminals were portrayed as stealing from white victims.
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.
What is Marxist subcultural theory?
These marxists have focused on working-class deviant youth subcultures. Have suggested that these can be seen as a form of ideological resistance to the dominant middle-class, capitalist values.
Youth subcultures should be seen as a challenge to class inequality and the dominance of middle class values in society.
Phil Cohen: Skinheads Study
Studied ‘skinheads’ and suggested it was a reaction to working-class communities, whose dress exaggerated working class masculinity and aggression. Skinhead’s anti-immigrant stance was a reaction to the decline of their white working-class neighbourhoods.
Class anger, disadvantaged in life. Lack of employment options-gangs form.
Dick Hebdige: Punk Rockers
Explored the meanings behind the style of punk rockers in the later 1970s.
Argued that punks set out deliberately to shock society by adopting a style to resist the dominant middle-class cultural values, with facial piercings, tattoos and hairstyles.
Capitalism commercialises (tries to make money from) some aspects of youth cultural styles (clothing) so they just become consumer items/fashion trends.
