Overview Flashcards
Marxism
Marx did not write at length about crime, but he did argue that laws are generally the means by which the ruling capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) keep the working class (the proletariat) in check. Marxists agree with labelling theorists in their belief that the law is enforced against powerless groups & that labelling often results in further deviance
Marxism is a structural view of society that sees law & crime arising out of the structure of capitalism. They do not see the law as a reflection of a value consensus among society’s members as Functionalists do and are instead said to be a conflict theory. Marxists believe that the inequality of wealth & power that underpins capitalist society, & the conflicts to which this inequality gives rise, are the key to understanding the law, crime & deviance
