Power, Class and Crime

Question 1

How do Marxists agree with labelling theory?

Answer 1

Both think that the law is biased against the working class and is selectively enforced

Question 2

How do Marxists critisize labelling theory?

Answer 2

It doesn’t examine the wider structure of enforcement and offending

Question 3

How is capitalism criminogenic?

Answer 3

Exploitation of the working class creates inequality so they need crime to survive or get frustrated and violence 
Capitalism encourages greed so white collar crime

Question 4

What does Gordon say about crime and capitalism?

Answer 4

Crime is a rational response to capitalism which is why it’s found in all social classes

Question 5

What does Chambliss argue about the state and law-making?

Answer 5

Laws protecting personal property are the cornerstone of capitalist society

Question 6

What did Snider argue about capitalism and law making?

Answer 6

The capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that threaten their own profits or regulate business men

Question 7

What is the ideological function of laws and crime?

Answer 7

Appear to benifit working class but are enforced less often so creates a false consciousness
Workers encouraged to blame criminals rather than the unequal structure of society

Question 8

What is a strength of marxism?

Answer 8

Puts a wider structural context in place

Question 9

What are the weaknesses of marxism?

Answer 9

Deterministic
Ignores non-class factors like gender
Most crime is inter-class

Question 10

What kind of sociologist is Taylor?

Answer 10

Neo-marxist

Question 11

How do marxists and neo-marxists agree with each other?

Answer 11

Society is based on the exploitation of the working class with the interests of the ruling class
Capitalism should be replased with a classless society

Question 12

How do neo-marxists disagree with marxists?

Answer 12

They argue that marxism is deterministic

Neo-marxists see crime as a conscious choice where the criminal is deliberately trying to change society

Question 13

What sources do neo-marxists take their theory of social deviance from?

Answer 13

Marxism - unequal distribuion of wealth

Labelling - deviance gains a negative label

Question 14

What are the six aspects that must be considered when looking into the neo-marxist social theory of deviance?

Answer 14

Wider origins
Immediate origins
Act itself
Immediate origins of the social reaction
Wider origins of the social reaction
Effect of labelling

Question 15

How can the neo-marxist approach be critisized?

Answer 15

Feminists: Focuses on male criminality
Left realists: They romantisize working class crimes
Hopkins Burke: To general and idealistic to be useful

Question 16

How do feminists critisize the neo-marxist approach?

Answer 16

They see it as too focused on male criminality and ignoring female crime

Question 17

How do left realists critisize the neo-marxist approach?

Answer 17

They argue that it romanticises the working class and doesn’t take it seriously

Question 18

How does Hopkins Burke critisize the neo-marxist approach?

Answer 18

The theory is too generak and idealistic to be useful

Question 19

What is white collar crime?

Answer 19

Crime committed by a high status individual in the course of their job

Question 20

What is occupational crime?

Answer 20

Committed by employees for personal gain against an organisation

Question 21

What is corperate crime?

Answer 21

Committed by employees on behalf of their organisation

Question 22

What did Tombs conclude about the scale of corperate crime?

Answer 22

It has enormous costs, is widespread, routine and pervasive

Question 23

What are some types of corperate crime?

Answer 23

Financial crimes (tax evasion and illegal accounting)
Crimes against consumers (selling unfit goods)
Crimes against employees (discrimination)
Crimes against the environment (pollution)

Question 24

How do high status professionals abuse our trust?

Answer 24

We trust them with our health and security which gives them the opportunity to misuse this such as fraud in the NHS
Sutherland: White collar crime promotes cynicism which undermines the fabric of society

Question 25

How does white collar crime undermine the fabric of society according to Sutherland?

Answer 25

It promotes cynicism and mistrust of basic institutions

Question 26

What are the reasons why white collar crime is invisable?

Answer 26

Lack of media attention
Lack of will
Complexity
De-labelling
Underreporting

Question 27

How does the media contribute to the invisability of corperate crime?

Answer 27

They give it limited coverage and use language that makes it seem more like a technical issue than a crime

Question 28

How does the lack of will to investigate corperate crime lead to it being seen as invisable?

Answer 28

More effort is focused on street crime

Question 29

How does Merton use strain theory to explain crime?

Answer 29

When people can’t acheive socially approaved goals by legitimate means, they use illegal ones. (Working class)

Question 30

How does Box expand on Merton’s strain theory to explain corperate crime?

Answer 30

When a company can’t expand profits by legitimate means, they employ illegal ones instead.

Question 31

How does Sutherland use differential association to explain corperate crime?

Answer 31

Learned from others in a social context so if the culture of a company justifys it, employees will be socilised into criminality

Question 32

What did Geis find about differential association and white collar crime?

Answer 32

When people entered companies with illegal price fixing, they became involed in it as part of their socilisation

Question 33

What are techniques of neutralisation?

Answer 33

Sykes and Matza: Justifications to neutralise moral objections such as victim blaming

Question 34

Who developed the idea of techniques of neutralisation?

Answer 34

Sykes and Matza

Question 35

How can labelling theory be used to explain why white collar crime is so widespread?

Answer 35

They are less likely to be labelled as criminal so have the power to avoid prosecution, leading to it being more common

Question 36

How do marxists explain corperate crime?

Answer 36

They see it as a part of the normal functioning of capitalism
Box: The ideology that white collar crime is not widespread or harmful is popular

Question 37

What does Box argue about white collar crime? (Marxism)

Answer 37

The ideology that white collar crime is not widespread or harmful is popular