Topic 10 - Marxist theories of crime?

Question 1

Introduction?

Answer 1

Marxism vs. Functionalism:

Both Marxism and functionalism examine society but differ in their views.
Functionalists see society as benefiting everyone, while Marxists argue it serves the rich and powerful.
Classical Marxism links crime to capitalism, seeing it as an oppressive system that exploits the poor.
From a Marxist perspective, crime is rational, as the poor are exploited by the rich daily.

Question 2

Crime, capitalism, and the legal system

Answer 2

Marxism and Crime:

Marxism argues capitalism causes crime by promoting greed, competition, and selfishness.
The wealthy are admired for their wealth, while the poor are encouraged to exploit others.
Laws reflect capitalist interests, protecting property and the rich while punishing the poor.
The legal system enforces capitalist ideologies, with selective law enforcement benefiting the wealthy.
Crime is seen as a rational response to the inequalities of capitalism, with greed and materialism encouraged across all classes.

Question 3

Willem Bonger?

Answer 3

Bonger (1905) argued the powerful define crime to protect their interests, focusing on crimes by the poor, like property crime.
He believed the poor commit crimes due to:
Physical needs and wants
Frustration and injustice from social deprivation

Question 4

Lauren Snider?

Answer 4

Canadian sociologists argue that states avoid passing laws that challenge big businesses due to their power. While laws seem to treat everyone equally, the rich face less enforcement, especially for tax evasion. Health and environmental crimes are often ignored to protect investments and profits.

Question 5

William Chambliss?

Answer 5

Chambliss argued that the ruling classes define what is morally and socially acceptable. For example, the media often heavily cover benefits fraud, but rarely report on tax evasion.

Question 6

Mark Neocleous ( 2000)?

Answer 6

Mark Neocleous (2000) argued that the police have always served capitalism by enforcing social order and criminalizing working-class customs, such as grazing cattle by the roadside. He claimed that the concept of law and order reflects capitalist values.

Question 7

Assessment of Marxist views on crime?

Answer 7

Marxist views on crime have several criticisms:

Over-reliance on class: Marxism focuses too much on class as the primary cause of criminal behavior, neglecting other factors like gender or personal crimes (e.g., rape), which feminists like Kelly and Radford (1987) highlight.

Victim-blaming: Marxism often appears to side with offenders and overlooks the victims, who may be from the same class but are more vulnerable.

Left Realism: While left realists share a Marxist view on crime, they emphasize working-class crime as a problem for victims, not just a symptom of class struggle.

Socialist Revolution: Marxism sees crime as linked to capitalism and advocates for a socialist revolution. However, high crime rates can also occur in socialist states, and capitalist countries like Switzerland have low crime rates.

Social Conformity: Marxism struggles to explain social conformity and sometimes dismisses it as false class consciousness, while functionalists argue that some laws are widely accepted as moral, such as those against child abuse.

Determinism: Post-modernists critique Marxism for being dated and deterministic, failing to account for the complexity of modern societies and individual behavior.