Topic 3 - Class, Power and crime

Question 1

What does each theory say about why people commit crime?

Answer 1

• Functionalist say crime happens as a result of inadequate socialisation into mainstream society
• Strain theory say people turn to crime because of the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve societal goals
• Sub-cultural theories say working class youths form delinquent subcultures as a reaction to failure in mainstream society
• Labelling theory says that official statistics are inaccurate and that the law enforcement specifically target the working class

Question 2

What do Marxist argue about crime?

Answer 2

• They agree with the labelling theory that law enforcements target the working class
• argue that crime is shaped by the structure of capitalism as it causes class conflict and economic inequality

Question 3

According to Marxists why is crime inevitable?

Answer 3

• Because capitalism is criminogenic, meaning its nature causes crime
• Capitalism is based on exploitation of the working class, as they are used just to make profit no matter the human cost
• Marxists thus suggest that this may led to a rise in crime because working class will more likely to be living in poverty , crime may be their only solution to survive. Crime may also be the only way they are able to obtain the consumer goods so they may commit utilitarian crimes , and lastly alienation and the lack of control may lead to frustration

Question 4

What is a weakness on the Marxist expaination on why crime is inevitable?

Answer 4

• Not all poor people turn to crime
• Assumes all crime is economically motivated, ignoring personal factors

Question 5

What do Marxists argue about selective enforcement ?

Answer 5

• See selective enforcement as only serving the interests of the capitalist class and they do this by targeting working class and ethnic minorities while ignoring crimes by the powerful

Question 6

What do Marxists argue about the state and law makers?

Answer 6

• Marxist argue that laws primarily serve the needs and interests of the ruling class
• For example Chambliss argues that laws protect private property of the capitalist society and he uses the example of the British East African Colonies where they enforced tax laws that forced the reluctant African population to work for them which benefited British businesses
• The ruling class also have the power to prevent the introduction of new laws that could threaten their interests

Question 7

What is a weakness of the state and law maker argument ?

Answer 7

• There are some laws that protect the working class such as the discrimination and equality act of 2010 and minimum wage

Question 8

What do Marxists argue about the ideological functions of the Law?

Answer 8

• Argue that Laws play a ideological function for capitalism
• Laws are occasionally passed so that it appears to benefit the working class rather than capitalism such as safety laws
• However Marxist such as Pearce argue that such laws also benefit the ruling class for example for keeping them fit for work, furthermore by giving capitalism a caring face such laws create a false class consciousness among the workers
• In addition to this such Marxist also argue that such laws are not strictly enforced and that the state enforces the law selectively and that crime divides the working class by making them look like criminals instead of capitalism

Question 9

What is evaluation of Marxist view?

Answer 9

• It ignores the relationship between crime and non class inequalities such as ethnicity and gender
• It is too deterministic and over predicts the amount of crime in the working class, not all poor people commit crime
• Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates such as Japan and Switzerland where the homicide rate is significantly low
• Left realists argue Marxism ignores intra class crimes where both the criminal and victim are working class

Question 10

What does Neo Marxist Taylor et al argue?

Answer 10

• That Marxism is too deterministic and she rejects their view
• She rejects their view that crime is driven by economic necessity and instead she takes a more voluntaristic view, arguing that individuals have free will and that crime is a conscious act aimed at changing capitalist structures

Question 11

What are six key aspects of deviance according to Taylor et al ?

Answer 11

• Wider origins, economic inequality under capitalism
• Immediate origins of the deviant act, the individuals circumstance
• The act itself, the meaning it holds
• The immediate origins of social reaction, how the authorities react to it
• Wider origins of social reaction, the role of power structures in defining deviance
• Effects of labelling, how the label influences future behavior
• Taylor et al argues that these features are key in order to have a full understanding of crime and deviance that would help to change society for the better

Question 12

Why is Taylor et al criticised?

Answer 12

• Left Realists argues that Taylor et al romanticises working class criminals as robin hoods who are fighting capitalism by re distributing wealth from the rich to the poor however they often target the poor
• Ignores effects on working class victims

Question 13

What do Marxist argue about the crimes of the powerful?

Answer 13

• Argue that the law is enforced so that the middle class are less likely to be persecuted than working class offenders
• For example, Reiman and Leighton show that crime committed by the middle class is less likely to be treated as an offence and that there is a much higher rate of of prosecutions for typical street crimes that poor people commit such as burglary and assault

Question 14

What is a white collar crime (Sutherland definition) and what does it fail to do?

Answer 14

• Term was made by Sutherland and is a crime committed by a person of respectability and high status in the course of their occupation
• However his definition fails to distinguish between occupational crime which is crime committed by employers simply for their own personal gain eg stealing from company, and corporate crime which is crime committed by employers for their organisations goals

Question 15

What types of corporate crimes are there?

Answer 15

• Financial crimes, such as tax evasion
• Crimes against consumers such as selling unfit goods
• Crimes against employees such as unsafe working conditions
• Environmental crimes such as waste dumping

Question 16

How do the powerful abuse trust and commit crime?

Answer 16

• High status professionals occupy positions of trust and respectability , for example they are entrusted with out finances, health and personal information
• However this gives them the opportunity to exploit this trust
• For example multinational firms such as the KPMG admitted in the US to criminal wrongdoing and paid a fine for its role in tax fraud
• Another example of an abuse of trust is by an individual professional called Harold Shipman who abused medical trust and committed mass murder(200 patients)
• Lawyers and accountants can be hired by criminal organisations for example to launder criminal funds into their businesses
• Crimes like this violates trust that society places in professionals and in Sutherlands view this makes white collar crime a greater threat to society than working class crime

Question 17

What are some reasons for corporate crime being overlooked?

Answer 17

• Under-reporting, the victims of corporate crime are often society as a whole, meaning individuals may not recognise that they are victims
• Limited media coverage, corporate crime is under-reported and this reinforces the stereotype that crime is primarily a working class issue
• Political focus on street crime and fail to tackle corporate crime
• De-labelling, People in power are not usually labelled as criminals

Question 18

How does the strain theory explain corporate crime?

Answer 18

• Argue that deviant behavior results from the inability of individuals to achieve through legitimate means
• Business may resort to illegal methods such as fraud when they cannot achieve their goals legitimately
• Box applies this to corporations suggesting that companies engage in unethical activities to maintain profitability

Question 19

How does the differential association theory explain crime?

Answer 19

• Sutherland uses this theory to explain how crime is learned through social interactions.
• Argues that if employers are surrounded by a corporate culture that justifies breaking the law to meet goals. they are more likely to engage in corporate crime
• Geis found that employees in companies with illegal price fixing practices were socialised into this behavior
• Sykes and Matza argue that individuals can deviate more easily if they can produce justifications to neutralise guilt, for example white-collar crime criminals might claim that they were following orders or argue that everyone is doing it

Question 20

How does the Labelling theory explain corporate crime?

Answer 20

• Argues that unlike the poor, businesses and professionals often have the power to avoid labelling
• For example they are able to afford legal experts such as lawyers and accountants to help them avoid prosecution or reduce charges
• This is known as de labelling

Question 21

How do Marxism explain corporate crime?

Answer 21

• argue that corporate crime is a result of capitalism
• because capitalisms goal is to maximise profits which causes harm such as death and injuries amongst employees and customers
• Box claims that capitalism has successfully mystified corporate crime making it appear less serious than street crime
• Due to capitalism having control over the state, it is able to avoid making or enforcing laws that conflict with its interests