Marxists theories of crime

sociology - crime and deviance p2

What does it mean when marxists say capitalism is criminogenic?

What does it mean when marxists say capitalism is criminogenic?

Crime is inevitable within capitalism because it is in the nature of capitalism to cause crime, this is beacuse capitalism revolves around the exploitation of the working class (proletariat), causing them harm that can lead to crime and deviance.

Give three reasons why the working class may turn to crime

• One reason could be beacuse they may fall into poverty and may feel that crime is their only way to survive.

• May feel pressured to buy consumer goods by the influence of the media, leading to commit to utilitarian crimes (theft).

• Lack of control over their lives may cause aggression leading to non-utilitarian crimes (abuse/vandalism)

Give a theorist that you could use to support why capitalism encourages greed from all social classes. (eval point)

David Gordon (1976) - argues that crime is a rational response to capitalism, which explains why it can be seen within all social groups - he argues that offical crime statistics prove otherwise and show the majority of crimes commited by predominantly the working class.

Give a theorist/study that agrees that state and law makings only benefit the upper/capitalist class.

William Chambliss (1975) - argued law protecting private property is the foundation to the capitalist economy.

• He illustrated this by using the Introduction of British law into British East african colonies , The british were interested in teas, coffees and other plantation in east african colonies.

• In order to actually harvest these goods they needed local labour so they implemented a tax payable in cash (the local economy was not a money economy).

• In order for the locals to pay for the tax they had to reluctantly turn to working on the plantations

(in this case the law served the capitalist owners)

Define selective enforcement

Although all social classes commit crime, there is selective enforcement to who actually gets punished, the working class/ethnic minorities (black carribean,young 15-19,male) are the majority that get prosecuted, while the crimes of the powerful (capitalist owners) are ignored by the police and state.

What is meant by ideological functions of crime and law?

Laws are put in place that seem to benefit the working class than capitalism (health and safety laws), but realisticly they benefit the ruling class too.

Give a theorist with examples to support the concept of ideological functions of crime and law

Frank pearce (1976) - he argues that these laws benefit the ruling class. for example, by keeping workers fit for work, giving capitalism a ‘caring’ face, such laws also create fake consciousness among the workers.

Give an example of how laws aren’t enforced and the effects it has on the working class

The greenfield tower - laws aren’t rigoursly enforced which can lead to neglect of the employee/consumer , but in the case of greenfield it was the neglect of the residents and the safety of the building, (kingpin - false security reports)

Give an evalutaion of the marxists approach using a Neo-marxists perspective.

• Neo-marxists argue Marxists view of crime is too deterministic, although they acknowledge that theres selective enforcement of crime when it comes to the working class, they still over-predict the amount of crime the working class actually commit

Give a strength of the marxists approach to crime.

• Marxists approach gives a useful explanation to the realtionship between crime and capitalist society. E- selective enforcement, ideological function of crime and law.

Give an evaluation of marxists approach from a Left realists perspective

• Left realists argue that Marxism ignores intra-class crimes (where both the criminals and victims are working-class) such as burglary and mugging.