Crime and Inequality Lecture Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering critical criminology, Marxism, racial and gender inequality, feminist criminology, and labeling theory.

Karl Marx

The father of critical criminology and clear critical sociologist whose work inspired Marxist criminology.

Marxism

A theoretical perspective that views society as structured by conflicts between economic groups and classes.

Bourgeoisie

The wealthy class in Marxist theory that seeks to expand its wealth and power.

Proletariat

The poor class in Marxist theory that seeks basic sustenance, such as food and shelter.

Ideology

The set of beliefs that the powerful in society use to maintain their power.

Private Property

The concept that individuals own specific things and can do as they please with them; viewed with skepticism by Rousseau, who argued it was harmful and served the rich.

Conflict Criminologists

Criminologists who view society as a struggle between different groups and argue that crime and criminal justice policy reflect this struggle.

William Bonger

A criminologist who argued that capitalist societies make people selfish, resulting in forms of criminality that would not exist in other societies.

Class Struggle

The Marxist theory stating that human history is shaped by the fight for power between different economic groups.

Critical Race Theory

The view that American society is structurally unequal and that minorities are targeted by the government and criminal justice system.

"Bull" Connor

The head of the Alabama police department who directed police officers to viciously beat activists seeking equal rights for Black people.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment that outlawed slavery except "as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted," which was used to re-enslave newly liberated Black Americans.

Black Codes

Intentionally vague and impossible-to-follow laws that criminalized harmless behavior among Southern Black people to arrest and re-enslave freed individuals.

Color-Blind Racism

Laws that are racially neutral on paper but produce a starkly different, discriminatory impact on people of color.

Structural Racism

Racism that is built directly into institutions and culture rather than being merely a set of individual beliefs held by a group.

Racial Threat Theory

Blalock's theory proposing that Black Americans are perceived as threats to white Americans' power, wealth, and security, prompting white-dominated society to control them through state power.

White Hegemony

The political, economic, and cultural dominance of white people over racial minorities.

Liberal Feminists

Feminists who argue that society can achieve equality through minor changes by removing barriers and considering physical and psychological differences from men.

Radical Feminists

Feminists who believe society requires complete transformation, including dismantling foundational institutions like family and marriage, to achieve equality.

Patriarchy

A social order that is structured around and centered on men.

Feminist Criminology

A criminological theory rooted in the view that women are treated unjustly in society and that sex and gender relations shape crime and the criminal justice system.

Carceral Feminism

An approach advocating that the best response to crimes against women is aggressively pushing for harsher criminal punishments, policing, and arrests.

RAINN

Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network; an organization that provides resources for female sexual assault victims to cope and seek justice.

Resistance Requirement

A traditional common law standard in criminal law requiring a victim to physically resist her attacker to prove that a rape occurred.

Affirmative Consent

A consent standard established in California based on the principle of "yes means yes" rather than "no means no."

Green Criminology

A branch of criminology that applies criminological methods to study harms committed against the environment through human activity.

Postmodernism

A collection of social theories that rejects the premise that there is a single correct way to organize society.

Foucault

The most prominent postmodern criminologist and author of 'Discipline & Punish', who argued that the modern world has become obsessed with monitoring and controlling how people act.

Critical Criminology

A radical, Marxist, and conflict-based perspective asserting that laws are used to control the lower classes and maintain the status quo of the current social order.

Labeling Theory

A theory examining who applies labels and who receives them at the macro level, as well as how those labels create a self-fulfilling prophecy at the micro level.

Primary Deviance

Minor forms of rule-breaking or deviant behavior that are considered normal and healthy.

Secondary Deviance

Subsequent deviance that occurs after an individual is stigmatized and labeled following an initial deviant act.