Classical and Neo-Marxist explanations of Crime and Deviance

What does Bonger argue?

argued that the economic and social structure of capitalism itself generates crime

• capitalism is criminogenic

What are Bonger’s points on how Capitalism is Criminogenic

• Capitalism produces Egoism

• Capitalism causes Poverty, Inequality and Alienation

• All Social Classes Commit Crime

• Capitalism is the Cause of Anomie

• Human beings are not Naturally Selfish

Capitalism produces Egoism - Bonger

Capitalism is based on private ownership of the means of production and the pursuit of profit

• creates a society organised around competition, material success, and individual gain

Promotes egoism whilst discouraging Altruism

Who reinforces Bonger’s idea that Capitalism produces Egoism

Paul Gordon

• describes capitalism as a ‘dog eat dog’ society

Capitalism is characterised by competition, individualism and greed

What does Bonger suggest that this Moral Climate of Egoism does?

• Undermines social solidary

• Encourages individuals to act in ways that prioritise their own advantage

Even if it harms of breaks the law!!

Capitalism causes Poverty, Inequality and Alienation - Bonger

In capitalistic societies, the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat

• WC often feel alienated and impoverished - forced to sell their labour for survival, whilst RC accumulates wealth

According to Bonger how does Poverty, Inequality and Alienation cause crime?

Creates structural inequality and relative deprivation

• conditions that push individuals into utilitarian crime - means of survival or as a response to frustration of the disconnection from their work

All Social Classes Commit Crime - Bonger

Rejected the idea that crime is only a WC problem

• bourgeoisie - white collar and corporate crimes, motivated by greed, profit, and competition

Capitalism produces different forms of criminality - both survival crime among the poor and power crime among the rich

Capitalism is the Cause of Anomie - Bonger

Capitalism erodes collective morality and weakens bonds of social cohesion

• promotes culture where success is measured by material gain, and ethical or communal values are secondary

This moral breakdown increases Anomie (similar to what Durkheim described), but linked specifically to capitalist exploitation

Human beings are not Naturally Selfish - Bonger

Believed that crime is not innate to human nature, but a product of social conditions

Why does Bonger purpose a Socialist Society as a solution to Crime

Socialist society - resources are shared and cooperating replaces competition: people motivated by Altruism

Therefore, crime rates would fall - economic and moral pressures that cause crime under capitalism would no longer exist

Is Bonger a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Traditional Marxist

What did Chambliss suggest about the Purpose and Function of the Law?

In Capitalist Societies, laws are primarily designed to protect property and wealth of capitalists, not people

• e.g. Tough penalties for theft or vandalism, but cooperate crimes that harm large numbers of people go unpunished

Reflects capitalist priority of protecting wealth and ownership

What two examples does Chambliss use of how Capitalists use the Law to Protect their Wealth and Property

• Vagrancy Laws (1349)

• East Africa

Chambliss: Law Purpose & Function - Vagrancy Laws (1349)

• After Black Death - shortage of labour

• illegal to give money to any person of sound mind or body who was unemployed

• forced the poor to work for landowners

• threatened with imprisonment if they refused work offers from landowners

Chambliss: Law Purpose & Function - East Africa

• British colonised East Africa - economy of the natives was not based on money

• wanted to use the population as cheap labour: working on tea and coffee plantations - introduced tax

• population could pay tax to work on plantations

• wages were kept low so the workers could not earn enough to consider quitting before the harvest season was over

What did Chambliss suggest about the Selective Enforcement of the Law?

Most laws are property law - primarily protects people who own property (MC)

• the criminal justice system was not there to catch them; nominally universal laws were applied selectively to control the working class whilst protecting the rich 

What did Chambliss' 1978 study of Seattle propose about the Enforcement of the Law?

Selective!

• members of the ruling class were part of a crime group who used their wealth and influence to bribe officials and avoid punishment

Is Chambliss a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Traditional Marxist

What does Box mean when he talks about the Law being Ideological

The law is Ideological - reflects and reinforces the dominant ideas of the ruling class, rather than serving society as a whole

• law gives an illusion of fairness, but in reality, it mainly protects capitalist interests

What example does Box use to suggest that the Law mainly protects capitalist interests?

Avoidable deaths in the workplace due to the employer failing to ensure safe working conditions are often called ‘accidents’

• avoids allowing the actions of capitalists from being labelled criminal

What does Box suggest about the Law being Ideological produces?

Mystification

• makes WC people seem more ‘criminal’ than the capitalist class and spreads the belief that white collar crime is less harmful to society

What does sociologists/concepts use to support Box’s suggestion that the Law is Ideological?

• Pearce

• Transgressive Criminology

• Reiman

What does Pearce suggest about the Law being Ideological?

Argues that the law appears to be in the interest of working class people really exist to benefit capitalists by keeping workers fit for work

• produces false class consciousness - making workers think that capitalists care about their welfare

What does Transgressive Criminology suggest about the Law being Ideological?

Laws as something that are created by the ruling class to serve the needs of Capitalism and themselves

What does Reiman suggest about the Law being Ideological?

Crime is more likely to committed by higher-class people, the less likely it is treated as a criminal offence

• more likely to be prosecuted

• justice system takes a more forgiving view of crimes committed by the higher classes

White-collar crimes are controlled much less than petty crime and anti-social behavior

Is Box a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Traditional Marxist

In contemporary society, property law does not protect the ruling class alone

LIMITATION

• vast majority of people in a society like the UK own some property

• laws about theft or burglary are not only bourgeois

Criminal justice system would take property crimes against the rich more seriously

STRENGTH

• response to claim that property law does not protect the ruling class

• acknowledges that property crimes are not seen as seriously by the poor, both in terms of the rigour that police would investigate and the sentence handed down

The existence of crime in non-capitalist societies

LIMITATION

• Soviet Union in the 20th century or modern-day Cuba - challenge this concept of capitalism being criminogenic

• These countries did not get rid of crime!

• Some capitalist societies still have low crime rates (e.g. Japan)

Present working-class criminals as passive

STRENGTH

• Acknowledges people who cannot help but commit crimes because of their economic circumstance

LIMITATION

• Neo Marxists - challenged this idea, arguing that crime is a conscious choice

Significant debate within Marxism

LIMITATION

• Most criminal laws are not controversial: consensus about the vast majority of crimes

• Non-Marxists would point out that in modern democracies law-makers are elected by over 18’s and include people from a range of political positions and social background

What are Neo-Marxists?

Marxists who sought to adapt Marx’s ideas, took onboard some of the criticisms, particularly concerning the apparent passivity of the WC

What do Neo-Marxists claim as the response for Crime & Deviance?

Recognised that WC criminals made an active choice to break the law

• sometimes this was a positive political act against the bourgeoisie

What is the example Neo-Marxist use as a positive political act against the bourgeoisie

Black Panthers

• radical black rights group in the US in the 1960s and 1970s

• engaged in criminal activity in the course of their political activism

What are the 3 main aspects of Neo-Marxism?

• New-Marxist Subcultural theory

• The New Criminology

• Critical Criminology

What does the Neo-Marxist Subcultural Theory explain?

The existence of subcultures amongst the working class

What does the Neo-Marxist Subcultural Theory argue about how Capitalism maintains control over the majority of the population?

• Ideological dominance through the media

• Economic pressures - people want to keep their jobs and be able to afford their homes

When does the Neo-Marixst Subcultural Theory claim that people can resist Capitalism?

Only the groups on the margin of society are NOT ‘locked in’ by finance and ideology

• largest group of resistance is the WC youth

How does Brake expand on the Neo-Marxist Subcultural Theory?

Resistance is expressed through WC youth subcultures

• clothes & language = disdain of capitalism and their awareness of their position in it

Resistance is best seen as ‘Magical’

What does Brake mean when he describes as WC Youth Subcultures resistance as ‘Magical’

There is a form of illusion that appears to solve their problems, but in reality does no such thing

• each generation of WC youth face similar problems

What does Brake say about generational resistance through subcultures?

Society changes constantly so generations experience very different worlds - only similarity: majority will be exploited by the ruling class

• each generation expresses its resistance through different choice of clothes, argot, music, etc

They will eventually be trapped like their parents

Who does Cohen study to strengthen Blake’s explanation of generational resistance through subcultures?

Skinheads

• short, cropped hair and typically wore work shoes or boots, jeans and sometimes braces

What does Cohen say about Skinheads style reflecting?

Workwear of male manual workers of previous decades

What does Cohen say about Skinheads being involved in?

Involved in football violence and could be hostile, and even violent, towards members of ethnic minorities

What does Cohen argue about the Skinhead subcultures representing?

‘Magical recreation of working-class culture’

What factors does Cohen suggest undermine WC communities which resulted in them creating a subculture of Skinheads?

• physical destruction of older WC housing through urban redevelopments

• loss of jobs in heavy labour

• settlement of members of ethnic minorities in places which were predominately white

Why did the Skinhead Subculture develop? - Cohen

Reaction to changes

• attempts to resist and get a positive sense of identity

• football violence can also been seen as an attempt to defend their ‘territory’ against all the threats from the outside

Is Brake a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Neo-Marxist

Is Cohen a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Neo-Marxist

What did Young and Taylor attempt to do with their The New Criminology study?

tried to establish the “fully social theory of deviance”

• suggested areas that Marxists should consider when looking at any deviant act

What is the acronym for Young and Taylor?

W - wider origins

I - immediate origins

M - meanings of an act

S - social reaction (immediate)

W - wider social reaction

E - effects of labelling

What does the first W in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

Wider Origins

What does the I in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

Immediate Origins

What does the M in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

Meaning of the Act

What does the S in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

(Immediate) Social Reaction

What does the second W in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

Wider Social Reaction

What does the E in the acronym for Young and Taylor’s New Criminology study stand for? (WIMSWE)

Effects of Labelling

Is Young and Taylor a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Neo-Marxist

What does Stuart Hall’s theory of Critical Criminology apply his approach to?

Black muggers in the 1970s UK

What reason do Hall et al give for why media focus on mugging was an example of a ‘moral panic’?

• ‘Mugging’ was not a new crime as the 70s media portrayed it

• 129% increase in mugging - a new definition to an old crime

• Statistics showed that violent crime was rising more slowly at the time of panic than in previous decades

What does Hall mean by hegemony?

Ruling class justify their view persuading workers they’re acting in their interest

What was the economic crisis in 1970s? (Hall)

Unemployment rose and living standards cease to rise rapidly (wages stagnated)

• basis of the inter-class truce was undermined

• it becomes more difficult for the ruling class to govern by consent

Why was there a ‘hegemonic’ crisis in the 1970s? (Hall)

Government was no longer able to rule by consent

• Turned to the use of force to control the crisis

• Increase in strikes

• Picket lines: stopping goods from getting him

In what 3 ways did the moral panic and stereotyping of black men benefit capitalism? (Hall)

• Diverts attention away from the problems of Capitalism

• Divided the working class - white workers began to blame black workers

• Justifies use of police force

What was the effect of labelling Black young men as the ‘folk devils’ of society? (Hall)

Alienated young Black men who now felt a sense of hostility from society

• produced a villain

Is Hall a Traditional Marxist or a Neo-Marxist?

Neo-Marxist

A very small portion of crime could be considered as politically-motivated or part of anti-capitalist activism

LIMITATION

• Rarely seems to be a motive that criminals themselves would claim

Left realists point out that most victims of crime are working class

LIMITATION

• Marxists should produce solutions to the problem of crime, rather than simply trying to understand working-class

Stuart Hall’s theory about black muggers is a conspiracy theory

LIMITATION

• nobody could prove that anyone deliberately set out to divide the working-class to prevent revolution

Hall himself recognised that his theory could not be proved

STRENGTH

• recognised that a significant factor in the media’s decision to sensationalise such crimes was because it sold newspapers rather than prevented solutions