Traditional Marxism

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