Marxism theory

Marxism view on society

Marxism views society based on conflict rather than consensus. Capitalism is a system that creates unequal conflict between two social classes where The capitalist class (bourgeoisie) who own the means of production – e.g. the factory exploits the labour produced by the working class (proletariat).

Bourgeoisie

They use society’s institutions like the education system, the media, the family to influence beliefs that benefit them and prevents proletariat from knowing they are oppressed. They keep proletariat poorer by paying them less and take most of their profit.

Capitalism Causes Crime

-Capitalism is a Criminogenic, causes crime. -The exploitation of the working drives many people into poverty, meaning they could turn to crime to survive
-Capitalism constantly pushes consumerism at people through advertising, resulting in utilitarian crimes (E.g. theft to obtain goods) -Inequality causes feelings of alienation and frustration, resulting in non-utilitarian crimes (E.g. violence and vandalism)
-Capitalism causes crime among the capitalists themselves as it is a dog-eat-dog system and the profit motive promotes greed. This encourages capitalists to commit corporate crimes to gain an advantage (E.g. tax evasion, breaking health & safety laws)

Making and Enforcing the Law

Marxists believe that law making and enforcement serve in the interests of the capitalist society
William Chamblis argues that the laws are made to protect the private property of the rich. For Example Laws against homeless squatting in empty houses but no law against the rich owning several houses. Very few laws challenge the unequal distribution of wealth.

Selective Law Enforcement

The law focuses on enforcing crimes against the working classes but not the upper classes   -White-collar and corporate crimes are less likely to be prosecuted than w/c street crime -Corporate crime is punished less severely often with fines rather than jail
-Companies rarely prosecuted for breaching health and safety laws, even if deaths of employees are involved, Carson found out of 200 companies only 3 were prosecuted for breach of safety laws

Ideological functions of crime and the law

Idea’s about crime and law are an ideology – a set of ideas that conceal the inequality of capitalist society
Selective enforcement makes it look as if crime is the fault of the working class.  This divides the working class, encouraging workers to blame w/c criminal for their problems
This also shifts attention away from much more serious ruling-class crime
Some laws do benefit workers to a limited extent, such as health and safety laws.  However, these also benefit capitalism by giving it a ‘caring’ face
These ideas encourage the working class to accept capitalism instead of replacing it with a more equal society

Marxism: Strengths

• Poverty and inequality can cause working class crime
  -Demonstrates how capitalism promotes greed and upper class crime
• Shows how law making and enforcement are biased against the working classes

Marxism: Weaknesses

-Focus on class and largely ignores relationship between crime and other inequalities e.g. gender and race
-Over-predicts working class crime stats -Ignores low crime rates in some capitalist countries e.g. Japan v USA (Low welfare state = 5x Higher murder rate