Marxist and Neo Marxist Perspective

What kind of theories are Marxism and neo-Marxism?

Conflict theories that focus on inequality, power and class conflict.

What is the overall aim of Marxism?

To criticise capitalism and ultimately replace it with a classless communist society.

What do Marxists agree with labelling theorists about?

The law is selectively enforced against some groups, so official crime statistics may be misleading.

What is capitalism?

An economic system based on private ownership of property and production, with goods and services exchanged through markets.

Who are the bourgeoisie?

The ruling class who own the means of production and profit from workers' labour.

Who are the proletariat?

The working class who do not own the means of production and must sell their labour to survive.

Why does capitalism create class conflict?

Workers are exploited and alienated while the bourgeoisie profit from their labour, creating conflict between the classes.

Is traditional Marxism micro or macro?

A macro, structural approach that explains crime through wider social and economic forces.

What is the Marxist base?

The capitalist economic system, including the means and relations of production.

What is the Marxist superstructure?

Social institutions such as the family, education, religion, media and politics that help maintain capitalism.

What is the function of the superstructure?

To maintain and legitimise capitalism by making the existing economic system appear normal and natural.

What are the three main elements of the Marxist explanation of crime?

Capitalism is criminogenic; the state and lawmaking serve the ruling class; and the law is selectively enforced.

What does "capitalism is criminogenic" mean?

Capitalism creates conditions that encourage crime, such as poverty, inequality, alienation, competition and the pursuit of profit.

How can poverty cause crime according to Marxists?

Low incomes and inequality may encourage the working class to commit crime to survive or obtain consumer goods.

How can alienation cause crime?

Alienation can create frustration and aggression, potentially leading to non-utilitarian crimes such as violence.

How can capitalism encourage bourgeois crime?

Competition and the pursuit of profit can encourage white-collar and corporate crime.

What did David Gordon argue about crime?

Crime is a rational response to capitalism and therefore occurs across all social classes.

How do Marxists differ from functionalists about the law?

Functionalists see law as reflecting value consensus, while Marxists see law as serving capitalist interests.

What did Althusser argue about the state?

The state is controlled by the bourgeoisie and uses different apparatuses to maintain capitalist power.

What did Chambliss argue about private property laws?

Laws protecting private property favour the bourgeoisie because they protect the foundations of capitalism.

What example did Chambliss use to illustrate laws favouring capitalism?

English colonial tax laws in East Africa forced local people into work for British plantations so they could pay taxes.

What did Snyder argue about business regulation?

The capitalist state regulates businesses but ultimately prioritises profit over people's interests.

What is selective enforcement?

The justice system focuses more heavily on powerless groups while the crimes of powerful groups are often less likely to be detected or punished.

Why do Marxists argue that working-class people are selectively criminalised?

The working class and ethnic minorities have less power, making them easier targets for law enforcement than powerful groups.

What is the ideological function of law according to Pearce?

Laws that appear to benefit workers can also benefit capitalism by maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.

How can health and safety laws benefit the ruling class?

They protect workers' health, helping ensure they remain fit and productive for capitalist employers.

How does selective enforcement divide the working class?

By making crime appear mainly working-class, it encourages workers to blame other workers for crime rather than recognising capitalism as the wider cause.

What is a strength of traditional Marxism?

It links lawmaking and enforcement to capitalist interests and places selective enforcement within a wider structural explanation.

What is the first criticism of traditional Marxism?

It focuses heavily on class and largely ignores other inequalities such as gender and ethnicity.

Why is traditional Marxism criticised as deterministic?

It can imply that poverty and capitalism inevitably cause working-class crime, even though most poor people do not offend.

Why do differences in crime rates between capitalist societies challenge Marxism?

Some capitalist societies have relatively low crime rates, such as Japan, suggesting capitalism alone cannot explain crime levels.

How do Left Realists criticise traditional Marxism?

It focuses too much on crimes of the powerful and ignores crimes within the working class, even though working-class people are often victims of these crimes.

What is neo-Marxism also called?

Critical criminology.

What does "neo" mean in neo-Marxism?

"New"; neo-Marxists update traditional Marxism and broaden its explanation of crime and deviance.

Who developed The New Criminology?

Taylor, Walton and Young.

What do Taylor, Walton and Young agree with traditional Marxists about?

Capitalism creates class inequality; the state serves capitalist interests; and laws disproportionately criminalise the working class.

How do Taylor, Walton and Young differ from traditional Marxists?

They reject economic determinism and argue that offenders actively choose crime rather than simply being forced into it by capitalism.

What do Taylor, Walton and Young mean by the proletariat as "agents" rather than "puppets"?

Working-class people actively choose their actions rather than being automatically driven into crime by capitalism.

Why can crime be seen as a political act by neo-Marxists?

Crime can be a conscious rejection of capitalist inequality and existing social arrangements.

What values do Taylor, Walton and Young emphasise besides class equality?

Individual liberty and diversity, arguing that people should be free to live differently without being unnecessarily labelled as deviant.

What is the "fully social theory of deviance"?

A theory combining Marxist ideas about inequality and power with interactionist ideas about meaning, social reaction and labelling.

What are the six stages of Taylor, Walton and Young's fully social theory?

Wider origins of the act; immediate origins of the act; meaning of the act; immediate social reaction; wider origins of social reaction; effects of labelling on future deviance.

What are the wider origins of a deviant act?

The wider social conditions behind the act, particularly unequal wealth and power.

What are the immediate origins of a deviant act?

The specific situation and circumstances that influence an individual's decision to commit it.

What does the meaning of the deviant act refer to?

How the offender understands and interprets their own behaviour.

What are the immediate origins of social reaction?

How groups such as the police and local community respond to the deviant act.

What are the wider origins of social reaction?

The power structures that determine who has the power to define behaviour as deviant and why some acts are punished more harshly.

What are the effects of labelling in Taylor, Walton and Young's theory?

Labelling can influence future behaviour and contribute to deviancy amplification.

What is the main feminist criticism of neo-Marxism?

It is gender blind because it focuses heavily on male working-class crime and neglects female criminality.

What is the first Left Realist criticism of neo-Marxism?

It can romanticise working-class criminals as "Robin Hoods" fighting capitalism, even though they may victimise other working-class people.

What is the second Left Realist criticism of neo-Marxism?

It fails to take the impact of working-class crime on working-class victims seriously enough.

What did Burke argue about critical criminology?

It is too general to explain specific crimes and too idealistic to provide practical solutions to crime.

How did Stuart Hall apply neo-Marxist ideas?

He used neo-Marxism to explain the 1970s moral panic over "mugging", linking crime, media reaction, policing and wider social tensions.