Neo-Marxists

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