CRIME & DEVIANCE NEO-MARXISM BOOKELT 9

Outline 2 ways that the nature of capitalism may cause people to commit crimes? 4 marks

• proletariat are paid so little, so turn to crime

• status frustration and blocked opportunities

• capitalism is “crimogenic”

• “false needs’

• white collar crimes

Who are Neo-Marxists?

They combine interactionists approach with a Marxist approach, they want to look at the interactions between Marxist groups, they take a political view

What does "hegemony" mean?

Consent - allowing people to control us

Who came up with the idea of Repressive State Appartus?

Althusser

Give an example of RSA?

The army

What do Neo-Marxists argue that Marxists theories are?

Too deterministic in suggesting that people are driven to crime by forces out of their control

What type of "act" do Neo-Marxists believe people do when committing crime?

"Voluntary acts"

What do Neo-Marxists make a connection between?

The choice of committing crime as a symbolic "political act" of resistance against the ruling class oppression

What does crime being a "political act" mean?

Crime is a way to show that something isn't right

What character are working class criminals compared to?

Robin Hood

What does "Robin hood figures" mean?

They commit crimes to help themselves and their family (for their survival)

What does Gilroy explain black crime was in the 1970s?

A resistance to ruling class oppression in the form of police racism and harassment

What were the UK riots 2024?

Riots following the Southport stabbings

What is the Marxists perspective on

The UK riots 2024?

People saw this as an opportunity to commit crimes, a way for the proletariat to express their frustration, people needed a reason so used this

What is the Neo-Marxist perspective on

The UK riots 2024?

Take a political view, that something is not right, people wanted something to change, change laws/get media attention as they feel neglected

Who was Pablo Escobar?

A famous Colombian drug lord - he invested lots of money in helping these people/communities Eg. Hospitals and roads

What is the Marxists perspective on

Pablo Escobars drug empire?

Blame on capitalism, the bourgeoisie (Pablo) exploited the proletariat (workers) to do his dirty work for him, exploiting them

What is the Neo-Marxists perspective on

Pablo Escobars drug empire?

Political stance - he did this to help and rebuild his community

The Neo-Marxist approach is associated what by? (That Taylor et al came up with)

"New criminology" (links to labelling, Marxism and capitalism

How did Taylor et al say how people could fully understand crime?

Work out the motivations of the offenders and the meanings they give to their crimes

What 2 approaches does "fully social theory of deviance" combine?

Structural and interactionists

What reasons do Marxists focus on for explaining crime vs Neo Marxists?

Marxists - focus on structural reasons

Neo-Marxists - focus on social reasons (why and how)

What did Hall et al's study show crime was used for?

Used to reassert the dominance of ruling class hegemony due to a time it was in threat from an economic and political crisis (1970s)

Young black people were "scapegoated" in the 1970s, what does this mean?

Labelled

What was the name of Hall et al's study called? And what was it based on?

"The Black Mugger" (societies were warned about black people in the streets)

What did Halls's study find?

As the ruling class owned the media and exaggerated the problem - he found that society's reaction to crime fueled by the media caused a 'moral panic' which was used to justify more repressive and aggressive policing

When the media over exaggerate and make the problem seem worse, who does this benefit?

This creates a distraction which benefits the government and the media as they generate money back (click bate)

What are some example of the media over exaggerating?

Web House (Crewe)

The end of the world

Hantavirus

What are 6 criticisms of Marxists and Neo-Marxist theories of crime?

1. They over emphasize property crime

2. They over emphasize inequality in relation to crime

3. Feminists argue that many Marxist theories or crime as "male stream"

4. Traditional Marxist theories are too deterministic

5. It is difficult to interpret all laws reflecting ruling class interests

6. They pay little attention to the victims of crime

Expand on the criticism of "over emphasizing on property crime"?

They don't explain non-property crimes such as rape, domestic violence, physical/sexual abuse, murder (it is difficult to find political motivations for such crimes)

Expand on the criticism of "over emphasizing class inequality in relation to crime"?

They also ignores issues relating to ethnicity and gender (CAGE)

Expand on the criticism of "feminists argue that many Marxist theories do crime as male stream"?

They primarily focus on make criminals and make assumptions that their theories can automatically be applied to women (they generalize their views for both genders)

Expand on the criticism of "traditional Marxist theories being too deterministic"?

They ignore the Neo-Marxist view that people commit crime for various reasons and most working class people do not commit crimes

Expand on the criticism of "it is difficult to interpret all laws reflecting ruling class interests"?

There are laws that impact everyone, some law do also effect the upper classes (it is not entirety directed at the working class)

Expand on the criticism of "they pay little attention to the victims of crime"?

Neo-Marxists romanticize working class crime as symbolic political acts

Choose your own crime and explain the Marxist explanation (capitalism causes crime - No choice), Neo-Marxist (crime is a deliberate choice)