strengths and weaknesses of marxist theory

Strength of MT

Shows how poverty and inequality can cause working class crime. This can be seen in the Marxist theory as they explain in a capitalist society it creates poverty and people resort to crime for basic needs

Weakness of MT

They only focus on how class inequality leads to crime. There are other traits that should be considered such as gender and ethnicity, theory doesn’t explain why people commit certain crimes such as ethnic groups and honour crimes

Strength of MT

It explains why the upper class commit crime. They commit crime because capitalism creates a dog eat dog society and creates competition between upper class so they commit crimes to be the best

Weakness of MT

It over predicts the amount of working class crime. Most of the working class don’t offend, they conform. This is quite stereotypical against the working class when there’s not much evidence to support. This means the theory is less valid.

Strength of MT

It shows how law making and enforcement is biased towards the upper class. Crimes committed by the working class are more likely to be prosecuted and punished, whereas crimes such as corporate crime are less likely to be punished.

Weakness of MT

Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates for example Japan- the homocide rite is only half of that of the USA