Marxist and Conflict Theories Notes (edited)

Marxist and Conflict Theories

• Overview: focuses on how power, law, and inequality create and define deviance, is rooted in relativist (social constructionist macro level) perspectives, and emphasizes who benefits from definitions of deviance

Case Study: The James Egan Story

• A landmark Canadian LGBTQ+ rights case showing how legal systems can reflect and resist dominant norms.

• case between James Egan and john Norris vs. the Queen. They argued that the definition of “spouse” in S2 of the old age security act violated equality rights under S15(1) of the charter by excluding same-sex partners for the spousal allowance. Although the case was dismissed it highlighted the need for legal recognition and protection of LGBTQ+ relationships in order to dismantle the systemic biases embedded within legal frameworks.

Development of Marxist Theory

• Rooted in the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

• Focuses on how capitalism creates conflict, inequality, and power differentials.

Conflict

• Central idea: class conflict between the bourgeoisie (owners) and the proletariat (workers).

• Marx believed capitalism would eventually collapse as workers realize their exploitation.

• False consciousness: the oppressed don’t realize their oppression

Dialectical Materialism

• The material world is full of contradictions (conflicts).

• Social change happens through a cycle: thesis (current idea) → antithesis (opposing idea) → synthesis (compromise that becomes new thesis).

• Example: Debates over LGBTQ+ rights evolve as conflicting ideas collide and reform.

Marxist Theory and the "Hunger Games"

Marxism and the Creation of Law and Deviance

• law is not neutral; it maintains capitalist structures

• Marx saw the law as a tool used to support the ideology of capitalism and argued law hides inequality by promising “equality” on paper

• Bonger: capitalism promotes selfishness → crime. So true justice requires socialism and shared ownership/wealth redistribution

• spitzer: capitalism produces “problem populations”:

  • social junk (unneeded laborers)

  • social dynamite (critical thinkers challenging capitalism)

  • these groups are controlled through criminalization

Law and Capitalism

• Marx saw law as a tool to maintain capitalist control.

• Marx believed the goal was to overthrow capitalism to reduce deviance caused by inequality

• Equality on paper often hides inequality in practice.

• William Bonger: Crime is a product of capitalism’s encouragement of selfishness.

• Steven Spitzer: Advanced capitalism criminalizes dissent and targets groups that threaten the status quo.

• Hostile architecture (e.g., anti-homeless designs) is a modern example of controlling marginalized populations.

"Hunger Games" Analogy: The Capitol maintains power through oppression, control of resources, and surveillance—mirroring Marxist ideas of elite dominance.

Development of Conflict Theory

• Overview: broader than Marxism; including race, culture, religion, etc. focusing on how groups fight for power and resources. believes laws reflect the values of dominant cultural groups

• Gusfield

  • Law has two functions—symbolic (defining morality) and instrumental (maintaining order and enforcing behavior).

• Vold

  • society is made of conflicting groups with competing interests

  • Individuals are “group-involved beings.”

  • Conflict arises between groups when their interests and needs overlap.

  • Groups that do not overlap will have less conflict.

  • law is a tool to protect dominant group interests

• Quinney:

  • crime is socially constructed by powerful groups

  • proposed 6 propositions of crimes social reality

    1. crime is defined by powerful

    2. laws protect dominant interests

    3. power shapes enforcement

    4. people’s behavior adapts to legal definitions

    5. media spreads dominate idea about crime

    6. crime = results of law + power + enforcement + media

• Chambliss:

  • crime exists because it is in the ruling class’s interest (everyone commits crimes but the elite avoid punishment)

  • criminal law maintains capitalist domination

  • crime has functions: creates jobs (like police), distracts lower classes from their own exploitation, and focuses blame on “deviants” instead of unjust systems

The Use of the Law to Maintain Interests

• The law becomes a way for groups to maintain their interests and protect themselves.

• Legal systems often reflect the interests of dominant social, political, or economic groups.

Turk

• Law is a resource in power struggles; enforcement depends on:

  • Power of the enforcer (5 types of power including physical, economic, political, ideological, and diversionary)

  • Cultural and social alignment of the target group

Applications of Marxist and Conflict Theories

• Racial disparities: Studies have used conflict theory to examine racial discrimination. Historic example: W.E.B. DuBois made laws that criminalized African Americans after slavery to maintain control

• transgender rights example: labels like deviant are used to distract and divide working class. It shows how law is used to legitimize dominate group’s beliefs (e.g. military bans, bathroom laws)

• Human trafficking: a global form of deviance that both elite and street do. targets marginalized groups and lacks consistent recognition, cooperation, and support systems.

Critiques of Marxist and Conflict Theories

• Overemphasizes economic class—what about race, gender, and identity?

• Assumes constant conflict; what about social consensus?

• conflict theory explains how power is used, but not always how it is formed.

• Marxism lacks detail about how false consciousness is overcome

• can be difficult to test and not always scientifical more political in nature, which raises questions about its empirical validity and the potential biases involved in its application.