Crime And Deviance : Marxist, Neo-Marxist And Critical Criminology Flashcards

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1
Q

Marxist criminology

A

The structure of society (the state, the law and the CJS) functions to serve the interests of the RC and maintain capitalist economy

  1. Law breaking - the WC SEEM to break the law more
  2. Selective law enforcement - the law is enforced unfairly against the WC and in favour of maintaining capitalism
  3. Law-making - the RC are also the ones who create the laws
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2
Q

Chambliss

A

Capitalism is criminogenic - it generates crime

The nature of capitalism means that crime is inevitable:

W/C = Poverty could mean that the only way to survive is crime, consumerism leads to utilitarian crime, people feel alienated and commit violent acts/vandalism

M/C + R/C = ‘dog eat dog’ environment – need to win at all cost leads to things like tax evasion, flouting health and safety rules

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3
Q

Law breaking

A

Gordon - crime is rational:
Dog eat dog society = competition is inevitable

Mankoff
Lower crime rate in Western Europe compared to USA was a result of the effects of criminogenic capitalism
= in w.Europe, they have comprehensive state welfare systems with strong trade union movements and socialist parties = neither of which existed in the USA

Snider:
- Capitalism encourages corporate crimes through competition – firms will break the law to post higher profits
- Street crimes cost less than corporate crimes, yet don’t get prosecuted as much!
- In her research, street crime cost $4 billion, compared to $325 billion bailout of banks

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4
Q

Evaluation for criminogenic capitalism

A

Strengths:
• Structural inequality caused by the system, has been cited by many as a reason for crime – Merton’s strain theory!
• Links can be made to Hannon and Defronzo + Savelsberg’s studies

Weakness:
• Doesn’t explain why WC criminals do not target higher classes for criminal activity
• Doesn’t explain why some WC people do not turn to crime despite financial situations

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5
Q

Selective law enforcement AO2

A

Social Exclusion Unit Report:
Over a 1/4 of prison inmates in England and wales had been in care
2/3 had been unemployed before imprisonment
1/3 had been homeless

Rishi sunak leaving out fraud when quoting statistics decreased

HSBC

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6
Q

Ideological functions of selective law enforcement

A

Gordon

The occasional prosecution of R/C crime perpetuates the fiction that:
1. The law operates for the benefit of society as a whole
2. The state represents public interest
3. The extent of R/C crime is small

WC are put under a FCC

Frequent prosecution of members of the subject class supports the capitalist system in 3 ways:

  1. By selecting members of the subject class and punishing them, it protects the system (capitalism) that is actually to blame for their deviance
  2. The imprisonment of selected members of the subject class neutralizes opposition to the system
  3. Defining criminals as ‘animals and misfits, as enemies of the state’ provides a justification for incarcerating them in prisons
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7
Q

Different perspectives of law making

A

For functionalists:
Law reflects the collective conscience of a society and holds all to account equally

For labelling theorists:
Law is a product of the actions of moral entrepreneurs

For Marxists:
The law is an expression of R/C interests made possible through their control of the apparatus of the state

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8
Q

Law making - development

A

In feudal society
Land was an unmovable property
Such laws were unnecessary and everyone knew their place and who was in power

In capitalist society
We have trade and commerce (moveable property)
Strict laws are now needed to protect the interests of the emerging capitalist class

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9
Q

AO2 for how the law reflects the interests of the ruling class

A

Vagrancy Laws 1349
Massive shortage of workers following the Black Death
The law made it illegal to give money to any person who was unemployed
This forced people to work for landowners in order to survive

Poll Tax in East African Colonies
Tax introduced on every household by the British colonisers in their East African colonies
The only way that migrant workers could pay for this tax was by working on the tea and coffee plantations
Wages were kept low so they had to stay and work for the landowners

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10
Q

Law making - the law is a creation to protect the rich

A

Snider = capitalist state is often reluctant to pass laws which regulate large capitalist concerns and may threaten their profitability

Althusser - law is part of the ISA. Most laws protect private properties

Capitalist states often have the same interests as major corporations = unwilling to risk alienating large corporations
They won’t in turn pass or enforce stringent laws against pollution

Pearce (1976) argued that even laws that appeared to help workers indirectly benefit the bourgeoisie. His focus was on health and safety laws which provided the R/C with a healthy workforce

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11
Q

Evaluation of Marxist theories

A

Strengths:
Shows how the law can reflect sectional interests rather than the public interests.
Also focuses on corporate crimes which the labelling theory does not

Weaknesses:
For criminogenic capitalism: deterministic! Suggests all W/C people desire goods and want a higher status. ignores those in the lower classes that do not deviate
For law enforcement: Marxists seem to suggest that the high rate of crime among the working class people is solely the outcome of biased policing, when in reality, they commit the most crime (Realist view)
For law making: many laws in capitalist societies clearly are in the general interest – laws relating to robbery, burglary, assault, rape etc show this (functionalist view)
Left Realists tend to see Marxist theories as putting undue emphasis on corporate crime at the expense of other types of crime

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12
Q

Why do neo Marxists criticise Marxists and labelling theorists

A

They criticise the labelling theory because they thought that crime needed to be located within a structural framework

They criticise traditional Marxism because they saw it as economically deterministic = it places too much emphasis on the economy shaping people’s behaviour

They suggest NO ONE is forced to commit crime – they see it as a voluntary act

Therefore, they combine both Marxism and the labelling theory together in order to understand crime and deviance

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13
Q

Neo-Marxism : new criminology

A

Taylor et al argue that Marxism is economically deterministic:
❑ Workers ARE NOT driven to commit crime for economic advantage
❑ Criminals ARE NOT passive puppets whose behaviour is shaped by the nature of capitalism.
❑ They do not commit crime due to anomie/strain

• They argue that crime is voluntaristic
• Crime is a conscious choice by the actor. It is often has a political motive, e.g. to redistribute wealth / fight back against the system
• Criminals are deliberately striving to change capitalism.

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14
Q

Neo-Marxism - a fully social theory of deviance

A

They identified 7 aspects of crime and deviance that they believed an adequate theory needed to cover.

  1. The wider origins of the deviant act
    Locate the deviant act within the wider social system – i.e. capitalism and all the inequalities that go with it.
    (Marxism)
  2. The immediate origins of the deviant act (Labelling)
    The social context in which an individual chooses to commit an act of deviance. E.g. police racism or unemployment
  3. The actual act.
    Attention need to be given to the individual concerned. Is it a political act? Is it to support a drug habit?
  4. The immediate origin of social reaction (Labelling)
    E.g. the immediate response of other people, such as family members and the police, to the discovery of deviance.
  5. The wider origins of social reaction (Marxism)
    The immediate reaction needs to be located in the wider social system, with particular attention paid to who has the power to define an act as deviant.
  6. The impact of societal reaction on the deviant’s subsequent actions (Labelling)
    They then turn to labelling theory. Labelling effects the deviant’s future actions – e.g. why does labelling lead to deviance amplification in some cases but not in others?
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15
Q

AO2 for a fully social theory of deviance

A

Hall et al - policing the crisis

The black muggers

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16
Q

Evaluation on Neo-Marxism

A

Strengths:
Hall et al have applied Taylor et al’s approach to explain the moral panic over mugging in the 1970s

Weaknesses:
Feminists: the theory is gender blind – focuses excessively on male criminality
Romanticises WC criminals as ‘robin hoods’ and ignores the effects on WC victims
Burke (2005) – the theory is too general to explain crime, and too idealistic to be used in tackling crime

17
Q

30 mark essay plan for Marxist theory in understanding C+D

A
  1. Capitalism is criminogenic – it generates crime
  2. The law functions to maintain capitalism, and the way it is enforced is biased towards the W/C
  3. The bourgeoisie create the laws
  4. Neo Marxists – people actively choose to commit crime
  5. The rich commit white collar/corporate crime yet get away with it
18
Q

Evaluations from other perspectives about Marxism

A

Functionalists for law-making (they say it benefits everyone)

Left Realists say the law isn’t selectively enforced against the w/c, but instead that they’re usually the ones who commit the most crime!

Postmodernists would say capitalism isn’t criminogenic as we have agency and choice + free will.

Left Realists would also say Neo-Marxists romanticize working class criminals

Labelling theorists would say r/c don’t commit crime because of capitalism, but because of labelling.

19
Q

AO2 for chambliss saying capitalism is criminogenic

A

Mankoff - the lower crime rate in Western Europe compared to the USA was due to the strong capitalist system in place that promotes inequality, especially through the weaker welfare support system in place in America

20
Q

What is white collar crime

A

Committed by MC individuals who abuse their work positions for personal gain

21
Q

What is corporate crime

A

Slapper and Tombs - offences committed by larger companies which directly benefit the company to increase profits

22
Q

3 types of corporate crime

A
  1. Labour law violations (EG GAP using child labour, Bhopal disaster)
  2. Financial offences (EG amazon and Starbucks failed to pay their share of taxes in 2012)
  3. Green crimes (EG BP oil spill 2010)
23
Q

Why are WCC and corporate crimes underrepresented in official statistics

A

Hidden from view and hard to detect

Often without individual victims

Hard to investigate

Even if detected, often not prosecuted

24
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime

A
  1. Strain theory and relative deprivation
  2. Control theory
  3. Differential association
  4. Marxist explanations
  5. Labelling theory
  6. The seduction of crime and edgework
25
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - strain theory and relative deprivation

A

People feel strain if others are doing better than them
= if unable to do it legally, they’ll do it illegally

Law violations by big companies increased because their financial performances went down
= showed a willingness to innovate (MERTON) to achieve profit goals

26
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - control theory

A

CC is committed as people are socialised into self-seeking / aggressive management cultures, which encourage ruthlessness against other companies
= people may take shortcuts

People are tied to social expectations to maintain their lifestyles and may innovate by using illegitimate means (EG embezzlement and fraud)

27
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - differential association

A

Sutherland - sees CC as a behaviour learnt from others in a social context

The more people are associated with people who break the law, the more they’ll do it too

Techniques of neutralisation (Sykes and Matza) = WC criminals deviate more due to justifications - “made to do it”

28
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - Marxism

A

Box - CC is a result of the normal functioning of capitalism

Price fixing, lying about losses, concealing profits
= box says capitalism has created ‘mystification’ - the idea that CC is less harmful than WC crime

Capitalism’s control of the state - able to avoid making / enforcing laws that conflict with their interests

29
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - labelling theory

A

Nelken - there is a de-labelling of WCC and CC

Get away with crimes / reduce sentences

Techniques of neutralisation

30
Q

Explanations for WCC and corporate crime - the seductions of crime and edgework

A

Lyng and Katz (PM) - crime can be a thrill seeking experience which criminals intend to gain a buzz from

31
Q

Evaluation of CC and WCC

A

Contributes to the understanding of the social construction of crime statistics and the relative over-representation of WC crime

Fails to explain why not all individuals / companies turn to crime to resolve their problems

Marxists blame capitalism, but in former communist countries and public organisations like the police, CC is still found