3, Marxism,class & crime

Question 1

Outline 3 main elements of marxists view of crime:

Answer 1

• Criminogenic capitalism
• The state & law making
• Ideological functions of crime & Law

Question 2

Outline 3 ways of how Capitalism is Crimonogenic

Answer 2

capitalism is criminogenic -The Capitalist system encourages criminal behaviour.
1. Capitalism generates massive inequality & poverty, conditions which are correlated with higher crime rates.

2. Capitalism encourages individuals to be materialistic consumers, making us aspire to an unrealistic & unattainable lifestyle.
   crime is only way to obtain the consumer goods encouraged by capitalist advertising ,resulting in ulitarian crimes such as theft
   .
   3.Alienation & lack of control over lives of WC leads to fustration & aggression , resulting in non-utilitarian crimes such as violence & vandalism

Question 3

Outline how the state & law making serves interests of capitalism

Answer 3

Chamblissargues laws to protect private property are the cornerstone of captalist economy

Snider argues that capitalist state is reluctant to pass laws that regulate the activities of businesses or threaten their profitability.
.
Ruling class haver power to prevent the introduction of laws that would threaten their interests e.g there are few laws that challene the unequal distribution of wealth.

Question 4

Explain selective enforcement

Answer 4

Marxists believe that although all classes commit crime, when it comes to application of the law by the criminal justice system, there is selective enforcement. While powerless groups such as the WC & ethnic minorities are criminalised, the police and court tend to ignore the crimes of the powerful.

Gordonargues that the police mainly focus on policing WC areas & the justice system mainly focuses on prosecuting working and underclass criminals. the system ignores the crimes of the elite and the MC, although both of these classes are just as likely to commit crime as the working classes.

Gordon argues that the disproportionate prosecution of WC criminals ultimately serves to maintain ruling-class power and to reinforce ruling class ideology (thus performing ‘ideological functions’ for the ruling class.)

According to Gordon ‘selective law enforcement’ benefits the Capitalist system by :

By punishing individuals and making them responsible for their actions, defining these individuals as ‘social failures’ we ignore the failings of the system that lead to the conditions of inequality and poverty that create the conditions which lead to crime.

• police, court and media focus on working class street crime means that our attention is diverted away from the immorality and greed of the elite classes.

Question 5

Outline the ideological functions of crime & law

Answer 5

Pearce-argues that laws often benefit the ruling class by keeping workers fit for work , by giving capitalism a ‘caring face’ such laws create false consciousness among the workers

The state enforces the law selectively crime appears largely WC phenomenom. This divides the WC by encouraging workers to blame criminals rather than capitalism

Question 6

Evaluation of marxism

Answer 6

Marxists ignore the relationship between crime & non class inequalities such as ethncity and gender

It is too deterministc & over predicts the amount of crime in WC : not all people commit crime despite pressure of poverty

Left realists argue marxisrs ignore intra-class crime (where both criminals and victims are WC) which cause great harm to victims

Question 7

Capitalism is Crimogenic because it encourages individuals to pursue self-interest before everything else

Answer 7

Marxist Gordon says- Capitalism is a ‘dog eat dog systems’ in which company are encouraged to look out for their own interests before the interests of others, before interests of the community, before protection of environment.

there is immense competitive pressure to be more successful, and to make more profit, because in a competitive system, this is the only way to ensure survival. In such a context, breaking the law can seem insignificant compared to the pressure to succeed encouraging capitalists to commit white collar crime & corporate crime such as tax evasion & breaching heralth & safety laws

Thus Gordon argues crime is a rational response to the capitalist system hence found in all social classes even though official statistics suggest it largely WC phenomenon