Conflict Theories Flashcards
(42 cards)
How does conflict theory view society?
As an arena of inequality that inevitably leads to conflict.
What does this theory believe is the driving force of social change?
Conflict.
Bet you didn’t know that one.
What determines your position in the superstructure?
Your relation to the means of production.
What is the superstructure?
Your position in society.
What did Sellin believe about norms in culturally homogenous societies?
Conduct norms reflected the consensus.
What did Sellin believe about more complex heterogenous societies?
That there would be conflict between conduct norms of different groups.
What happens with norms in heterogenous societies?
The dominant groups will enact criminal laws that reflect their cultural norms.
When does cultural conflict occur?
When minority groups act on their own conduct norms that have been criminalized.
What are the names of the girls killed in 2007 and 2009 honour killings respectively?
Asqa Parvez - 2007
Noor Almaleki - 2009
Shafia sisters - 2009
What does group conflict theory attempt to explain?
Certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the interests of divergent groups.
What does George Vold focus on?
Conflict between diverse interest groups?
How does Vold see society?
As a collection of groups in a constantly shifting equilibrium of opposing interests.
What is Vold interested in, specifically?
The way that the creation of law reflects the activities of antagonistic interest groups in the broader community.
What are the two ways that conflict can lead to crime?
- As a result of minority group behaviour.
e. g., a gang with interests against the majority values. - As a result of conflict among various interest groups.
e. g., revolution makes criminals of those who previously held power.
Richard Quinney focuses on what aspect of group conflict?
“Segments” of society or types of social groupings.
i.e., how more powerful segments are able to secure and protect their own interests by forming and enforcing laws.
Quinney has six propositions, what are they?
- Crime is a definition of human conduct created by authorized agents in a politically organized society.
- Criminal definitions describe behaviours that conflict with the interests of segments that have power to shape public policy.
- Criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have power to shape the administration/enforcement of laws.
- It is not the behaviour that is criminal, but the action taken against it.
- Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by various means of communication.
- The social reality of crime is a function the formulation (2), application of (3), development of behaviour related to (4), and construction of (5) criminal conceptions.
Sellin, Vold, and Quinney all focused on what areas of group conflict theory, respectively?
Sellin - cultural group conflict.
Vold - interest group conflict.
Quinney - segments of society.
Marxist criminology takes the position that…
… crime must be analyzed in the context of its relationship to the character of society as a whole.
Marxists view conflict as rooted in what?
The very structure of capitalist society - particularly capitalist economic relations.
What are the forces of production?
The tools, techniques, and raw materials used in production.
Marxists believe that capitalist society is based on what?
Class exploitation.
What is the mode of production? And what is it composed of?
It is the method through which goods are produced, exchanged, and distributed. It is composed of the forces of production.
What does instrumental Marxism state?
That the state is the direct instrument of the ruling or capitalist class. Instrumentalism is based on the notion that the processes of the superstructure are determined by the economic base.
What is structural Marxism?
The idea that the state acts in the long-term interests of capitalism as a whole, rather than in the short-term interests of the capitalist class.
