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Marxist Theory of Crime
- TRADITIONAL MARXISM
- CRIMINOGENIC CAPITALISM
- Crime is inevitable in capitalism because it is criminogenic - its very nature causes crime.
- WORKING-CLASS CRIME
- Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the
working class for profit. As a result:
- Poverty may mean crime is the only way some can survive.
- Crime may be the only way of obtaining consumer goods
encouraged by capitalist advertising, resulting in utilitarian
crimes, e.g. theft.
- Alienation may cause frustration & aggression, leading to
non-utilitarian crimes, e.g. violence, vandalism.
- Poverty may mean crime is the only way some can survive.
- Capitalism is based on the exploitation of the
working class for profit. As a result:
- RULING-CLASS CRIME
- Capitalism us a win-at-all-costs system
of competition, while the profit motive
encourages greed. This encourages
capitalists to commit corporate crimes,
e.g. tax evasion, breaking health & safety
laws.
- GORDON argues crime is a rational
response to capitalism & thus is
found in all classes.
- Capitalism us a win-at-all-costs system
of competition, while the profit motive
encourages greed. This encourages
capitalists to commit corporate crimes,
e.g. tax evasion, breaking health & safety
laws.
- Crime is inevitable in capitalism because it is criminogenic - its very nature causes crime.
- THE STATE & LAW MAKING
- MARXISTS see law making & enforcement as
serving the interests of the capitalist class.
- CHAMBLISS argues that laws to protect private
property are the basis of the capitalist economy.
- The ruling class have the power to prevent
the introduction of laws harmful to their
interests. Few laws challenge the unequal
distribution of wealth.
- MARXISTS see law making & enforcement as
serving the interests of the capitalist class.
- SELECTIVE ENFORCEMENT
- While all classes commit crime, there is selective
enforcement of the law.
- REIMAN shows that crimes of the powerful are
much less likely to be treated as criminal
offences & prosecuted.
- CARSON, in a sample of 200 firms, found all had
broken health & safety laws, yet only 1.5% of cases
were prosecuted.
- By contrast, there is a much higher rate
of prosecutions for the crimes of the
poor.
- By contrast, there is a much higher rate
of prosecutions for the crimes of the
poor.
- CARSON, in a sample of 200 firms, found all had
broken health & safety laws, yet only 1.5% of cases
were prosecuted.
- REIMAN shows that crimes of the powerful are
much less likely to be treated as criminal
offences & prosecuted.
- While all classes commit crime, there is selective
enforcement of the law.
- IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF CRIME & LAW
- Some laws benefit workers e.g. health & safety, however PEARCE argues that these
also benefit capitalism by giving it a 'caring' face, they create false consciousness.
- Because the state enforces the law selectively, crime appears to be
largely working-class. This divides the working-class, encouraging
workers to blame working-class criminals for their problems, rather
than capitalism.
- Selective enforcement distorts the crime
statistics. By making crime appear largely
working-class, it shifts attention from the more
serious ruling-class crime.
- Some laws benefit workers e.g. health & safety, however PEARCE argues that these
also benefit capitalism by giving it a 'caring' face, they create false consciousness.
- CRITICISMS OF TRADITION MARXISM
- NEO-MARXISTS TAYLOR ET AL criticise for its
determinism; e.g. it sees workers as driven to commit
crime out of economic necessity. They reject this view,
along w/ other theories that claim crime is caused by
external factors, e.g. anomie, blocked opportunities.
- Not all poor people commit crime, despite poverty & alienation.
- Not all capitalist societies have high crime rates e.g. Japan
has much less crime than America.
- FEMINISTS criticise for being 'genderblind'.
- Ignores non-property crime & deviance.
- NEO-MARXISTS TAYLOR ET AL criticise for its
determinism; e.g. it sees workers as driven to commit
crime out of economic necessity. They reject this view,
along w/ other theories that claim crime is caused by
external factors, e.g. anomie, blocked opportunities.
- CRIMINOGENIC CAPITALISM
- NEO-MARXISM - CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY
- VOLUNTARISM
- TAYLOR ET AL take a voluntaristic view (the idea that we have
free will): crime is a conscious choice often w/ a political motive,
e.g. to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Criminals are
deliberately struggling to change society.
- TAYLOR ET AL take a voluntaristic view (the idea that we have
free will): crime is a conscious choice often w/ a political motive,
e.g. to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Criminals are
deliberately struggling to change society.
- A FULL SOCIAL THEORY OF DEVIANCE
- TAYLOR ET AL aim to create a 'fully social
theory of deviance' - a comprehensive theory
that would help to change society for the
better. This theory has 2 main sources:
- TRADITIONAL MARXIST ideas about the
unequal distribution of wealth & who has power
to make & enforce the law.
- LABELLING THEORY'S ideas about the
meaning of deviant act for the actor,
societal reactions to it, & the effects of
the deviant label on the individual.
- TRADITIONAL MARXIST ideas about the
unequal distribution of wealth & who has power
to make & enforce the law.
- TAYLOR ET AL aim to create a 'fully social
theory of deviance' - a comprehensive theory
that would help to change society for the
better. This theory has 2 main sources:
- CRITICISMS OF NEO-MARXISM
- Criticised by LEFT REALISTS for
romanticising working-class criminals
as 'Robin Hoods' fighting capitalism.
- Criticised by FEMINISTS for being 'genderblind'.
- Criticised by LEFT REALISTS for
romanticising working-class criminals
as 'Robin Hoods' fighting capitalism.
- VOLUNTARISM
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