Crime - (functionalist + Marxist)

• Durkheim - functionalist: Boundary Maintenance - commit a crime, put in prison - reinforces social norms with social control

  Social change - crime brings social change, if homosexuality is illegal, but people keep doing it, it's for a reason

  Social cohesion - crime can bring people together against those who have committed crimes
• Critique: Durkheim - functionalist: Social cohesion - something bad has to happen for people to come together - crime still negatively effects someone

  Boundary maintenance - does it work? some people don't care about punishments
• Davis - functionalist: prostitution acts as safety valve without threatening the monogamous nuclear family

  men take frustration out on prostitutes - go home happy
• Cohen - functionalist: deviance is a warning that an institution is not functioning properly

  e.g. truancy - if one person isn't showing up, personal, if 70% of the class isn't showing up, issue with the system

  e.g. illegalised abortions - people still do it illegally and unsafely - problem with the law
• Merton - functionalism: Strain Theory

  Deviance is the result of strain between cultural and structural factors

  Cultural factors - societal goals that individuals are encouraged to reach for e.g. going to university

  Structural factors - what institutions and the structure of society allows them to achieve e.g. poverty may prevent you being able to reach goals
• Merton - functionalism: Adaptations due to strain

  Conformity - have means of meeting societal goals so they meet them without resorting to deviant acts

  Innovation - do not have means of meeting societal goals so commit deviant acts to meet them

  Ritualism - do not have means of meeting societal goals so don't pursue them

  Retreatism - do not have means of meeting societal goals so resort to isolationist behaviour to cope

  Rebellion - do not attempt to meet societal goals and try to revolutionise what those goals are
• Critique: Merton - functionalist: Cohen - argues Merton's theory doesn't explain group crime

  Crime doesn't always have economic motive (e.g. violent crime)
• Cohen - functionalist, subcultures: Status frustration - subcultures

  w/c boys at the bottom of the official status hierarchy in schools

  turn to deviant subcultures with spite for the mainstream - explanation for violent crimes

  
  

  Critique: Though this works on the assumption that w/c boys shared middle class goals in the first place
• Cloward and Ohlin - functionalist, subcultures: w/c boys subcultures

  Criminal Subcultures

  - organised crime

  - areas with established crime (e.g. drug dealers)

  Conflict Subcultures

  - loosely organised gangs and resort to violent crimes to release frustration

  Retreatist Subcultures

  - those who fail in being successful at crimes against people

  - turn to drug use subcultures
• Critique: Cloward and Ohlin - functionalist, subcultures.: Deterministic - assumes people fall into categories

  White collar crime not explained

  Assumes there is a society wide value consensus + everyone has the same goals
• Criminogenic capitalism (Gordon) - Marxist: nature of capitalism causes crime to happen and makes it inevitable

  Nature of competition

  - w/c commit crimes to get ahead

  - corporate crimes - to keep company ahead of others
• Critique: Criminogenic capitalism - Marxist: Not all crimes are committed because of capitalism - e.g. revenge + hate crimes
• State and Law Making - Marxist: Law making + enforcement = serves interest of ruling class

  Chambliss - private property protection law only applies to those who own property - r/c

  Pearce - health and safety laws keep w/c healthy so they can work for bourgeoise

  Snider - laws to protect the w/c are not enforced (apart of the 'caring face of capitalism') whereas laws to protect r/c are
• Critique: State and law making - Marxist: Functionalists see the law as reflecting the value consensus and represent the needs of society

  There are laws that benefit the working class, including safety laws

  There are always going to be laws that don't apply to everyone
• Reinman and Leighton - Marxist: Selective enforcement -

  people in higher position aren't held as accountable for their crimes as people in lower positions

  
  

  Critique: Rich people don't get away with everything and are charged of crimes
• Negatives - Marxism on Crime: Doesn't explain non-utilitarian crime

  Ignores crimes from non-class inequalities (e.g. race/gender)

  Not all capitalist societies have large crime rates (Japan, Switzerland) so there must be other factors

  Ignores intra-class crime - crimes against people in the same class
• Critical criminology - neo-Marxist: Critical criminology

  Marxism = too deterministic

  Voluntaristic - idea that we have free will

  Crime is a conscious choice, criminals aren't passive puppets whose behaviour is shaped by capitalism
• Taylor et al - neo-Marxist: 6 key aspects of crime

  Wider origins of the deviant act - what from wider society contributes to the act e.g. inequality

  Immediate origins of the deviant - what is the context of the crime, what caused it e.g. someone firing them

  Act and its meaning - what they did, was it reasonable?

  Immediate social reaction - police, were they arrested? people who saw the event + community reaction

  Wider social reaction - was it publicised, did society have a reaction?

  Effects of labelling - what label has been put on the crime and criminal
• Critique: neo-Marxist: Feminism - 'gender blind' - neo-marxists focus excessively on class inequality + ignore gender

  Left realists - argue they ignore intra-class crime and romanticise w/c criminals who are fighting capitalism 'Robin Hoods
• Tombs - Marxist: Corporate crime

  Financial crime - e.g. money laundering

  Crimes against consumers - e.g. identity theft

  Crimes against employees e.g. health and safety breaches

  Crimes against environment - e.g. waste mismanagement

  Corporate crime = worst, people don't recognise they're victims as it isn't inter-personal crime
• Box - Marxist: Mystification of corporate crime

  w/c people have been convinced that corporate crime is less wide spread and impactful than blue collar crime
• Sutherland - Marxist: Corporate crime

  Differential association - if you associate with people who commit crimes, you are more likely to commit them yourself.