MARXIST VEWS

• White-collar crime

  • crimes committed by people in quite high status positions,
  • such as accountants, doctors or solicitors, during their work.
  • Examples include tax evasions and ‘fiddling’ expense accounts at work.
• Similarities between MARXIST AND FUNCTIONALIST views

  • both argue the structure of society cause crime
• Crime

  • Crime is linked to the class structure in capitalist societies.
  • A small, powerful group—the bourgeoisie— owns the means of production (e.g., land and factories).
  • Marxists argue that the bourgeoisie exploit poorer working-class individuals—the proletariat —to maximize profit
  • Society= unequal
  • class inequalities
• Capitalist society is based on values such as

  • Materialism- valuing material possessions
  • Consumerism -wanting the latest consumer goods e.g mobile phones and designer clothes
  • Competition between individuals to obtain these products (keeping up with the neighbours)
• Upper class

  • commit crimes because of greed
  • want to get even richer
• Working class

  • desperation and deprivation the proletariat experience
  • turn to crime for survival e.g shoplifting
  • Could explain things like assault as they are fed up
• Marxist views of law enforcement

  • Laws are created and enforced to protect the interests of property-owning classes.
  • Many laws focus on protecting private property, benefiting those who own it.
  • Working-class individuals are more frequently prosecuted for breaking these laws, while crimes by the powerful bourgeoisie often go undetected.
  • For example, benefit fraud is viewed as more serious than tax evasion, despite the state losing more money from tax evasion.
  • Laws against shoplifting, copyright, trespassing protect the money of the Bourgeoisie
• The agencies of social control such as the police and courts operate in the interests of the

  bourgeoisie:

  • Certain types of crime e.g. street crime, is likely to be targeted by police more than white-collar crime
  • Certain groups are more likely to be targeted e.g. black, working class or inner-city youth
  • The rich and powerful are treated more leniently because they can afford to pay their way out of jail
• Control of institutions

  • Bourgeoise control the media which may drive people in poverty to commit crime
  • Constantly exposed to adverts that the poor want to buy
  • In an unequal society, not everyone can earn enough to consume the products of capitalism.
  • It is likely that some people will try to get material good through any means possible including illegal means.
  • DEPRIVATION
  • Capitalist society= consumerism and competition crime is inevitable in a capitalist society
• Criticism

  • Too deterministic as not everyone living in poverty will commit crime, they try to get out of poverty
  • Overemphasise class inequality in relation to crime because they ignore factors like ethnicities, gender and labeling- other inequalities
  • laws also reflect the interests of many groups in society, not just one
  • Functionalists argue that society is based on value consensus, rather than conflict of classes.