Crime : Taylor, Walton and Young

• Agree with Marxists 1/4

  • The key to understanding crime lies in the "material basis of society" .
• Agree with Marxists 2/4

  • Capitalist societies are characterised by inequalities in wealth and power between individuals and these inequalities are the root of crime.
• Agree with Marxists 3/4

  • A radical transformation of society is required to contribute to the "liberation of individuals from living under capitalism".
• Agree with Marxism 4/4

  • The ruling class maintain their dominance and power in society through constructing hegemonic ideologies (dominant ideologies), therefore the laws and institutions reflect their interests.
• One of their fundamental arguments is that criminals choose to break the law. Crimes are often deliberate and conscious acts with political motives e.g. Women's Liberation Movement, Black Power Movement, etc. These are examples of people fighting back against the injustices of a capitalist system.
• A 'Robin Hood' view is supported as many crimes involve the redistribution of wealth the poor in the inner city steal from the rich in the suburbs. Deviants are not just passive victims of capitalism but they are actively struggling to alter capitalism. They reject all theories, which means human behaviour is determined by external forces, placing greater emphasis on freedom and choice.
• The main idea behind the theory was to incorporate both a Marxist structural approach and interactionists approach. Taylor, Walton and Young therefore see criminals as being people who are angry at capitalism and mistakenly expresses this anger through crime not politics. Neo-Marxists are also interested in the process of defining certain activities as criminal and thereby criminalising certain groups.
• They criticise marxism: criminals choose to break the law and they aren't passive victims of crime. They're often deliberate acts with political motives. Taylor, Walton + Young see criminals as people who are angry at capitalism and mistahenly express this anger through crime, not politics. The Robin Hood view is where many crimes involve the redistribution of wealth.
• The poor in the inner city steal from the rich in the suburbs. Deviants aren't passive victims of capitalism but they're actively struggling to change or overthrow capitalism. They're also interested in looking at the process of defining certain activities as criminal and thereby criminalising certain groups - labelling.