Marxism

• Karl Marx: believed capitalist society is set up in the interests of the bourgeoisie (including police, government, schools and prisons) and the proletariat are exploited and repressed.
• working class whose members are exploited by the ruling class in order for them to make a profit. This represents the amjority of people who have the ability to work.
• ruling class are made up of capitalists, the owners of 'means of production' and the way things are bought, made and sold.
• making and enforcing the law:

  law making is bias and only works in interest of the ruling class.

  William Chamblis argues that the laws are made to protect private property of the rich.
• selective law enforcement:

  law is enforced selectivly, the focus is enforcing crimes against WC but the UC.

  compaines are very rarely prosecuted for breaching health and safety laws.
• inequality in society:

  people living in poverty with little hope of change may try to break the law to survive and improve their lives.

  they feel frustrated and left out so commit crime, inequality causes frustration and alienation.
• strengths:

  • helped highlight the inequality within criminal prosecutions. In 2022, 52% more crimes were recorded in the most income-deprived areas. Shows how the WC dominates the official statistics because higher numbers of white-collar crime go undetected due to the polices selective law enforcement
• strength:

  • demonstrates how law making and enforcement are biased against those who are WC. William Chamblis argues laws are made to protect the private property of the rich. Representation of this in the real world is how the law states homeless people are not allowed to squat in empty houses but UC can purchase multiple houses. Effectively demonstrates the inequality in the law system
• weakness:

  cannot be generalised to other capitalist societies. Although dominated by capitalism, countries like Japan have very low crime rates, with their crime rate for 2021 being 0.23, a 9.93% decrease from 2020. Demonstrates how theory cannot effectively portray why people commit crime around the globe, decreasing the validity