Marxism

• Bourgeoisie: have all the wealth in society. Own property, big businesses etc.
• Proletariat: subject class, no wealth, no power
• Marxists say that capitalism is bad, and is the root of crime. We should abolish it and work towards getting rid of money and status. This is an ideology known as communism.
• Everything in society is designed by the ruling class to subjugate and brainwash the working class, keeping them oppressed.
• Crime is inevitable in a capitalist (criminogenic) society. It is exploited by the ruling class as a form of social control.
• White collar crimes are ignored while street crimes are perceived to be more serious (reported on more by the media).
• Different classes are treated differently. The working class are heavily policed, so their crimes are more likely to be noticed.
• Governments fabricate statistics to suit their purpose and to get public support on their oppressive policies.
• William Chambliss argues that the laws are made to protect the rich and their material wealth. No crime against owning multiple properties, but vagrancy is a crime.
• Selective law enforcement: Marxists agree with interactionists that the law is enforced selectively.
• Out of 200 companies who had broken safety laws, Carson found that only 3 were prosecuted.
• Corporate crime is often punished less severely, preferring fines over jail time, despite causing great harm.
• Despite the large number of deaths at work caused by employers' negligence, there was only 1 successful prosecution of a UK firm in 8 years for corporate homicide.
• Selective enforcement of the law makes it look as if crime is the working class' fault. This means that the working class blame other members of the working class for crime, instead of capitalism.
• Some laws do benefit the workers, but to a limited degree. Health and safety laws, as argued by Pearce, as just a way of giving capitalism a 'caring face'.
• Marxist strength: shows how inequality can cause working class crime, and how capitalism promotes greed and encourages upper class crime.
• Marxist strength: criticises the enforcement of the law, supporting the idea that it is, indeed, unequal.
• Marxist limitation: focuses on class and largely ignores the relationship between crime and other inequalities, such as gender and ethnicity.
• Marxist limitation: it over predicts the amount of working class crime, not all poor people turn to crime.
• Marxist limitation: not all capitalist societies have high crime rates. Japan's homicide rate is only 1/5 of the US's. However, Marxists will argue that the USA has less welfare provision.