Marxism

• Structural theories


  • See the structure of society as the underlying cause of crime
  • Look at how equal or unequal society is, what holds it together and what issues cause conflict or division
  • Crime is largely a result of unfavourable conditions in a community, for example unemployment, single parent families etc.
• Marx


  Marxists believe that the unequal structure of a capitalist society shapes individuals' behaviour
• Marxist view of society


  • Ruling capitalist class (bourgeoisie) - own the means of production (businesses, banks, land etc.)
  • Working class (proletariat) - work for the bourgeoisie
• Marxists believe that the proletariat are exploited by the capitalists, who exploit their labour to make profit
• Many crimes may be a result of the unequal capitalist structure of society
• Capitalism leads to inequality, which can cause conflict and crime
• Marxists believe that the unequal structure of a capitalist society shapes individuals' behaviour
• Marxists


  See crime as being inevitable in a capitalist society, believing that capitalism is criminogenic
• Reasons why Marxists believe capitalism is criminogenic

  • Many of the working class are driven into poverty by exploitation and crimes may be the only means of survival
  • Capitalists influence individuals to purchase goods and people may resort to criminal means to obtain the goods
  • Inequality may foster feelings of resentment and frustration resulting in non-utilitarian crimes
  • Capitalism is a dog-eat-dog system and the profit motive encourages greed
  • Capitalists commit crimes amongst themselves in a constant power struggle e.g. white collar crimes
• Utilitarian crimes


  Crimes against someone e.g. murder
• Non-utilitarian crimes


  Crimes against things e.g. vandalism
• Marxists' view on the criminal justice system


  It is used by the ruling class as a means of social control in order to keep the working class in their place
• Institutions used to encourage conformity


  Police, prisons, schools, family, religion
• Marxists argue that the law is enforced selectively, with white-collar crime being ignored while crimes committed by the less powerful in society such as burglary and street crime are seen as more serious and more likely to be prosecuted
• Marxists believe that different social classes are policed differently, with the working class heavily policed in the expectation that they will be more criminal, and therefore raising the chances of their crimes being detected
• Marxists believe that governments fabricate statistics to suit their purposes and to get public support for any action they take that might be construed as trespassing on freedoms, and that on average 42% of the statistics presented by the government are false and misleading