marxism

• Capitalist society is criminogenic due to inequality

  Capitalism is an economic system that breeds inequality.

  At the top are superclass(bourgeoisie): mainly run global corporations & finances, bottom(proletariat) this causes poverty where crime flourishes.

  Poor & rich live side by side.

  Visible evidence of mass inequality leads to relative deprivation where frustration & anger can lead to crime
• Strengths of Capitalist society is criminogenic due to inequality

  Egalitarian nations, eg. Scandinavia based on values of cooperation & mutual assistance who 'do' experience lower crime rates.

  Crimes against the person or property are clearly motivated by self-interest & personal gain without consideration for the victim & may be caused by inequality
• Weaknesses of Capitalist society is criminogenic due to inequality


  Fails to recognise the crime victim, crimes that affect most people daily are committed by working class people against 'other working class people, but the poor generally don't commit crimes against the rich but against others like themselves.

  
  

  Not all crimes are motivated by money, fails to explain crimes like hate crimes/crimes of passion which can be argued are not limited to relative deprivation or greed
• Capitalist society is criminogenic due to materialism

  Capitalism causes greed; Gordon: capitalist societies are 'dog eat dog societies' where there is immense competitive pressure to make more more -- state ideological apparatus.

  Capitalism encourages us to want thing we don't need & can't afford, companies spend billions of dollars on various forms of advertising that don't resemble the reality of their products.

  One of the problems is the world of advertising presents a lifestyle that can be unattainable for those who lack the legitimate means to achieve the materialist norm through working this can breed feelings of failure, inadequacy & anger at the fact they are working but not succeeding
• Strengths of Capitalist society is criminogenic due to materialism

  Merton: pointed out that for some the desire to achieve the success goals of a society outweigh the pressure to obey the law, advertising only adds to this strain between the legitimate means & the goals of material success
• Weaknesses of Capitalist society is criminogenic due to materialism


  Reductionist-reduces everything to economics.

  Post-modernists: society is complex & fragmented & while capitalism & economic class might influence people's behaviour, there are many other sources of power & class is not the only important form of identity
• Law creation is used as a form of social control


  Law enforcement is in favour of the ruling class; whilst law enforcement benefits all groups, it is applied disproportionately towards working class people.

  Canteen culture: activities of the powerless are scrutinized whilst the powerful enjoy more privacy & certain types of criminal activity are more likely to be enforced than others.

  Leads to poorer neighbourhoods experiencing high levels of policing.

  Reiman: 'white collar & corporate crime s under-policed & under-punished comparatively to blue-collar types
• Strengths of Law creation is used as a form of social control


  White collar crime is =ignored.

  Croall: 'the people who own the means for production have the opportunity to make money through committing crime'.

  CJS rarely prosecutes offenders from privileged backgrounds, supporting view that law is enforced disproportionately towards working class communities instead
• Weaknesses of Law creation is used as a form of social control


  Proletarian crimes are treated more seriously than bourgeois crime because those crimes are actually more serious.

  Although white collar crime may involve larger sums of money, crimes like assault are more violent & the perpetrators are therefore a greater risk to public safety
• The New criminology


  Taylor & Young: the economy & capitalism are in part responsible for crime, however people aren't forced into crime by economic or other circumstances but choose to offend, often to hit back at a society that has treated them unfairly.

  Investigated how the process of how the state defines certain activities as criminal & as a result criminalises certain groups
• Strengths of The New criminology

  Hall et al: studied black crime, eg. street mugging, argued crime was used by the state to reassert ruling class hegemony at time when it was under the threat due to economic & political crisis.

  Instead of exploring the reasons why individuals were committing crimes of mugging, young black people were scapegoated & the 'black mugger was born.

  'The 'problem' was exaggerated through the media & created a moral panic & urge for tougher policing, suggesting the poor really were aware of their situation
• Weakness of The New criminology

  Overemphasise class inequality in relation to crime & rejects other important factors, eg. gender & ethnicity.

  It tends to overemphasise property crimes and contributes little to non-property offenses like, rape and murder