crime and deviance
- Created by: Molly
- Created on: 01-12-12 16:21
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- marxist and neo marxist theories of crime
- traditional marxist theories:
- 1. laws are not an expression of value consesensus as functionalists contend but a reflection of the ruling class ideology
- 2. at the heart of capitalist system is the protection of private property and criminal property and criminals laws reflect this basic concern
- 3. the law, definition of crime and deviance and the agencies of social control reflect and protect the ruling class interests and powers.
- 4. crime is a 'natural' outgrowth of capitalist society, rational response to the competitiveness and inequality in capitalist societies
- 5. one law for rich and another for the poor, working class are those most likely to get prosecuted for crime.
- 6. selective law enforcment ensures that individuals, not the system of inequality are blamed for crime
- 7. working class crime is a form of resistance to the ruling class.
- neo marxist theories
- new criminology developed by taylor et al (1973) based on marxist apporoach but it also drew on interactionism
- recognized that working class crime may have a political motive, but it needed to be established by finding out what crime meant to the criminal
- talor et al suggested that it was necessary to draw on both structural and interactionist apporaches to explore the six dimenstions which together could explain crime and deviance.
- working class crime is a form of political action and resistance to the ruling class opression in the form of police racism and harrassment
- evaluation
- help locate crime in the wider context of inequalities of wealth and power in society
- they over emphasize class inequality in relation to crime and neglect qualitites like those relating to gender and ethnicity.
- they over emphasize property crime and dont have much to say about offences like **** and murder
- they have little to say about non criminal deviance.
- pay little attention to the victims of crime
- fail to recognize that the law does not simply protect ruling class interests but everyones interests like health and safety
- traditional marxist theories:
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