Using material from item B and elsewhere assess the usefulness of Marxist approaches in explaining crime Marxism is a conflict theory established by Karl Marx. Marxists believe that the capitalist system is just a way in which the ruling classes (the bourgeoisie) control and exploit the workers (the proletariat), and it focuses on the unequal conflict between these two sectors of society. Marxists believe that the capitalist system is criminogenic – which means that by its nature it inevitably causes crime. As item B states, Marxists see crime in the capitalist system as ‘a tool of the ruling class’ where they can control the working class and crime is an unavoidable result because of the oppression the working class are subject to. They also believe that laws are enforced mostly to benefit the interests of the ruling class.
However, could there be an actual connection between Marxism and criminology? Critical criminologists believe that the upper classes always decide what a crime is and how it will be punished. They use the justice system to control the lower classes and prevent them from gaining power. They feel that many justice systems are unfair for that reason. That's why critical criminologists concentrate on different areas like postmodern structures and capitalism and their effects or relationships with crime and justice systems.
They see society as divided into two classes: the ruling class and the working class and see law and crime as arising out of the structure of capitalism. The traditional Marxists see crime as having three main elements: Criminogenic capitalism, the state and law making and ideological functions of crime and law. In regards to Criminogenic capitalism, Marxists see crime as unavoidable in a capitalist society because by its very nature it causes crime. Since capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class, it may give rise to crime. Ways in which crime is promoted include the poverty of the working class, capitalists encouraging the purchase of goods by advertising resulting in utilitarian crimes and frustration and aggression of the working class caused by the alienation and lack of control in their lives may lead to an increase in non-utilitarian crimes.
In terms of crime and deviance describe some of the ideological differences between Marxist and functionalist perspectives The Marxists and the functionalists examine culture and societies but have a very different approach in the way that they view crime and deviance. Marxist ideas originally came from a man named Karl Marx, his views were that we live in a capitalist society with two basic classes one being proletariat and the other bourgeoisie. The proletariat is the lower social class or working class while the bourgeoisie is seen as being the ruling or upper class. Functionalism is a perspective first created my Emile Durkheim, he believed that society is a complex system made up of parts that work together to create a stable society so for example education, government, policing and family. This essay will examine some of the differences between marxist and functionalist perspectives when it comes to crime and deviance.
In recent times, there is a growing concern of wealth inequality in America. This has really drawn criticism and challenge to capitalism as the model of socio-economic structure. Debates surrounding this issue are often traditionally addressed through two models: communism and capitalism. Karl Marx, in his work, “The Communist Manifesto,” criticizes capitalism for it’s preaching of individualism and competition, which leads to the exploitation of the working class thus resulting in further antagonization between socio-economic classes. Marx ends his criticism by offering up the complete abandonment of capitalist system in favor of a communistic system in which socio-economic autonomy is in the hands of the state.
Some examples of such would be, illegally lobbying or bribing government leaders to gain passage of certain laws, or tax codes. Another form of class conflict may include, a lock out aimed at destroying a labor union, and this is called “open conflict”, or “hidden conflict”, which could be a slowdown in production protesting the wages being paid. According to Karl Marx however, class conflict and struggle are inevitable dissentions that occur because of the economic organization of most societies (Johnson, 2000). Marx also believed that class is defined by the ownership of property and such ownership vests a person with the power to exclude others from the property and to use it for personal purposes. In relation to property, there are three classes of society, they include, the bourgeoisie or the people who own the means of production such as factory and machinery buildings, and whose income is profit, landowners whose income is rent, and the proletariat who own their labor and sell it for a wage.
And of course none of these are good escape routes from poverty and we all believe in the term "poverty causes crime". But it’s not always the poor who commits crime. Mostly the poor or the middle class people will go after crimes to fulfill their temporary desires. For example raping, stealing and sometimes murder too. Since the low class poor people are not usually educated, they often easily “pushed” into the crimes by the high class people.
Conflict theory in criminal justice is that the law is used to maintain the power of the dominate group in society and to control the behavior of the individuals who threaten that power (Walker, Cassia, & Miriam, 2012, p. 22).” Conflict theorists believe that laws were designed so the punishments were harsher for typical crimes committed by the lower class. An example of this is street crimes, even minor financial ones are routinely punished quite severely, while large scale financial and business crimes are treated much more leniently. Theft of a television might receive a longer sentence than stealing millions through illegal business practices. Another example when it pertains to juveniles comes from “William Chambliss, in a classic essay “The Saints and the Roughnecks,” which compared the outcomes for two groups of adolescent misbehavers. The first, a lower class group of boys, was hounded by the local police and labeled by teachers as delinquents and future criminals, while the upper-middle class boys were equally deviant, but their actions were written off as youthful indiscretions and learning experiences (Greek, 2005).” “The consensus model assumes that as people gather together to form a society, its members will naturally come
When an individual is arrested, the labour force of the country is enfeebled and thus results in less profits in the economy. There is a saying ‘prevention is better than cure.’ If preventative measures are taken then less strain would be put on the economy to deal with criminals. It is know that there is a lot of corruption within the governmental services such as the army, police service and judiciary. If the society must rid itself of criminals the corrupted individuals within these services must be detached. This is where the government plays a role in attempting to confiscate the positions of the officials in the system who endeavor to promote crime.
Competition also creates companies to drive down wages, as they will wish to make their products at the lowest cost they can, this alienating the working class and causing them to become impoverished. Marx is often criticised as his two-class system is often seen as too simplistic. Weber divides the proletariat into skilled and unskilled class, and includes white-collar proletariat and small bourgeoisies. Marx believes that capitalism sows