Chapter 11- Conflict Theory

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Karl Marx

hated two things

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1. Government and 2. Religion

- pain and suffering is bad- the only good thing about it is that someone profits- the government profits from smoking

-crime is not a good thing

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Hated religion because

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- you were a higher class person if you were involved

- it was a drug to the public- the opiate of masses- religion taught you that you had to pay for your sins on earth you would get into heaven

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Hated the concept of social class

Back 3

- hated the difference gap between the rich and the poor

- he wants equality for all ppl

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How is crime a good thing?? Durkheim

Durkheim and Marx completely disagreed

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- we need ppl to suffer and have pain so we can use it as an example and advance education and medicine

- crime is GOOD because we won't know whats wrong without it- no behaviour is inherently wrong, we need to draw a line in the sand, that shows us what behaviour we're allowed to do and what we're not

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Shawn Horcoff EG.

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- 8 mil a year

- 80 game season on average plays 20 min

80x20/60 in on year he plays 27 hours of hockey and gets paid 297,00 dollars an hour to put pucks in nets

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Company SILCO example of instrumentalist Marxism

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- workers compensation board- Occ health and safety inspectors on site- had no safety procedures or anything, VERY unsafe company

- Silco got chance after chance to fix, but they didn't- kept coming back and saying oh ya we'll get right on that

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SILCO

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- if chris punched a guy right away he would go to jail IMMEDIATELY no second chance

- smokescreen over the company- finally they chained the doors after years of telling them to change- they cut the chains and started working again- 4 days later somebody died

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SILCO

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- all work related homicide not an "accident"

- all the charges ultimately dropped, all they got was $6000 fine, which their insurance company paid- NO REPERCUSSIONS...

GAG order- Vic toews too who got babysitter pregnant, winnipeg news found out Harper gag ordered it- nobody even heard about it

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Thorsten Sellin (Cultural Group Conflict)

Back 9

- "culture, crime and conflict"- focused on the role of conduct norms in explaining crime

-when society becomes more complex and heterogeneous, probability of culture conflict increases

-in culturally homogeneous societies- values and norms are similar so it will tend to reflect societal consensus

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Conduct norms-

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CN- specific rules or norms of appropriate behaviour generally agreed upon by members of the social group to whom the behavioural norms apply

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Cultural Conflict

(HK)

Back 11

- theory that attempts to explain certain types of criminal behaviour as resulting from a conflict between the conduct norms of divergent cultural groups

- EG. honour killings-- especially in criminal law- the social norms of the dominant groups are protected

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criminal norms

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- describe the conduct norms embodied by criminal law that represent the values of the dominant group

Therefore crime is an expression of cultural conflict when individuals who act based on conduct norms of their own cultural group find themselves in violation of the dominant groups values

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Honour Killings

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honour related violence, up to an including murder- family initiated, planned, violent response to the perception that women, wife or daughter has violated her family by crossing a boundary of sexual appropriateness

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4 Points about Honour Killings

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1.Almost Always involves the murder of a women or girl by her male family members

2. killer does not normally act alone- but with approval/ encouragement of other members

3. suspicion or rumour of alleged impropriety is usually enough to justify it

4. usually pre meditated

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George Vold (interest group conflict)

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- criminal behaviour as resulting from conflict between the interests of divergent groups

-groups form when members have common interests and then they come into contact with other groups as their interests overlap and become competitive

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G VOLD

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-law making, breaking, and enforcement is direct reflection of deep seated conflict between interests group and their struggle for control over police/power of state- those who produce legislative majorities win control and dominate the policies that decide who is likely to be involved in violation of the law

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Vold's 2 general classes of G conflict that result in criminal behaviour

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1. Crime can arise fro conflict between behaviour of minority groups and legal norms of the dominant majority which are established in law

2. crime can arise from conflict between competing interest groups who are vying for power. Intergroup conflict

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Richard Quinney (Social Groupings- broadly defined segments of society)

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- criminality is a result of conflict between groups

-the more powerful segments or social groups are able to secure and protect their own interests by influencing the formulation, enforcement and administration of criminal law

- only SOME interest groups are sufficiently powerful to influence police, because power is unequally distributed due to structural arrangements of the political state

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6 Propositions of Quinney

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1. crime is a definition of human conduct that is created by authorized agents in a politically organized society - (imposed on some persons by others)

2. criminal definitions describe behaviours that conflict with the interests of segments of society that have the power to shape public policy

3. criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law

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4

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4. behavioural patterns are structured in segmentally organized society in relation to criminal definitions and within this context- persons engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal

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5

6

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5. conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by various means of communication

6. the social reality of crime is constructed by the formulation and application of criminal definitions- the development of behavioural patterns related to criminal definitions and the construction of criminal conceptions

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Marxist Conflict Perspectives

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- crime bust be analyzed in the context of its relationship to the character of society as a whole

-crime best understood in relation to social, political and economic structures of society in which it occurs

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Mode of Production-

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- the economic system whereby goods are produced, exchanged and distributed in society

- composed of forces of production (tools, techniques, raw material) and social relations of productions (relationships that exist among humans)

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Quinney's Marxist Theory of Crime Control

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1. American society is based on an advanced capitalist economy

2. the state is organized to serve the interests of the dominant economic class

3. criminal law is an instrument of the state and ruling class to maintain and perpetuate the existing social and economic order

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4

5

6

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4. crime control in capitalist society is accomplished through variety of institutions an agencies established and administered by a government elite, representing ruling class interests

5. the contradictions of advanced capitalism require that the subordinate classes remain oppressed by whatever means necessary- especially through coercion and violence of the legal system

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6

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only with the collapse of capitalist society and the creations of new society, based on socialist principles will there be a solution to the problem of crime

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Criticisms of Instrumental Marxism

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1. It portrays the ruling class as a unified, homogeneous group- ignoring competing factions that may exist within the capitalist class itself

2. ignores how the actions of ruling class members are influenced or constrained by structural causes

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3

4.

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3. unable to account for legislation that is not in the immediate interest of the ruling class- such as health and safety legislation

4. instrumentalism draws upon an overly rigid interpretation of the base/ superstructure metaphor- the economic base is the foundation of the superstructure is said to be deterministic

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Structural Marxism

Relative Autonomy

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- the state has a certain amount of independence from the capitalist class and is therefore able to enact laws that are not in the immediate interests of the capitalist class

- RA explains why many laws are enacted that do not represent the immediate interests of capitalist classes (min wage laws)

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Anticombines Legislation

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- prevent corporations from monopolizing or cornering the supply of certain commodities or markets and fixing prices

- came about less from the desire to protect the general public but more from complaints of small businessmen

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structural perspective of Anticombines legislation

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- the law cannot be said to exclusivey represent the instrumental interests of the dominant capitalist class,

but the laws benefit the less powerful reflect and ideological need to develop a widespread consent for the existing social order

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Bill C13

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- Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act

- goal to combat cyber bullying- particularly the dissemination of intimate images online without consent

-also to ensure that the CCC is keeping pace with technological changes

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2 objections of Bill C13

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1. lowers the threshold to obtain warrants for transmission data from reasonable grounds to believe to reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence has been committed

2. expands the ability of police to obtain internet data without judicial oversight

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Crimes of the Powerless

Stephen Spitzer-

Back 34

- marxian theory of deviance

- criminalization of much behaviour is directed toward those problem populations who are surplus to the labour market

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marxian theory of deviance

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1. problems are directly created through contradictions in the capitalist mode of production

2. problem populations are created INDIRECTLY through contradictions in the institutions that help to reduce capitalism, such as schools

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David Greenberg

Back 36

-juvenile delinquency- juveniles form a class of their own because they share a common relationship to the means of production

- young ppl are excluded form economically productive activity in capitalist society- but are required to undergo training for their future productive role

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Crimes of the powerful

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-the losses incurred as result of corporate crime are far in excess of the losses incurred as result of street crime

- profit maximization creates motivation for corporations to engage in criminal activities or other socially harmful behaviours

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Left Realism

Back 38

- encompass both instrumentalism and structuralist marx accounts

-crime is simply anti social behaviour involving ppl who lack values

- emphasize the square of crime- victim, offender, police and public

- most victims of crime are those from most vulnerable segment of community

- majority of working class crime is intra class- both offender and victim tend to be from same SES