Three Types Of Conflict Theory And The Theories Of Crime

Admittedly, when examining theories of crime that would assume that societies are constantly changing, which creates a conflict among various groups. The conflict among these groups is because the competition to have each group’s interests promoted, protected, and often put into law. For instance, if all the groups had equally powerful and the same amount of resources, the battles would consist of comprise and negotiation, but groups tend to have different amount of power and resources they have. Furthermore, powerful groups can exert dominance over the weaker groups because of the laws that were created and enforced to benefit them. In addition, similar to the Marxist theories, some groups gain and maintain dominance over the less powerful …show more content…
For instance, this might be the reason why many communistic countries such as Russia and Cuba would have high rates of crimes. Some countries like Sweden that utilize a capitalistic economic structures have low crime rates. Another type of conflict theory is referred to as pluralistic, which argues that multiple groups hold power of all the other groups instead of the one or two groups. However, many theorists do not agree with this theory because it viewed as naïve and idealistic, that is why this type of conflict theory is not popular. When examining the pluralistic (conflict) perspective some of the key theorists are Thorsten Sellin, George Vold, and Austin Turk.
Sellin applied Marxist and conflict perspectives, as well as numerous other types of models, to study the state of cultural diversity in industrial societies. To further explain Thorsten Sellin claim of that separate cultures will diverge from a unitary, mainstream set of norms and values held by the dominant group in society. Additionally, this leads to the minority groups that break from the mainstream and establishing their own norms. For example, laws would only reflect only the values and interests of the dominant group, Sellin referred to as a border culture conflict. This conflict of values, which manifests itself when different cultures interact, can cause a backlash by the weaker groups, which …show more content…
Turk argued that a certain level of conflict among groups may be beneficial because it allows citizens to think about the status quo or conventional standards could be improved on. For example, this is similar to Durkheim’s perspective that allowing a certain level of crimes gives society a chance to define moral boundaries, which can sometimes lead to progress. One thing that made Turk different was that he recognized conflict among the various parts of the criminal justice system. For instance, the police often are at odds with the courts and district attorney’s office. Furthermore, this tension among formal agencies who should be on the same side eventually leads to more frustration and inefficiency when it comes to fighting crime and ensuring that justice is served. Undoubtedly, when examining the empirical research on conflict theory, there was very little research because of the global view of social structure and the number of groups competing for power. Additionally, there was one study that found evidence of a relationship between U.S. states that had a large number of interest groups with violent crime, but not property crime. These findings demonstrate the need to examine the competitiveness in the United States particularly in how it effects criminal behavior. Even with very little