Conflict and radical theory
Explaining crime
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Culture deviance theory
 People
in poverty cope by creating an
independent subculture with its own
set of rules and values
 Middle class: hard work, delayed
gratification, formal education, caution
 Lower class (Miller) argued that there
are different rules on the street
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Miller (cont)
 Those
who follow the street rules of
lower class life find themselves in
conflict with the dominant middle class
culture
 Focal concerns in street culture (not a
rebellion--evolved to deal with
conditions in slums) Miller identified
six such concerns
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Focal concerns
 1.
Trouble: involvement in fighting,
drinking, etc.
 2. Toughness: strength, fighting ability,
athletic skill
 3. Smartness: being street-wise, able to
outcon others
 4. Excitement--search for fun to enliven
a drab life--gambling, fighting, drinking
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Focal concerns
 5.
Fate: what happens is fate, luck
 6. Autonomy: personal freedom,
resistance against controlled
environments, such as schools, CJS, etc.
 These concerns put people at odds with
those of the larger culture, and make
them more likely to get into trouble
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Conflict theory
 Crime
is a function of conflict
 The more conflict in a society, the more
crime
 Societies with little conflict, little crime
 Sellin and culture conflict theory
 Primary culture conflict: two cultures
come into conflict. Less dominant
culture will have the higher crime rate
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Culture conflict
 Examples
can be seen worldwide
 Secondary culture conflict: a subculture
within a society is at odds with the
dominant culture
 According to conflict theorists, conflict
might be over money and other
material goods, power, or how a
particular issue is decided
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Conflict (cont)
 Societies
may have a variety of groups,
all competing for different goals and
prizes
 These groups are dynamic, and change
 Sometimes groups might come together
over a particular issue
 Even a powerless group might obtain
power by banding together
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Conflict (cont)
 Generally,
there are likely to be some
groups that consistently have more
power than others
 They determine the laws, and carry
them out; different groups may be
treated differently
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Radical and Marxian theory
 Marx
 Dialectic:
thesis, antithesis, synthesis
 Change due to conflict of competing
economic systems
 History is a succession of economic
arrangements, as the weak struggle
against exploitation by the powerful
 Succession of ever-improving systems
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Marx (continued)
 Progress
is attained by the rise and fall
of economic systems
 Major epochs in history:
 1. ancient slave
 2. feudalism
 3. capitalism
 4. socialism
 5. communism
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Marx (cont)
 All
economic orders have been
characterized by the class struggle
 Class is the great divider
 The ruling class owns everything and
forces workers into exploitation
 Capitalism overthrew feudalism,
provided goods to more people, and
instituted constitutional government
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Marx (cont)
 However,
the workers are still
exploited, paid a fraction of their worth
 19th century working conditions, child
labor
 Marx believed that the workers would
rise up, take over the means of
production. Capitalism will be replaced
by socialism, and then by communism
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Marx (cont)
 When
the means of production are no
longer owned by individuals, the class
struggle will cease.
 The state will wither away. “From each
according to his ability, to each
according to his need.”
 Marx thought that crime was a function
of the economic system--capitalism
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Marx continued
 Modern
capitalist societies involved a
perpetual class struggle
 Ruling class determines what is a crime,
based on their own self-interests, and
create the CJS to support it.
 They create social conditions which
create criminals out of the working
class
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Marx (cont)
 When
people are freed from the class
struggle, people will become
cooperative, and the result will be a
crime-free society
 People are inherently good, there will
be little or no crime in a communist
society
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Modern radical theorists
(Quinney)
 Marx’s
predictions did not all turn out
as expected
 Revolutions occurred in feudalistic
societies such as Russia and China,
rather than Germany and Great Britain.
The revolutions did not take place in
western Europe or the U.S.
 Radical theorists attempted to explain
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Radical
 American
society is based on an
advanced capitalist economy
 Very large middle class involved in
service occupation
 a shrinking manufacturing and
agricultural base
 a small group of private owners
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Radical
 These
changes, particularly the
increasing size of the middle class,
helped to prevent revolution
 The state is still organized to serve the
interests of the ruling class, and the CJS
represents ruling class interests in
preserving domestic order
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Radical (cont)
 Advanced
capitalism requires that the
lower classes remain oppressed by
whatever means necessary, especially
through the coercion and violence of
the legal system
 Capitalism will collapse--the workers
are still oppressed. Furthermore, the
middle class becomes more
sophisticated
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Radical (continued)
 Only
when capitalism is replaced by
socialism, will there be a solution to the
crime problem
 Criminologists are merely servants to
capitalism, reinforce its values
 Criminologists should develop a
political movement to promote
revolution
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Radical--comments
 Methodological
rigor is lacking. It is
the case, however, that they have
pointed out that a very small number of
people are disproportionately wealthy
 Socialistic countries have crime
problems
 “Nature of man” issue
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Economy and crime
 Economics:
study of production,
distribution, exchange and
consumption of goods
 Occupies a major portion of human
activities
 Economy and crime
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Economy: Methodological
Problems
 Two
types of studies
 Cross-sectional--different economies,
same time
 Longitudinal--one economy over time
 Problems
 1. Data are not always accurate (UCR,
economic indices--unemployment)
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Methological (cont)
 2.
Correlational studies: economy
might alter crime rate, but also vice
versa, or the economy and crime may
be affected by other factors. Cannot do
an experiment
 3. Time lag--how long does it take an
economic event to affect crime?
 4. Poverty is subjective
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Hypotheses about economy
 1.
Declining economy (poverty, need)
hypothesis: as the economy gets worse,
the crime rate will increase
 Lack of legimate job opportunities
drives people to crime (strain)
 Capitalism encourages greed, and the
CJS criminalizes the greed of the poor
(Marxist/radical)
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Hypotheses (cont)
 2.
As the economy gets better, the
crime rate will increase
 When people are more affluent, there is
more worth stealing, more temptations
(i.e., auto theft)
 With affluence, there are more criminal
opportunities (drugs, gambling, etc.)
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Hypotheses (cont)
 3.
Relative deprivation: Perceived
economic inequality affects crime rate.
People perceive inequality, feel unfairly
treated, resentment and frustration,
aggression and crime (envy hypothesis)
 Outgrowth of reference group (or social
comparison) theory. Satisfaction
depends on who one compares onself
with--effects of television
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Hypotheses (cont)
 4.
Common cause hypothesis:
Unemployment and crime are caused
by common factors
 Impulsivity, low verbal intelligence,
sensation-seeking, dropping out (dropouts two times as likely to be
unemployed)
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Hypotheses (cont)
 5.
Crime may cause unemployment: if
crime pays, people may become
unemployed
 6. No relationship
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Research on need hypothesis
 TARP
project: provided money to
parolees
 no effect on recidivism of young males
 Less recidivism among older males and
those with families
 Manpower project: added training.
Again, effective with older males, and
with females
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Income inequality
 GINI
Index
 Measure of Income disparity
 Ranges from 0 to 1
 0 would indicate that everyone had the
same amount
 Lower coefficient indicates a higher
level of economic equality
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GINI
 Denmark:
24.7, Japan 24.9
 Russia 31, Canada 33, UK and Italy
 36
 U.S. ranks 92nd out of 124 nations, with
46.6, more income inequality
 All of the nations higher than this are
3rd world countries
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Income inequality
 Highest
are Sierra Leone, Botswana,
Lesotho (around 63), Namibia the
highest with 70.7
 GINI index highly correlated with
homicide rates—higher GINI index,
higher homicide rates
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