Conflict Perspective
Social Conflict of Inequality
How does the Conflict Perspective
view deviance?
• Conflict theorists view social conflict, in the form
of inequalities or power differentials, as the
cause of deviance
Conflict Theory
• Many assume that the law treats citizens equally
and it serves the best interest of society
• Are the laws on the books fair?
• According to William Chambliss, we need to
look at the law in action at how legal authorities
discharge their duties
– Authorities are unfair and unjust- favoring the
rich and powerful over the poor and weak
Who is to blame for the unjust law?
• Richard Quinny blamed unjust law directly on
the capital system
▫ “Criminal law is used by the state and the ruling
class to secure the survival of the capitalist
system”
The Dominant Class
• This involves the dominant class’s doing 4 things:
– Defines criminals as those behaviors that threaten
their interests
• Robbery, murder, etc.
– It hires law enforcers to apply those definitions and
protect its interests
– It exploits the subordinate class by paying low wages
so that the resulting oppressive life conditions virtually
force the powerless to commit crimes
– It uses the criminal actions to spread and reinforce the
popular view that the subordinate class is dangerous
Marxists
• The capitalist’s ceaseless drive to increase profits
by cutting labor costs has created a large class of
unemployed workers
▫ Marginal surplus population-useless to the
economy
▫ Compelled to commit property crimes to survive
• The exploitive nature of capitalism causes
violent crimes and noncriminal deviance
Marxist Continued
• Monopolistic nature of capitalism encourages
corporate crime b/c “when only a few firms
dominate a sector of the economy they can more
easily [plot] to fix prices, divide up the market
and eliminate competitors”
Sheila Balkan
• Argues that economic marginality leads to a lack
of self-esteem and a sense of powerlessness and
alienation, which create intense pressures on
individuals
▫ Turn to violence to vent their frustrations and
strike out against symbols of authority
The advantage of the Conflict Theory
• Useful when explaining why most laws favor the
wealthy and powerful and why the poor and
powerless commit most of the unprofitable crimes in
society
• Useful when explaining why crime rates began to
soar after the communist countries of the former
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe turned to
capitalism
• Theory has been criticized for implying the all laws
are unjust and that capitalism is the source of all
crimes
Power Theory
• Power inequality affects the type of deviant
activities likely to be engaged in
– The powerful are more likely to perpetrate
profitable crimes in society (corporate crime)
while the powerless are more like to commit
unprofitable crimes (homicide, assault)
• Power can also be a cause of deviance
– More likely for a bank executive to cheat
customers quietly that for a jobless person to rob
banks violently
Why is deviance more common among
the powerful?
1. Strong deviant motivation
▫
Stems from relative deprivation- feeling unable
to achieve relatively high aspirations

Aspirations are too high and can’t be realized
2. Greater opportunities for deviance
▫
Access to better opportunities that make it easier
to be deviant (think about the bank employee
example)
Why is deviance more common among
the powerful?
3. Powerful are subjected to weaker social control
▫ Laws against high-status criminals is relatively
lenient and seldom enforced
 Not a single corporate criminal has even been
sentenced to death for marketing an untested drug
that “cleanly” kills many people
Feminist Theory
• Feminist argue that many theories about
deviance are only applied to men
▫ The theories may be valid for male behavior but
not necessarily for females
Feminist attack on Merton’s Strain
Theory
• The theory assumes that people are inclined to
strive for material success
– Women are traditionally less interested in
achieving material success
• Assumes that women who have a strong desire
for economic success but limited access to
opportunities are as likely as men to commit a
crime
– Data does not support this, women have not been
as likely to commit crimes when not given
legitimate opportunities for success
Feminists and Merton’s Theory
• Strain theory explicitly states that Americans are
likely to commit a crime b/c their society
overemphasizes the importance of holding high
goals while failing to provide the necessary
means for all citizens to achieve those goals
▫ More relevant to men than women – women have
lower crime rates
Feminist Theory focus
• Deals with women as victims (mostly of rape and
sexual harassment)
– Crimes against women are said to reflect the
patriarchal society’s attempt to put women in their
place
• Deals with women as offenders
– Recent increase in female crime has not been
great enough to be significant
– Criminal opportunities are still much less
available to women
Female offenders
• When women do commit crime, it tends to be
the type that reflects their subordinate position
on society
▫ Minor property crimes- shoplifting, passing bad
checks, welfare fraud, petty credit card fraud
▫ Reflects the increasing feminization of poverty
 Most women criminals are unemployed, high school
dropouts, single mothers