Marxian Theory: Crime and Social Class

• Enlightenment ideals assumed homogeneity and consensus under a social contract.
• Presupposed laws and social control reflected mainstream norms to benefit most of the population.
• Questions arose about the definition of crime, its causes, and those who define it.

Marxian Theory

• Karl Marx (1818-1883) was a German revolutionary philosopher, sociologist, and economist who advocated the working middle class.
• The bourgeoisie, a new class gaining power through capital, emerged.
• The bourgeoisie eventually overtook the nobility and landlords, reshaping power structures.
• The state became a tool for the ruling class, safeguarding economic and political dominance.
• Institutions like courts, armies, and police were created to suppress working-class resistance (e.g., riots, strikes).

Historical Materialism

• Analyzes society's material conditions, including economic structures, labor relations, and class dynamics.
• Economic shifts drive changes in social relations.
• The move from feudalism to capitalism has entrenched inequality in economic and social systems.
• Advanced capitalism saw the rise of the bourgeoisie (elite with capital) who privately owned the means of production (factories, machinery, land).
• The proletariat (working class) had no access to these means and had to sell their labor power for wages.
• Exploitative labor relations resulted from this relationship, deepening class divides.

Social Superstructure

• Class is defined by one's relationship to modes of production.
• Proletariat refers to the working class who sell their labor.
• Bourgeoisie refers to the owners of the means of production.
• Ideology consists of systems of thought that maintain existing social and political structures and promote the superiority of the ruling class.
• False consciousness makes the masses accept the social structure as natural and normal, even when it works against their interests.

Class Conflict

• Society is founded on the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
• The capitalist system inherently produces conflict, inequality, and power differentials.
• Labor exploitation occurs as profit maximization leads to minimized labor costs.
• Examples of labor exploitation include minimum wage, lack of benefits, and part-time/contract work.
• Control over communication enables the bourgeoisie controls production and information flow. This limits the proletariat's ability to challenge existing power structures.
• Large corporations control much of the advertising space to promote consumerism and individual success narratives.

Marxism and Legal Apparatus

• Capitalist power enables control over laws and policing.
• Laws and policing are designed to protect capitalist interests.
• Behaviors that threaten capitalism (e.g., strikes, immigrant labor, welfare fraud) are criminalized.

Marxian Theories of Crime and Deviance

• Willem Bonger posited that capitalism fosters hedonism and if structurally induced crimes (poverty related) were eliminated, only psychopathic crimes would remain.
• Steven Spitzer argued that capitalism creates "problem populations," including "social junk" (unneeded laborers) and "social dynamite" (those critical of the system).
• These populations are controlled through criminalization, laws targeting squeegee kids, petty theft, and civil disobedience.

Marxism and Functions of Law

• Austin Turk argued that law is a social control agent within the superstructure, where groups struggle to control legal frameworks.
• Laws reflect the cultural, political, and economic interests of those in power.
• Enforcement disproportionately targets the less powerful.
• Legislation focuses on suppressing uprisings rather than addressing systemic inequalities.
• Richard Quinney and William Chambliss argued that law is not neutral but a tool for social control that dictates which behaviors are criminalized.
• Legal enforcement focuses on suppressing dissent rather than addressing actual social harm.
• Protest and anti-union laws protect corporate interests, not individual rights.

Welfare vs. Professional Fraud

• Welfare fraud is perceived as lazy, dependent, and undisciplined with criminal prosecution and possible prison. Rules work against the individual with high criminal enforcement and little/no legal representation. There is no power to influence rules.

• Professional fraud is perceived as hardworking, underpaid, and invaluable, involving payback if caught. Rules work for the individual with low criminal enforcement and best legal representation. There is the ability to influence rules.

• Marx predicted that the oppressed would eventually become conscious of their exploitation, as seen in modern examples like the Occupy Movement and Idle No More.