Beirne Exam Questions The Conflict Tradition Ch.7

7

The Conflict Tradition

CHAPTER OUTLINE

7.1 Marxism, Law, and Crime

Any introduction to criminology would be incomplete without consideration of the ideas of Karl Marx (1818–1883) and his colleague and friend Friedrich Engels (1820–1895).

Key Concepts of Marxism

Marxian theory developed out of Marx and Engels’ engagement with nineteenth-century German idealist philosophy, such as discussions of God, the intellect, reason, the spirit, and the progress of civilization. In opposition to these ideas, Marx and Engels combined ideas from English political economists and French socialists into an approach they called historical materialism. From this foundation, Marx issued his famous observation that “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” This means that people cannot live exactly as they choose because their options are limited by their class position. For Marx and Engels social classes are generated by the mode of production, which entails two fundamental components: the means of production (technology, capital, labor, tools, machinery, and so forth, used in creating commodities), and the social relations of production (the many ways in which people relate to commodities and each other as workers, as owners, as consumers, as investors, and so on).

Historically and culturally, there are a variety of modes of production: primitive communal, slave, feudal, Asiatic, capitalist, socialist, and communist. In modern societies, one given mode of production tends to dominate others that might coexist in the society. Social classes emerge from the dominant mode of production. Within capitalism—the dominant mode of production in Western societies since the Industrial Revolution—several classes exist: the lumpenproletariat (those unfit for work and the perennially unemployed), the working class (skilled and unskilled workers), the middle class (midlevel managers), and the capitalist class (owners and controllers of the means of production).

Social class is chiefly determined by one’s economic position within the mode of production. In a capitalist society, the mode of production generates a basic conflict of interest between those who own the means of production and those who labor. Because of this inherent class struggle, the capitalist economic system is unstable and tends toward socialism where the class struggles dissipate. Maintaining power and class dominance is impossible without coercion, whether subtle or overt. Regarding the link of the economy and politics, Marx wrote: “The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness.”

Ideology has various meanings in Marxism. (1) Ideology refers to any set of structured beliefs, values, and ideas. There are different ideologies among each class, based on their own sets of beliefs, values, and ideas (e.g., bourgeois ideology and proletarian ideology). (2) Sometimes ideology refers to a set of mistaken or false beliefs (e.g., religious beliefs). (3) Ideology also refers to a set of beliefs that simultaneously reflect and distort social reality. Here ideology is a process where beliefs derived from social relationships hide or mask the precise nature of these relationships. The exploited, for example, are shielded from the precise nature and source of their oppression. (The ideology of “justice” may be a good example to use for explaining this difficult concept to students.) This understanding of ideology is especially important to Marx and Engel’s views on law and the state.

State and Law

For Marx and Engels, state is broadly defined as the organs of political authority and ideological processes that underpin their legitimacy, including the standing army, police, bureaucracy, clergy, and judicature. In this view, then, the state is both produced by society and stands above society at the same time, representing itself as neutral in the conflicts of individuals or groups. Because the state is manipulated by the dominant class, this view of the state is itself an ideological distortion. Therefore, the state has a class character. Law has several functions in class societies. It maintains the interests of the dominant class in private property and is a mechanism of bourgeois ideology. For example, “justice” and “fair play” create the idea that law can be a neutral arbitrator of conflict. Law is also repressive against the working class and its organized political movements. Thus, law is a crucial component of the state apparatus. The “rule of law” and “equality before the law” are thus legal fictions that entice the public into complying with the will of the powerful.

Criminalization as a Violation of Rights

Marx and Engels described how the criminalization of certain behaviors leads to greater levels of coercive control that the state can have over the poor and disenfranchised. These laws fundamentally reflect the interests of the powerful private property holders, while at the same time they violate the rights of the poor.

Crime and Demoralization

Regarding the lot of the Irish peasantry, Marx wrote, “There must be something rotten in the core of a social system that increases its wealth without diminishing its misery, and increases in crimes even more rapidly than in numbers.” The conditions under which the working class lived in the middle to late nineteenth century were appalling by any standards. These conditions led to demoralization among the working class; a recurrent theme in Marxism is the link between demoralization and crime. Demoralization fostered “drunkenness, sexual irregularities, brutality, and disregard for the rights of property.” Rebellion is an alternative to demoralization. British workers, for example, resisted the introduction of machinery, destroyed machines, and even attempted assassinations of manufacturers. Engels thus noted that theft (among other criminal acts) is a “primitive form of protest,” but one not suited to revolutionary consciousness.

Evaluation of Marxism

Like Durkheim, Marx and Engels saw crime as inevitable, caused by fundamental features of the social organization. Unlike Durkheim, they believed that crime is an expression of class inequality and a form of rebellion. Crime is not simply economic, however. It involves complex political processes that reflect the interests of certain groups. Unfortunately, Marx and Engels failed to investigate why some actions but not others are defined as criminal, and they mostly accepted the idea that crime is a violation of moral codes mostly committed by the working class and the poor. By not going beyond this assumption they could not consider that different classes commit different crimes.

7.2 Conflict Theory

Conflict theory overlaps with Marxism and labeling. Conflict and consensus theorists offer opposite answers to key questions such as these: How is social order possible? What is the nature of power? What is the nature of authority? What is human nature? What are the causes of social inequality? Consensus theories assure that society is held together by commonly, and nearly universally, accepted values and goals, conceptions of right and wrong, and what is virtuous in society. This leads to the establishment of a stable social order that is regulated through progressive law. Conflict theories, on the other hand, assume that society contains many diverse groups with competing vested interests that struggle with each other over the ownership and control of scarce resources. Social change is disruptive to the status quo, and law is a weapon used by the powerful to maintain their privilege and resources.

Crime and Criminalization

Sellin’s pioneering Culture Conflict and Crime (1938) has been very influential in the development of conflict criminology. For Sellin, crime is a consequence of the conflicting conduct norms arising from urbanization and industrialization. He identified two types of culture conflict: primary culture conflict, which arises when there is a clash between norms of different cultures, and secondary culture conflict, which arises from the differentiation and inequality in the parent culture (e.g., differences between law enforcement and second-generation immigrant families regarding gambling, prostitution, and liquor). Vold (1958) pointed to “group conflict” and “political organization” as causes of crime. Both emerge when the interests of one group can only be realized at the expense of another group(s). To illustrate his point, Vold used the example of the prohibition of alcohol and the interests of the brewers. The political process, therefore, is a direct reflection of deep-seated and fundamental conflicts between interest groups in their struggles to influence law and control the police power of the state. Crime, for Vold, is committed by minority groups who have been closed out of the political process. In this view crime is seen as a “normal, natural response of normal, natural human beings struggling in understandably normal and natural situations for the maintenance of the way of life to which they stand committed.” Vold’s ideas were a major influence on Quinney’s “social reality of crime” (1970, 1977).

Box 7.1 presents Quinney’s six propositions:

1. The defining quality of crime lies in the definition of crime rather than in criminal behavior.

2. Criminal definitions exist because of the interests of some segments (or groups) of society are in conflict with the interests of others.

3. The content of laws and their application tend to reflect the interests of the powerful because they typically control or manipulate members of law enforcement and the judiciary.

4. Different social groups learn to do different things. The less groups engage in law making or law enforcement, the more their actions are defined as criminal.

5. Despite diverse opinions on what should be considered criminal, it is the opinion of the most powerful that have the greatest impact on the law and on the general public through mass media.

6. The social reality of crime is a composite of these propositions. (Figure 7.2 presents a model of the social reality of crime.)

Austin Turk’s (1969) Criminality and Legal Order expands conflict theory by outlining the process of criminalization. According to Turk, social order is based on relationships between authorities (those who influence law and make important legal decisions) and subjects (those who have little influence on legal decisions or the substance of laws). Conflicts emerge in a variety of ways, and law is a crucial means for the resolution of such conflicts. Criminalization refers to the ways in which the government confers illegal status on the behaviors of subjects (resisters). Turk asks two specific questions: Under what circumstances do subjects become criminal? When are subjects dealt with harshly? His answer has three parts:

1. The more significant laws are to authorities, the more likely that resisters will be criminalized.

2. The probability of criminalization varies according to the respective power of enforcers and resisters. There is a curvilinear relationship between criminalization and power differences. Criminalization reflects enforcers’ perception of the threat posed by subjects and resisters. Criminalization is more likely with smaller power differences.

3. The probability of criminalization is influenced by “the realism of conflict moves.” Sometimes criminalization doesn’t serve either group, as when arrests create martyrs among resisters. Criminalization decreased with more sophisticated resisters.

Criminal Law and Crime

Criminalization is a central concept in conflict theory. Thus to understand crime, conflict theorists must understand the role of law. Chambliss and Seidman’s research contains a comprehensive application of conflict theory to the creation of law, the general principles of law, and the implementation of law including acts of legislatures and appellate courts, and police. Although most people see that Congress is influenced by lobbying, Chambliss and Seidman demonstrated that appellate decisions tend to reflect the interests of the powerful—in part because the poor lack the resources needed to bring appellate cases. Thus, appellate courts are “necessarily biased in favor of ensuring that courts as institutions are more available to the wealthy than to the poor, and tend to produce solutions in the interests of the wealthy.” It is in these courts where the interests of the wealthy are routinely protected and preserved, as they are able to provide for themselves adequate representation and resources for securing their own interests. The Carrier’s Case (1473) illustrates how law reflects powerful interests. Prior to Carrier, larceny required trespass. However, judges interpreted the law in such a way that larceny was not required, in effect expanding larceny law in a manner that served the interests of elites. (Box 7.2 presents details of the case.)

Toward an Integrated Conflict Theory

Integration of conflict theory and its empirical research has occurred through attempts to synthesize concepts into a unified theory. Another strategy is to integrate conflict theory by bringing in concepts from other theories. Hagan’s book, Structural Criminology (1989), combines labeling perspectives, control theory, Marxism, and feminism into structural theory or power-control theory. By integrating studies of labor participation with those regarding household structure Hagan attempted to explain gender differences in delinquency. His core claim is that vertical power relations (e.g., parents over children) are more important for understanding crime than horizontal power relations (e.g., between peers). Hagan documents that familial power relations vary with class and gender. Egalitarian families promote risk-taking among boys and girls, whereas patriarchal families promote risk-taking among boys only. Therefore, girls in egalitarian families are more likely to be involved in delinquency than girls in patriarchal families, but still less than boys in both patriarchal and egalitarian families. Conflict theorists have also shown differences between blacks and whites regarding attitudes toward imprisonment, punitiveness, and discrimination, especially in relation to the disproportionate incarceration of black men. Cobbina, Miller, and Brunson (2008) showed how gender leads to different risk-avoidance strategies among African Americans. For men, risk is linked to gang membership and drugs. For women, risk is linked to sexualized encounters with men who view them as prey.

Evaluation of Conflict Theory

Many studies have confirmed conflict explanations of crime (e.g., laws related to vagrancy, alcohol and drugs, prostitution, and appellate courts). However, it is a leap of faith to assume that the law always arises from conflict or that criminalization always serves the interests of the powerful. Conflict theory also needs to better define “power” and “conflict.” Conflict theory introduced a political dimension to criminology.

7.3 Radical Criminology

Radical criminology—the application of Marxist theory to the study of crime—emerged in the 1970s as critique of mainstream criminology and a call to address both the causes of crime and the effects of societal reactions to crime. Spitzer’s (1975) analysis of problem populations is one of the most intriguing. Populations become problematic for the ruling classes when they disturb, hinder, or call into question any of the following:

1. Capitalist modes of appropriating the product of human labor.

2. Social conditions under which capitalist production takes place.

3. Patterns of distribution and consumption in capitalist society.

4. The process of socialization for productive and nonproductive roles.

5. Ideology that supports the functioning of capitalist society.

Problem populations are created directly, through fundamental contradictions in the capitalist economy, and indirectly, through contradictions in social control institutions. Surplus populations are functional for capitalism as a resource for labor market participation, and to keep wages low, but become problematic when they challenge the status quo. Direct creation of problem populations is seen when the surplus population rebels; therefore, the capitalist order demands control and repression of the problem population. Indirect creation of problem populations is seen in mass education; as people become more educated about the circumstances of their lives, they often resist the capitalist order. Problem populations take two forms: social junk and social dynamite. Social junk individuals are those who are heavily controlled at a large cost to society but are relatively harmless, such as the mentally ill and the handicapped. Social dynamite individuals are those who can potentially challenge the status quo and represent a threat to the capitalist order, such as unemployed working-class juveniles or the Communist Party. Spitzer views the government as an instrument of the ruling class to repress, control, and oppress the surplus populations.

In Class, State, and Crime (1977), Quinney conceptualized crimes in capitalist contexts as those of domination or those of accommodation. Crimes of domination include crimes of control, such as police brutality, illegal surveillance, and violations of civil liberties; crimes of government, such as the Watergate scandal and assassinations of foreign leaders; crimes of economic domination, which include price-fixing, pollution, and marketing dangerous products; and social injuries, such as the denial of basic human rights, sexism, racism, and economic exploitation. Crimes of accommodation include predatory crimes, such as burglary, robbery, and drug dealing; personal crimes, such as murder, assault, and rape; and crimes of resistance, such as sabotage and organized vandalism. Crimes of accommodation can range from “unconscious reaction” to “political rebellion.” They result from the consequences of the crimes of domination; therefore, if society wants to eliminate or reduce crimes of accommodation, there must be stricter controls on the ruling classes that routinely engage in crimes of domination. Quinney sees the government as an instrument of the ruling classes to be used for protecting their resources and preserving their power.

Chambliss’ (1988) “structural contradictions theory” argues that the dilemma of capital, labor, and the state is how to reconcile group conflict when the fundamental contradictions of capitalism are ignored (see Figure 7.2). Chambliss identifies two fundamental contradictions: (1) the wages, profits, and consumption contradiction, and (2) a wages–labor supply contradiction. Workers need to be paid sufficiently to participate in the consumer economy and keep the money moving through the economy. Yet, if workers are paid too much, then profits are undermined. A ready supply of labor keeps wages low. Workers who press their demands might be let go, creating an underclass that might turn to crime.

Left Realism

Left realism emerged in the 1980s as radical and Marxist criminologists refined their core ideas and called for increased attention to street crime. For left realists conventional crime is not simply revolt. Instead it arises from both relative deprivation and selfish, reactionary attitudes and has disorganizing, damaging, and fragmenting effects on urban life. Lea and Young (1986) outlined four elements of a left realist crime-control program that included fragmented urban life: (1) demarginalization of offenders via community service, restitution, and minimal use of prisons; (2) preemptive deterrence through neighborhood patrol and community–police cooperation; (3) analysis of the circumstances of both the offender and the victim; and (4) transformation of police force into a police service accountable to the public. DeKeseredy (2003) extended this analysis and identified core elements of a crime-curbing program that included job creation and job training; increasing the minimum wage; government-sponsored day care; housing assistance; teaching entrepreneurial skills in high school; universal health care; and fostering new links among schools, businesses, and government agencies.

Evaluation of Radical Criminology

Radicals of the 1970s and 1980s used Marxian insights to develop structural analyses of crime that highlight the relationship between economic inequality and crime. They advanced understanding of why some behaviors are criminalized and others are not. Critics, though, note that radical criminology is unidimensional in its focus on class at the expense of the effects of race, gender, and age on crime. Mainstream criminologists criticize radical criminology for being unscientific, moralistic, and utopian.

CLASS EXERCISES

1. Assign the Communist Manifesto as supplemental reading for this chapter. Have students split into small groups to write summaries of the document and investigate the historical context within which it was written. What were the conditions that led Marx to write the Manifesto? In what ways are the circumstances similar or different today?

2. Have students read the Carrier’s Case in Box 7.2. After reading this, assign an in-class writing session to evaluate the case within the context of conflict theory. What are the key conflict theory points to be made with this example? How and why did the law change? What was the result? Based on their analysis have the students brainstorm a potential contemporary example of the links between powerful interests and law.

3. Show the fountain scene in And Justice for All. Use the content of the Pacino character’s speech for a discussion of conflict in understanding the nature of society, inequality, power, and social justice issues.

TEST BANK FOR CHAPTER 7

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Marx and Engels’ approach to understanding society is known as

a. communism.

b. dominant ideology.

c. historical materialism.

d. idealism.

2. According to Marx, to understand modem society we must realize that history is

a. the history of class struggles.

b. dependent on precise records of factual events.

c. seen through the eyes of the “victor.”

d. the result of working-class ideology.

3. The mode of production includes

a. commodities.

b. means of production.

c. social relations of production.

d. both b and c.

4. The means of production refers to

a. the marketing strategies for selling commodities.

b. the raw materials used in the production of commodities.

c. the potential profits made from selling commodities.

d. none of the above.

5. Social relations of production refers to

a. the ways people sell their personal goods to strangers without taxation.

b. the means by which people consume mass-produced commodities.

c. the many ways in which different classes relate to commodities.

d. none of the above.

6. Which of the following are modes of production analyzed by Marx and Engels?

a. capitalist, communist, socialist, and agrarian

b. industrial, agricultural, and barter

c. mass produced, cottage-industry, and trade

d. service, skilled, and semiskilled

7. According to Marx, ideology __________ and __________ social reality.

a. invents, transforms

b. captures, dispels

c. reflects, distorts

d. duplicates, oppresses

8. What are the social classes created by a capitalist mode of production?

a. exploited and exploiters

b. powerful and powerless

c. wealthy, upper middle class, middle class, working class, and social junk

d. lumpenproletariat, working class, middle class, and capitalist class

9. What is the primary class struggle in capitalist society?

a. between the capitalist class (bourgeoisie) and the worker class (proletariat)

b. between the capitalist class and the state apparatus

c. between the middle class and the working class

d. between the middle class and the chronically unemployed

10. For Marx and Engels, social class is determined by

a. position in the social relations of production.

b. ability to work hard and get ahead.

c. economic position within a mode of production.

d. education level, professional credentials, and family ties.

11. Which of the following is the primary way class relations are maintained according to a Marxist analysis?

a. coercion

b. willful acceptance of one’s position

c. tax advantages for the middle and upper classes

d. all of the above

12. Marx wrote, “It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary,

a. the consciousness of women that determines their being.”

b. their women that determine their consciousness.”

c. their social being that determines their class position.”

d. their social being that determines their consciousness.”

13. Ideology is a process

a. that illuminates reality.

b. that alternates between true and false consciousness.

c. that masks the nature and source of exploitation.

d. that gradually reveals contradictions in the mode of production.

14. What is the “state” as defined by Marx and Engels?

a. Organs of political authority and the bureaucracies that contain dissent.

b. Organs of political authority and the ideological processes that legitimate authority.

c. Organs of political authority that monopolize the economy and military.

d. Organs of political authority that underpin their power through force.

15. __________ is crucial for maintaining state control and unequal class relations.

a. Crime

b. Legislative process

c. Lobbying

d. Law

16. What did Marx and Engels argue regarding concepts such as “equality” and “fair play”?

a. They create the false impression that law is a neutral arbiter of social conflict.

b. They are critical components of revolutionary consciousness.

c. They will be the inevitable result of successful worker rebellion.

d. They apply to all citizens in a capitalist democracy.

17. Marx and Engels believed that crime and criminalization were

a. signs of demoralization.

b. acts of primitive rebellions.

c. violation of rights.

d. all of the above.

18. By passing laws against some behaviors but not others, the state can have

a. a guarantee that some rights will be protected and secured from harm.

b. greater levels of coercive control over specific populations.

c. more efficient production practices.

d. control over all classes.

19. Which of the following is true regarding a Marxist view of the state?

a. Worker control of law is central to successful rebellion.

b. Although it is depicted as neutral, the law actually reflects the interests of the proletarians.

c. Law reflects bourgeois ideology.

d. Law can be a neutral arbiter when workers and owners clash.

20. What is the source of crime according to Marx and Engels?

a. Repressive and exploitative acts of the state against the people.

b. Demoralization resulting from the misery and gruesome conditions of the working class.

c. Ideological distortions of proletarian goals and values.

d. The suppression of religion.

21. According to conflict theory social change occurs

a. whenever there is a dispute between groups of people.

b. most reliably through legal and legislative change.

c. in disruptive ways when interests are challenged.

d. slowly in evolutionary fashion.

22. According to Sellin, primary culture conflict occurs when

a. there is a clash between the norms of internal subcultures.

b. the process of solidifying inequality in the different cultures occurs.

c. the process of differentiation and inequality in the parent culture emerges.

d. there is a clash between the norms of different cultures.

23. According to conflict theorist George Vold, crime is behavior committed by

a. minority groups whose regular actions and goals have not been secured by the legislative process.

b. the powerful as a means of controlling and oppressing the poor.

c. the middle class as a means of maintaining their status.

d. the poor who have no resources of their own.

24. To understand crime from a conflict theory approach, we must analyze

a. how societies remain relatively stable over time.

b. the nature of social solidarity.

c. criminal law.

d. the ideology of the middle class.

25. The Carrier’s Case illustrates that

a. the judiciary is impartial and strict when interpreting the law.

b. judges always rely on precedents in making rulings.

c. judges can interpret law in ways that serve the interests of the powerful.

d. the judiciary can be bribed like any other government agent.

26. According to Hagan’s power-control theory of crime, girls in __________ are more engaged in delinquency because they are encouraged to take risks.

a. patriarchal families

b. egalitarian families

c. juvenile detention centers

d. public schools

27. Populations become problematic when they question or challenge __________ modes of appropriating the product of human labor.

a. communist

b. socialist

c. capitalist

d. none of the above

28. According to Spitzer, problem populations are created indirectly through

a. mental illness and physical handicaps.

b. fundamental contradictions in the capitalist economy.

c. the criminalization process.

d. contradictions in social control institutions.

29. Within the surplus population, Spitzer distinguishes between social __________ and social __________.

a. parasites, dynamite

b. junk, parasites

c. junk, dynamite

d. dynamite, slugs

30. Which of the following is not a “crime of accommodation”?

a. predatory crimes

b. personal crimes

c. crimes of control

d. crimes of resistance

31. Burglary, robbery, and drug dealing are examples of

a. predatory crimes.

b. personal crimes.

c. crimes of control.

d. crimes of resistance.

32. What does Chambliss’ “structural contradictions” theory identify as a cause of crime?

a. Attempts by the state to deal with fundamental contradictions.

b. Labor union greed.

c. The reserve army of labor.

d. Attempts by workers to overthrow capitalist production.

33. What is the “wages, profits, and consumption” contradiction?

a. Capitalism maintains a potentially dangerous surplus labor force.

b. The dilemma posed by conflicts between labor, capital, and the state.

c. As wages increase profits are threatened.

d. The drain that job-related health and other benefits create on capital.

34. When did radical criminology emerge?

a. late 1800s

b. 1960s

c. 1980s

d. 1990s

35. What does conflict theory combine?

a. Historical materialism and learning theories

b. Marxian theory and the labeling perspective

c. Marxian theory and the Chicago School

d. Left realism and historical materialism

36. Which of the following is a true statement about the left realist view of crime?

a. Crime is the revolt of the workers against the capitalists and the state.

b. Crime is a result of state repression.

c. Crime results from relative deprivation and reactionary, selfish, and individualistic attitudes.

d. Crime is the inevitable result of the pent-up frustrations of capitalists.

37. A left realist crime-control program would include

a. expanding and privatizing prisons.

b. the expansion of capital punishment mandatory minimum sentencing.

c. “three-strikes” and other get-tough-on-crime approaches.

d. deincarceration, demarginalization, and victim-restitution programs.

38. For left realists, a police __________ ought to become a police __________.

a. force, service

b. service, force

c. man, woman

d. woman, man

39. According to left realists crime has a

a. unifying effect on the poor.

b. unifying effect on capitalists and the middle class.

c. disorganizing and fragmenting effect on urban life.

d. radicalizing effect on the poor.

40. How have theorists attempted to “integrate” conflict theory?

a. by inviting other theorists to critique their work

b. by formal synthesis of the various concepts used by conflict theorists

c. by bringing in concepts from other criminological theories

d. both b and c

41. According to critics, radical criminology could be improved by

a. paying attention to how class interacts with gender, race, and age.

b. paying greater attention to the effects of class.

c. denying its links to Marxism.

d. recognizing its anticapitalist biases.

42. What is the relationship between crime and power according to Hagan’s Structural Criminology?

a. Horizontal relations of power are more important than vertical relations in generating crime.

b. Vertical relations of power are more important than horizontal relations in generating crime.

c. Horizontal and vertical relations of power are equally important as causes of crime.

d. There is an inverse relationship between horizontal and vertical power.

43. What did Stephen Spitzer argue regarding surplus populations?

a. Because they challenge rulers directly, surplus populations threaten the existence of capitalism.

b. Surplus populations are an important source of law enforcement officers.

c. Surplus populations provide a mass labor pool that is necessary for capitalism.

d. Surplus populations are critical of mass consumption and accumulation and thus undermine profit-making.

True or False Questions

1. _____ Marx and Engels define class as a position in the mode of production.

2. _____ The mode of production includes the means and social relations of production.

3. _____ According to Engels, crime is a form of primitive rebellion that will lead to revolutionary consciousness.

4. _____ The basic class struggle is between the capitalist class and the middle class.

5. _____ Crimes of domination include harms such as sexism and racism that are not defined as crime by legal codes.

6. _____ For Marx, crime was a function of the upper classes in their efforts to control the lower classes.

7. _____ Radical criminologists believe that capitalism should promote equal opportunity and resources for all people, thereby reducing the propensity for crime.

8. _____ According to Spitzer, surplus populations are a direct result of the capitalist order need for low-wage labor.

9. _____ Crimes of domination are committed by police and government.

10. _____ Crimes of domination are committed in response to oppressive conditions produced by capitalism.

11. _____ Although conflict analyses of law are theoretically sound, they are not supported by empirical research.

12. _____ Although Congress is subject to influence by powerful groups, appellate courts serve the interests of rich and poor alike.

13. _____ Historical materialists describe capitalism as a means of production.

14. _____ One of the problems with conflict theory is that it only attempts to explain crimes committed by the powerful members of society.

15. _____ According to radical criminologists, crime is a result of fundamental social contradictions generated by capitalism.

Essay Questions

1. Like Durkheim, Marx and Engels believed that crime is inevitable. However, the logical foundation of this inevitability was quite different. Summarize those differences, and evaluate their merits. Which makes more sense to you? Why?

Required content:

1. Durkheim: crime is inevitable because it is functional to society.
2. Durkheim: crime is normal because it is not possible to have a society without crime or deviance (norms always emerge; thus norms will be violated).
3. Marx and Engels: the overall structure of inequality in society generates crime.
4. Marx and Engels: the dominant group has the ability to control the state apparatus and define the acts of the less powerful as crime.

Additional content:

1. Durkheim: crime (and deviance) help clarify a society’s norms.
2. Durkheim: crime (and deviance) delineate a society’s boundaries and enhance social solidarity (who is in, who is out; “us” versus “them”).
3. Durkheim: crime (and deviance) provides a safety-valve function for society.
4. Durkheim: a small amount of crime (and deviance) allow a society to evolve (crime can be the “leading edge” of social change).
5. Marx and Engels: crime can be a form of rebellion (albeit a primitive one).
6. Marx and Engels: crime and law are closely tied to the ideological processes that perpetuate inequality.

2. Compare and contrast conflict and consensus theories, paying particular attention to their divergent understandings of how society is organized, the nature of power and authority, and the role of law.

Required content:

1. Conflict: society is comprised of multiple, competing groups held together by dynamic tension (i.e., conflict is a paradoxical feature of social order).
2. Consensus: society is held together by the acceptance of shared values (e.g., right and wrong, virtue).
3. Conflict: power and authority are self-perpetuating domains.
4. Consensus: power and authority accrue to those who earn and deserve them (i.e., society is a meritocracy).
5. Conflict: law tends to reflect the interests of the powerful (i.e., law is political rather than neutral).
6. Consensus: law reflects widespread normative consensus and thus protects all members of society.

Additional content:

1. Consensus theories note that social change is a slow, gradual, generally nondisruptive process.
2. Conflict theories see social change as occurring in disruptive ways.
3. Consensus theory is traced to Durkheim.
4. Conflict theory is traced to Marx and Engels.

3. In Class, State, and Crime, Quinney conceptualized three major types of crime. Illustrate your understanding of Quinney’s work by identifying these types and explaining how they relate to capitalism.

Required content:

1. Crimes of domination: these are crimes committed by more powerful groups against less powerful groups.
2. Crimes of accommodation: these are crimes committed by the lower and working classes as a way of coping with or adapting to their domination (i.e., they are crimes committed in response to domination).
3. Crimes of resistance: these are crimes committed by the working class that are directed against the workplace.

Additional content:

1. Crimes of domination include crimes of control (e.g., crimes committed by law enforcement, illegal surveillance, and civil rights violations), crimes of government (e.g., domestic political crime, CIA assassinations), crimes of economic domination (e.g., corporate crimes such as price-fixing and pollution), and social injuries (harmful acts not defined as crime by legal codes).
2. Crimes of accommodation include predatory crimes (e.g., burglary, robbery, drug dealing) and personal crimes (e.g., rape, murder, assault).
3. Sabotage of production and destruction of workplace machinery are examples of crimes of resistance.

4. Although there are differences between conflict and radical criminology, both approaches highlight the importance of law. Identify and briefly explain three reasons why conflict and radical criminologists focus on law.

Required content (any three of the following):

1. Law is a central aspect of the state apparatus.
2. The state has a class character.
3. Law tends to reflect the interests of more powerful groups.
4. Ideas such as the “rule of law” and “equality before the law” work as ideologies to perpetuate inequality.
5. Law is a prize that groups struggle to control.
6. The criminalization process is not neutral.
7. Law “on the books” is not the same as law “in the streets.”
8. Appellate courts are biased toward more powerful groups (e.g., the issues they hear, the amount of money needed to pose an appeal).

5. Although left realism is often seen as an extension of conflict theory, left realism is also deeply critical of some aspects of the conflict approach. Identify and briefly explain the major points of the left realist critique of conflict theory.

Required content:

1. Crime is not necessarily revolutionary and should not be idealized.
2. Crime has serious disorganizing effects on working-class communities and contributes to the fragmentation of urban life.
3. Conventional crime is not only driven by relative deprivation. Conventional crime is reactionary, selfish, and individualistic.

Additional content:

1. Criminologists should look at the circumstances of offenders and victims (e.g., restitution, victim impact statements).
2. Demarginalization of offenders would help combat the disorganizing effects of crime (e.g., restorative justice).
3. Preemptive deterrence would address the economic engines of criminal activity before crime occurs.
4. Crime control both helps and harms working-class communities. The police “force” should be transformed into a police “service.”
5. Left realist crime policy includes raising the minimum wage; government-sponsored day care; housing assistance; job creation and training programs; universal health care; introducing entrepreneurial education into high school; and fostering links between schools, private businesses, and government agencies.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

And Justice for All (1979): Drama. The water fountain scene at the end of the film provides a brilliant and moving exegesis on the promise of law in a society marked by inequality.

Bernstein, Elizabeth. 2007. Temporarily Yours: Intimacy, Authenticity, and the Commerce of Sex. Chicago: University of Chicago. Bernstein’s analysis links the shifting relations of sex work to the dynamics of capitalism at the local and global levels. Her work also illustrates aspects of Quinney’s crime typology, for example, the ideological nature of law, the class character of the state, and the criminalization of adaptive actions of poor and working-class women to inequality.

City of God (2003): Drama. The documentary News from a Personal War (included with the U.S. DVD release) provides excellent illustrations of police corruption.

Liazos, Alexander. 1972. The Poverty of the Sociology of Deviance: Nuts, Sluts, and Perverts. Social Problems 20 (1): 103–120. Liazos’ article is the premiere critique of the (unconscious?) biases of criminologists and theorists of deviance. The article is written in such a way that it provides an accessible example of conceptualizations that students often struggle with, such as processes of ideology and complicity with the relations of ruling. Looking ahead to the critical theories, Liazos’ work provides a nice base for understanding “managerial criminology.”

Weather Underground (2004): Documentary film. WU nicely illustrates Quinney’s typology: crimes of domination (especially crimes of control) and crimes of accommodation (especially crimes of resistance). It also helps students see that class inequality intertwines with structures of race.