Conflict criminology
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Criminology and penology |
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Largely based on the writings of Karl Marx, conflict criminology holds that crime in capitalist societies cannot be adequately understood without a recognition that such societies are dominated by a wealthy elite whose continuing dominance requires the economic exploitation of others, and that the ideas, institutions and practices of such societies are designed and managed in order to ensure that such groups remain marginalised, oppressed and vulnerable. Members of marginalised and oppressed groups may sometimes turn to crime in order to gain the material wealth that apparently brings equality in capitalist societies, or simply in order to survive. Conflict criminology derives its name from the fact that theorists within the area believe that there is no consensual social contract between state and citizen.
Discussion
Conflict theory assumes that every society is subjected to a process of continuous change and that this process creates
There are various strands of conflict theory, with many heavily critiquing the others. Structural Marxist criminology, which is essentially the most 'pure' version of the above, has been frequently accused of idealism, and many critics point to the fact that the Soviet Union and such states had as high crime rates as the capitalist West. Furthermore, some highly capitalist states such as Switzerland have very low crime rates, thus making structural theory seem improbable.
Instrumental Marxism partly holds to the above, but claims that capitalism in itself cannot be blamed for all crimes. A seminal book on the subject, The New Criminology, by Taylor, Walton, and Young, was considered groundbreaking and ahead of its time at the point of its publication in 1973. However, 11 years later, co-author Jock Young turned against the work, claiming it too was overly idealistic, and began to form yet another line of criminological thought, now commonly known as Left realism.
Theorists
Thorsten Sellin
George Vold
Vold introduced the theory in 1958,
Austin Turk
Turk
References
- Chambliss, W. & Seidman, R. (1971). Law, Order, and Power. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
- Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1959). Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Sellin, Thorsten. (1937). Crime in the Depression.
- Sellin, Thorsten. (1938) Culture Conflict and Crime. New Jersey: Social Science Research Council.
- Taylor, Ian R., Walton, Paul & Young, Jock. (1973) The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance (International Library of Sociology), Routledge. ISBN 0-415-03447-7
- Turk, Austin. (1969). Criminality and Legal Order. Chicago: Rand McNally.
- Vold, George. (1958). Theoretical Criminology. New Jersey: University of Delaware Press.