Marxist Perspective on Crime & Deviance (WJEC Eduqas GCSE Sociology): Revision Note

The Marxist approach to crime and deviance

• Like functionalism, Marxism is a structural theory, explaining crime through the organisation of capitalist society rather than individual choices

• Capitalism creates a hierarchical class structure where the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat for profit

Capitalism and crime

• Capitalist societies promote materialism, consumerism and competition

• Advertising and the media encourage people to believe happiness comes from buying products, creating consumer desire and relative deprivation

• Those who can’t afford these goods may turn to crime to achieve material success

• Marxists argue humans aren’t naturally greedy — capitalism breeds greed and selfishness

Law enforcement and class bias

• Laws in capitalist societies serve the ruling class, protecting their property and power

• The bourgeoisie can block or shape laws that threaten their profits (e.g. corporate regulations, tax reforms)

• White-collar crimes like tax evasion are often ignored, while working-class crimes like benefit fraud or theft are heavily punished

• Agencies of social control — the police, courts and media — operate in the interests of the rich

  • Street crime is targeted, while corporate crime goes largely unpunished

  • Ethnic minorities and the working class are over-policed and under-protected

  • E.g. Marxists point to the 2011 England riots: 36% of people sentenced at magistrates' courts for riot-related offences were sent to prison, compared with 12% for similar offences in 2010 (Ministry of Justice, 2012), while financial crimes by wealthier people are often treated more leniently

    • E.g. in 2023 former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted fraud after failing to declare about £400 million to HMRC; he received a suspended sentence and paid a settlement of about £650 million

Key thinker: Chambliss

• William Chambliss found that powerful elites in Seattle in the 1970s used bribery and influence to hide their crimes and avoid justice

• The powerful elites included rich businesspeople and politicians whom no one would have suspected of crime

• Bribery and threats would be used to keep those who knew what was going on quiet

• The criminals used their position and wealth to keep their crimes secret and avoid jail

• This demonstrates differential enforcement

  • Laws favour the rich and punish the poor

Criticisms of Marxism

• Not all laws serve the ruling class, as some protect the weak, e.g. health and safety or anti-discrimination laws

• Marxists imply that poverty and inequality automatically cause crime, ignoring individual choice and responsibility

• Some feminists argue that Marxist approaches focus on issues of social class in capitalist society and ignore non-class issues such as gender

• Some capitalist countries (e.g. Japan and Switzerland) have low crime rates, showing that capitalism alone doesn’t determine criminality

• Neo-Marxists later suggested that crime can be a form of resistance against capitalism, but critics say this romanticises criminals and overlooks harm to victims