Chapter

Chapte 14

Conformity,
Deviance,
and Crime

Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum
 The Conflict Perspective of
Society
 Critical theorists see society riddled with dissension,
inequality, and conflict.
 Any apparent consensus in society is maintained by overt
and covert coercion.
 Critical criminology: An umbrella term chosen for
variety of theories united only the above assumption that
conflict and power relations between various classes of
people best characterize the nature of society.
 Karl Marx & Revolution
 The core of Marxist is the concept of class struggle.
 In Marx’s time the oppressors were the wealth owners of
the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and the
oppressed were the working class (the proletariat).
 The ruling class always develops ideologies to justify
and legitimize their exploitation.
 Marx called the workers’ acceptance of ideologies that
ran counter to their interests false consciousness.
 Karl Marx &
Revolution
 According to Marx and Engels, criminals came from a third
class in society—the lumpenproletariat—who would play no
decisive role in the expected revolution.
 Crime was the product of an unjust, alienating, and
demoralizing social condition that denied productive labor
to the masses of unemployed.
 Karl Marx & Revolution

 The origin of crime has come to be known as the primitive

rebellion.
 Capitalist societies pass laws that criminalize any action
that jeopardizes private property and tend to overlook many
socially injurious activities viewed as economically
beneficial for the ruling class.
Willem Bonger: The 1st Marxist
Criminologist
 Willem Bonger: Criminality and Economic
Conditions (1969) supported the view
that the roots of crime lay in the
exploitative and alienating conditions of
capitalism.
 The social sentiments that concerned
him were altruism—an active concern for
the well-being of others—and its
opposite, egoism, a concern only for
one’s own selfish interests.
Willem Bonger: The 1st Marxist
Criminologist
 According to Bonger, all individuals in
capitalist societies are infected by
egoism because they are alienated
from authentic social relationships
with their fellow human beings, and
all are thus prone to crime.
 Willem Bonger: The 1st Marxist
Criminologist
The root cause of crime is the capitalist
mode of production.
Poverty was the major cause of crime, but
the effects of poverty can be traced to the
family structure and on parental inability to
properly supervise their children.
 Modern Marxist Criminology

 Neo-Marxist criminology is little more than

maudlin sentimentality for criminals.
 Many neo-Marxist criminologists appear to
view the class struggle is the only source of
all crime and to view real crime as violations
of human rights, such as racism, sexism,
imperialism, and capitalism.
 Modern Marxist Criminology

 Other neo-Marxists are faithful to Marx’s

view and are critical of common street
crime as an activity preventing the
formation of proletarian class
consciousness.
Left Realism—Taking Crime Seriously

 Leftrealist criminologists believe that the path

of least resistance is to work within the system.
 Peoplemake choices for which they must be
held accountable, but there are a variety of
conditions that make some choices more
probable and understandable than others.
Conflict Theory: Max Weber, Power &
Conflict
 Max Weber had an interest in the social
change wrought by the industrial revolution
and in social conflict.
 Weber viewed the various class divisions in
society as normal, inevitable, and acceptable.
 Criminality exists in all societies and is the
result of the political struggle among different
groups attempting to promote or enhance
their life chances.
 From Individual Violators to Group
Struggles
 George Vold moved conflict away from an
exclusive emphasis of value and normative
conflicts to include conflicts of interest.
 Social
life is a continual struggle to maintain
or improve one’s own group’s interest in a
constant clash of antagonistic actions.
From Individual Violators to Group
Struggles
 Vold’s conflict theory concentrates entirely on
the clash of individuals loyally upholding their
differing group interests, and has no interest in
explaining crime unrelated to group conflict.
 Conflict is a way of assuring social change, a
way of generating group solidarity, and a way
of assuring social stability.
 The Social Reality of
Crime
 The ultimate cause of crime is the law.
 Conflict criminologists differ from neo-
Marxist criminology in that it concentrates
on the processes of value conflict and
lawmaking rather than on the social
structural elements underlying them.
 The Social Reality of
Crime
 Conflict theorists make no value judgment about
whether crime is socially harmful, the actions of
revolutionaries, or violations of human rights.
 Conflict theorists tend to share neo-Marxism’s
fondness for research illustrating some principle of
their perspectives rather than formulating
hypotheses from it and putting them to the test.
 Table 6.1
Comparing Marxist and Conflict Theory on Major Concepts
Concept Marxist
Conflict
The powerful oppressing the
Origin of powerless (e.g., the
conflict bourgeoisie oppressing the
proletariat under
capitalism).
Nature of It is socially bad and must
conflict and will be eliminated in a
socialist system.
Major The owners of the means of
participants production and the workers
in conflict are engaged in the only
conflict that matters.
Social class Only two classes defined by
their relationship to the
means of production, the
bourgeoisie and proletariat.
The aristocracy and the
lumpenproletariat are
It is generated by many
factors regardless of the
political and economic
system.
It is socially useful and
necessary and cannot be
eliminated.
Conflict takes place
everywhere between all
sorts of interest groups.
There are number of
different classes in
society defined by their
relative wealth, status,
and power.
 Table 6.1
Comparing Marxist and Conflict Theory on Major Concepts
Concept Marxist
Conflict
Concept of the law It is the tool of the ruling class that
criminalizes the activities of the workers
harmful to its interests and ignores its
own socially harmful behavior.
Concept of crime Some view crime as the revolutionary
actions of the downtrodden, others view
it as the socially harmful acts of “class
traitors,” and others see it as violations
of human rights.
Cause of crime The dehumanizing conditions of
capitalism. Capitalism generates egoism
and alienates people from themselves and
from others.
Cure for crime With the overthrow of the capitalist
mode of production, the natural goodness
of humanity will emerge, and there will
be no more criminal behavior.
The law favors the powerful, but not
any one particular group. The greater
the wealth, power, and prestige a group
has, the more likely the law will favor
it.
Conflict theorists refuse to pass moral
judgment because they view criminal
conduct as morally neutral with no
intrinsic properties that distinguish it
from conforming behavior. Crime
doesn’t exist until a powerful interest
group is able to criminalize the
activities of another less powerful
group.
The distribution of political power that
leads to some interest groups being
able to criminalize the acts of other
interest groups.
As long as people have different
interests and as long as some groups
have more power than others, crime
will exist. Since interest and power
differentials are part of the human
 Postmodernist Theory

 Postmodernist criminology is firmly in the

critical/radical tradition in that it views the law
as an oppressive instrument of the rich and
powerful, but it rejects the modernist view of
the world.
 All knowledge is socially constructed and has
no independent reality apart from the minds
of those who create it.
 Postmodernist Theory

 All worldviews are

mediated by language.
 The dominant language of
society is the language of
the rich and powerful, and
by virtue of owning the
dominant language their
point of view is privileged.
 Peacemaking Criminology
 Peacemaking criminology has the philosophy
of “peace on crime.”
 Punishing criminals escalates violence.
 In place of imprisoning offenders,
peacemaking criminologists advocate
restorative justice, which is basically a
system of mediation and conflict resolution.
 Feminist Criminology

 Feminism is a set of theories & strategies for

social change that take gender as their central
focus in attempting to understand social
institutions, processes, and relationships.
 Mainstream feminism holds the view that
women suffer oppression & discrimination in a
society run for men by men who have passed
laws and created customs to perpetuate their
privileged position.
 Gender & power rather than class & power.
 Feminist Criminology
 Female crime has been virtually ignored by
mainstream criminology.
 Generalizability problem: Do traditional male-
centered theories of crime apply to women?
 Gender ratio problem: What explains the
universal fact that women are far less likely than
men to involve themselves in criminal activity?
 The Generalizability Problem

 Anomie theory: This theory cannot be applied to

women because women are socialized to be
successful in relationships, to get married, and
to raise families, not for financial success.
 Subculture theories: This theory cannot explain
why women who have achieved their
relationship goals commit crimes.
 Differential association: This theory is better for
explaining why females commit less crime than
men.
 The Generalizability Problem

 Labeling: The labeling perspective is not an

explanation as to why people engage in
deviance in the first place, and it lacks an
analysis of the structures of power and
oppression impinging on women
 Marxism: This theory neglects gender issues,
plus, working-class women experience the
same capitalist exploitation as men, but they
still commit far less crime
 The Gender Ratio Problem
-Mainstream feminists have asserted that if
females were socialized in the same way as males
& had similar roles and experiences, their rates of
criminal offending would be roughly the same.
-This assertion is denied by the biological sciences,
as well as by radical feminists, who view gender
difference in behavior as a function of
“differentially wired brains.”
 Masculinization & Emancipation
Hypothesis:
Adler & Simon
 Freda Adler attributed the rise in female crime
rates in the 1960s and 1970s to an increasing
number of females adopting “male” roles, and by
doing so increasingly masculinizing their attitudes
and behavior (The Masculinization
Hypothesis).
 Rita Simon claimed that increased participation in
the workforce affords women greater
opportunities to commit crime
(The Emancipation Hypothesis).
Masculinization & Emancipation
Hypothesis:
Adler & Simon
More recently, it has been proposed that
the gender ratio exists
1. because gender differs in exposure to
delinquent peers & that males are more
influenced by delinquent peers than
females
2. because of female greater inhibitory
morality.
 Evaluation of Critical
Theories
 It is often said that Marxist theory has very little
that is unique to add to criminology theory.
 Much of Marxist criminology appears to be in a
time warp in that it assumes that the conditions
prevailing in Marx’s time still exist in the same
form today in advanced capitalist societies.
 Conflict theory does not attempt to explain
crime; it simply identifies social conflict as a
basic fact of life and a source of discriminatory
treatment.
 Evaluation of Critical
Theories
 Postmodernism offers no viable alternative
except to advance the notion that crime can
be abated by changing the way people think
and talk about it.
 Peacemaking criminologists never offer any
notion as to how crime rates can be reduced
beyond counseling that we appreciate
criminals’ point of view and not be so punitive.
 Evaluation of Critical
Theories
 According to feminist theory, maleness is
without doubt the best single predictor of
criminal behavior.
 This leaves feminist theorists without much left
to explain in specific female terms about female
offending.
Policy Prevention: Implications of Critical
Theories
 The policy implications of Marxism are to
overthrow the capitalist system and crime
will be reduced.
 Policy recommendations by left realists
include community activities, neighborhood
watches, community policing, dispute
resolution centers, and target hardening.
Policy Prevention: Implications of
Critical Theories
 Conflict theorists favor programs such as
minimum wage laws, sharply progressive
taxation, a government controlled
comprehensive health care system, maternal
leave, and national policy of family support as
a way of reducing crime.
 Feminists argue to reform our patriarchal
society as well as push the plight of victims
into the light of day.
Review Questions

 1. Which of the following people can be

considered deviant?

a) someone who doesn’t put money in the parking meter

b) a person who chooses to live in an isolated area with no
water, electricity, or other modern conveniences
c) a mentally ill person who has frequent outbursts and
makes inappropriate comments in public
d) All of the above
e) None of the above
  
Review Questions

 2. What is the irony of the relationship

between deviance and a well-ordered
society?

a) Most deviant behavior is learned through socially

acceptable institutions such as schools, the family, and
the media.
b) The more a society punishes deviance, the more the
unaccepted behavior is repeated.
c) Deviance helps hold societies together by uniting people
in opposition to behavior that is deemed unacceptable.
d) Definitions of deviance change over time thus frustrating
society’s efforts to enact formal sanctions.
  
Review Questions

 3. Anomie can be defined as ________.

a) a sense of disorientation or anxiousness that develops

when there are no clear standards to guide behavior in a
given area of social life
b) a mild form of depression brought on when a person
loses his sense of self
c) a sort of paralysis that overcomes a whole community
when levels of deviance have been steadily increasing
d) a sense of aimlessness or despair that develops when an
individual is not well integrated into a community
  
Review Questions
 4. A child struggles to learn how to read and is
 frequently teased about it by his siblings and is
 referred to as “slow” by his parents and teachers.
 He underperforms in school and never thinks
 about going to college. Ultimately he drops out
 before graduating from high school, telling the
 school counselor that he’s just not a smart guy
 who can learn from books. This is an example of
 which theory of deviance?
 labeling theory
 strain theory
 reflection theory
 role theory
  
Review Questions

 5. According to some interactionist and

conflict theorists, the way deviance is
defined reveals a great deal about
__________.

a) how social norms evolve over time

b) the strength of a society’s social capital
c) how much a society values conformity
d) power structures in society
  
Review Questions

 6. What is paradoxical about the relationship

between criminal behavior and prisons?

a) For some criminals, incarceration provides a way to make

new contacts in the criminal world that will be useful when
they are released.
b) The threat of a long prison sentence does not seem to act
as a deterrent for most criminals.
c) Contrary to their stated purpose, prisons may actually
reinforce deviant behavior rather than rehabilitating
criminals and turning them away from a life of crime.
d) The longer a person is in prison, the more difficult it is to
reintegrate him or her into society upon release.
  
Review Questions

 7. In recent years there has been a

significant shift in police work from
_________ to _________.

a) focusing on violent crimes; community policing

b) relying more and more on technology; increasing
the number of officers on the streets
c) preventing crime; building community resources
d) controlling crime; detecting and managing risk
