Words

Explain the theories (one to two paragraphs for each theory). In your explanation, include how these would either raise or lower the crime rate and your rationale as to why.

Explain how peer groups, families, and social organizations positively or negatively affect your theory.

Explain your thoughts on the theories as far as their applicability to explain crime. Do you think these are relevant? Why, or why not? Is there anything missing that would make them explain crime better?

Criminology

CHAPTER

Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger

THIRD EDITION

Social Conflict—It’s How
We Relate

Chapter Objectives

•

Explain social conflict theories,
including radical theories.

• Describe the history of conflict theory in
contemporary criminology.

• Review how radical-critical and Marxist
criminology reflect the principles
inherent in the social conflict
perspective.

continued on next slide

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Chapter Objectives

•

Explain how social problems might be
solved from the perspective of

peacemaking criminology.

•

Discuss the relationship between
feminist criminology and feminist

thought generally.

•

Describe convict criminology and
explain how it differs from the other
theories discussed in this chapter.

continued on next slide

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Chapter Objectives

•

Show what all postmodern
criminologies have in common.

•

Explain the implications of conflict
theory for crime-control policy.

Learning Objective 8.1

Explain social conflict theories,
including radical theories.

Social Conflict Theories

• The social conflict perspective says that
conflict is a fundamental aspect of
social life that can never be fully
resolved.

• From the conflict point of view, laws are
a tool of the powerful, useful in keeping
the unempowered powerless.

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Social Conflict Theories

• Social class

 Distinctions made between individuals
on the basis of important defining social
characteristics

• Ascribed characteristics

• Those with which a person is born

• Achieved characteristics

• Those which are acquired

Learning Objective 8.2

Describe the history of conflict theory
in contemporary criminology.

History of Conflict Theory

• Karl Marx

 One of the best-known early writers on
social conflict

 According to Marx, two fundamental
social classes exist within society

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
History of Conflict Theory

• Social Class

 Bourgeoisie

• Owners of the means of production

 Proletariat

• The working class

• Possessing neither capital nor means of
production, must earn living by selling
labor

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Frank Schmalleger
History of Conflict Theory

• George B. Vold

 Describes crime as the product of
political conflict between groups

 His writings led to the development of
the conflict theory.

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Frank Schmalleger
History of Conflict Theory

• Conflict Theory

 A perspective that applies the principles
and concepts developed by Karl Marx to
the study of crime, and holds that the
causes of crime are rooted in social
conditions that empower the wealthy
and the politically well-organized but
disenfranchise those who are less
fortunate

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
History of Conflict Theory

• Ralf Dahrendorf

 Conflict is ubiquitous, a fundamental
part of and coextensive with any
society.

 It is power and authority that are most
at issues between groups and over
which class conflicts arise.

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Frank Schmalleger
History of Conflict Theory

• Austin Turk

 Saw the law as a powerful tool in the
service of prominent social groups
seeking continued control over others

 Crime is the natural consequence of
such intergroup struggle.

Learning Objective 8.3

Review how radical-critical and
Marxist criminology reflect the

principles inherent in the social conflict
perspective.

Radical-Critical and Marxist
Criminology

• Marxist Criminology

 A perspective on crime and causation

continued on next slide

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Radical-Critical and Marxist
Criminology

• Marxist Criminology

 Consequence of three important
historical circumstances

• Thoughts of thinkers including Marx,
Engels, and Hegel

• The rise of the conflict perspective in the
social sciences

• The dramatic radicalization of American
academia in the 1960s and 1970s

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Radical-Critical and Marxist
Criminology

• Radical-Critical Criminology

 A conflict perspective that sees crime as
engendered by the unequal distribution
of wealth, power, and other resources
that its adherents believe is especially
characteristic of capitalist societies

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Radical-Critical and Marxist
Criminology

• Critique of radical-critical and Marxist
criminology

 Nearly exclusive emphasis on
mechanisms of social change at the
expense of developed testable theory

 Failure to recognize what appears to be
a fair degree of public consensus about
the nature of crime

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Criminology, 3e
Frank Schmalleger
Radical-Critical and Marxist
Criminology
• Critique of radical-critical and Marxist
criminology

 Criticized for sacrificing their objectivity

 Unable to explain low crime rates in
some capitalist countries

 Unwilling to acknowledge or address the
problems of communist countries

Learning Objective 8.4

Explain how social problems might be
solved from the perspective of
peacemaking criminology.

Peacemaking Criminology

• Social control agencies and the citizens
they serve should work together to
alleviate social problems and human
suffering and thus reduce crime.

FIGURE 8-2 The Differences between Peacemaking and Traditional Punishment.

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Frank Schmalleger
Peacemaking Criminology

• Critique of Peacemaking Criminology

 Has been criticized as being naïve and
utopian

 Has been criticized for failing to
recognize the realities of crime control
and law enforcement

Learning Objective 8.5

Discuss the relationship between
feminist criminology and feminist
thought generally.

Feminist Criminology

• A corrective model of social analysis
intended to redirect the thinking of
mainstream criminologists to include
gender awareness