The social reality of crime

1. Formulation of definitions of crime Application of definitions of crime Class Struggle & Class Conflict Construction of the ideology of crime Development of behavior patterns in relation to definitions of crime The social reality of crime

2. Conflict Theory of Crime From Richard Quinney, Criminology (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), pp. 37-41.

3. Crime as a legal definition of human conduct is created by agents of the dominant class in a politically organized society I. The Official Definition of Crime

4. Definitions of crime are composed of behaviors that conflict with the interests of the dominant class II. Formulating Definitions of Crime

5. Definitions of crime are applied by the class that has the power to shape the enforcement and administration of the law III. Applying Definitions of Crime

6. Behavior patterns are structured in relation to definitions of crime, and within this context people engage in actions that have relative probabilities of being defined as criminal. IV. How Behavior Patterns Develop in Relation to Definitions of Crime

7. An ideology of crime is constructed and diffused by the dominant class to secure its hegemony (or ideological domination) V. Constructing an Ideology of Crime

8. “Social Junk” vs “Social Dynamite” From Steven Spitzer, The Production of Deviance in Capitalist Society(1975)

9. the capitalist mode of production has two key features: • it forms the foundation or infrastructure of society • it contains internal contradictions • Marxist theory illustrates the relationship between specific contradictions, the problems of capitalist development, and the production of a “deviant class” Deviance within capitalist society

10. superstructure: the ideologies that dominate a particular era, all that "men say, imagine, conceive," including such things as "politics, laws, morality, religion, metaphysics, etc." • emerges from and reflects the ongoing development of economic forces (infrastructure) • in class societies, the superstructure preserves the hegemony of the ruling class through a system of class controls, which are institutionalized in: • family, church, private associations, media, schools & the state • key function of the superstructure is the regulation and management of “problem populations” Infrastructure & Superstructure

11. capitalist modes of appropriation • social conditions of production • patterns of distribution & consumption • capitalist socialization processes • ideology which supports capitalism Problem populations become eligible for management as deviant when they disturb, hinder, or call into question:

12. tend to share social characteristics • most important is the fact that their behavior, personal qualities, and/or position threaten the social relations of production in capitalist societies • are not synonymous w/deviant populations • some members of problem populations are successfully transformed into supporters it capitalist order; the rest are “candidates for deviance processing” (68) problem populations

13. directly, as a product of the contradictions of capitalism • by creating a “relative surplus population,” i.e., people who are unemployed and disposable, whose labor is not required for the system • indirectly, through disturbances in the system of class rule • when institutions, e.g., mass education, fails to promote the values of bourgeois/capitalist society Problem populations are created in 2 ways

14. social junk • social dynamite Official social control creates two kinds of problem populations

15. a group that fails to participate in the roles supportive of capitalist society • they are viewed as costly yet relatively harmless by the dominant class • e.g., the officially administered aged, the handicapped, the mentally ill and mentally disabled • social control is managed by the therapeutic & welfare state, i.e., programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid social junk

16. a group with the potential to call into question established relationships, esp. relations of production and domination • poses a more acute problem that requires rapid and focused expenditures • tends to be more youthful, alienated, and politically more volatile than social junk • Social control is handled by the legal/criminal justice system social dynamite