What is Critical Criminology or Neo-Marxism? A-Level Sociology Videos

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Published on 14th August 2017 by

What is Critical Criminology or Neo-Marxism? A-Level Sociology Videos

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This video explores Critical criminology. Critical criminology, or Neo-Marxism, is less deterministic than traditional Marxists. It regards crime as a conscious meaningful choice, very often with a political motive. Critical criminology brings elements of labelling theory and Marxism into a fully social theory of deviance.

The new criminology
In 1973 Taylor, Walton and the Young wrote the New Criminology which produced the most important neo- Marxist contribution to our understanding of crime and deviance.

Taylor et al shares similar elements with traditional Marxists for example:

  • capitalist Society is based on class conflict and exploitation, and the key to understanding crime lie in the extreme social inequalities of power and wealth.
  • The interest of the capitalist class is protected by the state via favourable laws, and by criminalising the working classes.
  • Crime might be entirely removed if capitalism was replaced by a classless society.

If you are interested in more videos on Crime and Deviance see for example:

Why do young working class people commit crime? PART 2
In part one we looked at why young working class people young men in particular commit crime. We looked at the different strain theories that are based on Merton’s original theory. This concluded that all subcultures are committed to money success. In this way, subcultures are seen as a reaction by male working class lads’ inability to obtain this goal. Other sociologists utilise this concept, but do not share such functionalist assumptions.

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