Critical criminology adopts a neo-Marxist view that capitalism itself causes crime by promoting possessive materialism. Only a socialist society could establish the basis for a crime-free society. It utilizes both Marxism and interactionism to understand crime. Marxism examines wider societal factors like how capitalism may generate criminal motivations, while interactionism considers how specific criminal situations develop through victim-offender relationships and reactions from the criminal justice system. Ordinary criminals express misguided political anger through crime rather than legitimate politics and are viewed as victims of capitalism rather than immoral.

1. Neo- Marxism Critical
Criminology
What is Critical Criminology?
A Marxist view of crime which argues that the
class system and capitalism is itself the cause
of crime, for example because it instils into
people the importance of possessive
materialism i.e. the accumulation of material
wealth and possessions (houses, cars, iPods…)
According to critical criminologists only by the
rejection of capitalism and the establishment of
a socialist society can the basis for a crime-free
society be established.

2. The New Criminology (1973)
Taylor, Walton & Young
• Utilises both Marxism and Interactionism – in
order to understand crime need to take
account of
• Marxism: looks at wider society and how
capitalism might generate the circumstances of
motivations behind the crime
• Interactionism: see how the situation develops
through the relationship between victim,
offender, media, criminal justice system

3. The ordinary criminal in this
perspective
• Ordinary criminals are angry at, and
mistakenly express this anger through
crime rather than politics (in other words
crime is a political act)
• Criminals are not viewed as evil or
immoral rather as the victims of capitalism

4. Applying the fully social theory
of deviance
• TASK: Identify one imaginary criminal act,
such as stealing a mobile phone, car or
scooter, selling drugs, burglary, joy riding,
happy-slapping
• Now show how it could be analysed using
Taylor, Walton and Young’s framework.
• You will need to work through the
stages....

5. ‘Fully social theory of deviance’
1) The wider origins of the deviant act
2) The immediate origins of the deviant act
3) The act itself
4) The immediate origins of the social
reaction
5) The wider origins of the deviant reaction
6) The effects of labelling on the deviants
future actions – why does labelling only
sometimes lead to a deviance
amplification spiral

6. Hall et al’s Mugging Thesis:
Policing the Crisis (1978)
• During the 1970s there was an economic crisis
which led to unrest within society including riots,
strikes etc
• Therefore the govt created a media outrage on
mugging in order to divert attention from
themselves to black afro-Caribbean males
• They served as scapegoats and caused distrust
from many ethnic minorities towards the police.
However the real causes of crime were never
addressed

7. Evaluation of The New
Criminology (1973)
• Hirst (1975) argues that it strays too far from the
Marxist tradition
• Rock (1988) who was directly concerned with
combating crime, argued it gave a far too
romantic a view of criminals
• Feminist criminologist Pat Carlen (1988) pointed
out that there was absolutely no specific
discussion of the power of patriarchy in the
analysis, which continues the omission of
women from criminology