Marxist theory of crime

Marxist CriminologyThe scientific study of crime, criminal behavior, prevention, and societal reactions to deviance within and beyond the criminal justice system. represents a critical approach that views crime and criminal justice as products of social inequality and class conflict. Building on Marxist social theory, these perspectives argue that law and punishment serve the interests of the dominant class by maintaining existing power structures and controlling marginalized groups. Rather than seeing crime as the result of individual pathology, Marxist theories emphasize the economic and political contexts that produce both deviance and its definition as crime.

Key Points

Theory

Marxist theories of crime do not always trace directly to Karl Marx himself but develop from broader neo-Marxist traditions. These theories critique capitalist societies for producing and maintaining inequalities that fuel both crime and punitive responses to it.

From a Marxist perspective, laws are not neutral instruments of justice but expressions of class interests. A classless society would, in this view, eliminate the need for laws that serve as instruments of control and oppression.

Marxist criminology highlights four central themes:

1. Ideological Control: Dominant values and norms are shaped through socialization to legitimize capitalist relations and maintain consent among the working class.
2. Creation of Laws: Laws reflect the interests of the ruling class, criminalizing behaviors that threaten existing property relations or class hierarchies.
3. Selective Enforcement: The criminal justice system disproportionately targets marginalized groups while protecting elite interests.
4. Criminogenic CapitalismAn economic system based on private ownership, profit, and market competition.: The economic structure itself fosters crime by producing poverty, inequality, and alienation.

These four themes form the foundation of Marxist criminology’s critique of capitalist societies, linking economic structures directly to the definition, creation, and enforcement of criminal laws. Building on these core ideas, influential theorists such as William Chambliss and Richard Quinney developed more detailed analyses of how power relations and class conflict shape crime and criminalization. Their work illustrates how Marxist theory can be applied to understand both the political economy of lawmaking and the lived realities of crime in class-divided societies.

William Chambliss emphasized the political economy of criminalization. In his 1976 work, he argued that criminal law is inherently part of power struggles and bureaucratic control. Social conflict arises inevitably from class divisions. Rules and laws, in Chambliss’s view, exist primarily to enable the dominant classes to maintain control and protect their interests. Criminals are thus often those marginalized by the powerful, labeled as dangerous precisely because they threaten the established order.

Richard Quinney further developed these ideas in the 1970s. In works such as Class, State, and Crime (1980), he offered a distinctly Marxist conflict theory of crime. Quinney argued that deviance represents a form of conscious or unconscious resistance to oppression. He distinguished between crimes of domination (e.g., corporate crime, state crime) and crimes of accommodation or resistance (e.g., theft by the poor, rioting). For Quinney, crime is both shaped by capitalist inequalities and an expression of class struggle. His instrumentalist view portrays the state and its laws as tools wielded by the capitalist class to suppress opposition and maintain control.

Critical Appraisal & Relevance

Marxist criminology has had a profound impact on critical criminology, shifting focus away from individual pathology to systemic inequality. It emphasizes how definitions of crime, law enforcement priorities, and punishment practices maintain social hierarchies and reproduce inequality.

However, Marxist approaches have also been criticized:

• They can underplay individual agency, viewing crime too deterministically as a response to class oppression.
• Critics argue that they risk romanticizing criminals as political rebels, ignoring harm to victims.
• Marxist theories sometimes focus more on the construction of norms than on the lived realities and motivations of offenders.
• Some suggest they lack nuance in accounting for crimes that occur outside clear class conflict (e.g., interpersonal violence, sexual offenses).

Nonetheless, these approaches remain influential for their insistence that crime and punishment are deeply political, reflecting struggles over power and social control.

Implications for Criminal Policy

Marxist theories advocate structural change rather than individual correction. They call for policies that reduce social inequality and transform economic relations to address the root causes of crime. They also critique „law and order“ approaches that disproportionately punish the poor while ignoring crimes of the powerful.

By highlighting the ideological function of criminal justice, Marxist criminology supports efforts to democratize law-making, increase accountability of policing and courts, and expose and challenge state and corporate crime.

Literature

Primary Literature

• William Chambliss, Milton Mankoff (eds.) (1976): Whose Law? What Order? A Conflict Approach to Criminology. New York: Wiley.
• Richard Quinney (1974): Critique of Legal Order: Crime Control in Capitalist Society. Boston: Little, Brown and Co.
• Richard Quinney (1980): Class, State, and Crime. New York: Longman.

Secondary Literature

• David F. Greenberg (ed.) (1993): Crime and Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Further Information

Video

YouTube: Introduction to Marxist Criminology