1. The social reality of crime
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

3. I. The Official Definition of Crime
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. II. Formulating Definitions of Crime
Definitions of crime are composed of behaviors that conflict with the interests of the dominant class
II. Formulating Definitions of Crime

5. III. Applying Definitions of Crime
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. IV. How Behavior Patterns Develop in Relation to Definitions of Crime
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. V. Constructing an Ideology of Crime
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. Deviance within capitalist society
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”

10. Infrastructure & Superstructure
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”

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

12. problem populations 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)

13. Problem populations are created in 2 ways
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

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

15. social junk
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

16. social dynamite
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