SOCY 275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Conflict Theories, Labour Power, Proletariat
15 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
WEEK 11
Vold – Group Conflict theory
- Argues that we tend to organize into groups to further our own interests
- New groups are constantly being formed
- If someone wants to further their interests by making a law, they go to the legislative
institutions (Parliament)
- Try to convince the legislative body to put our interests into the law – things to protect
our rights
- This criminalizes other groups – people who lost the vote get criminalized
- The police enforce this law against the losing group because they are engaging in
behaviours the other group doesn’t like
- It is a theory of law making, law breaking, and law enforcement
Quinney – Social Reality of Crime
- Share similar arguments that Vold makes
- Definition of crime
o Crime is a definition of human conduct that is created by authorized agents in a
politically organized society
- Formulations of criminal definitions
o Criminal definitions describe behaviours that conflict with the interests of the
segments of society that have the power to shape public policy
o Those who have the power to get parliament on their side are the ones that will
have their interests go further
- Application of criminal definitions
o Criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have the power to
shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law
o Control police and enforcement systems
- Development of behaviour patterns in relation to criminal definitions
o Behaviour patterns are structured in segmentally organized society in relation to
criminal definitions, and within this context persons engage in actions that have
relative probabilities of being defined as criminal
o Similar to Vold but in a more formalized presentation
- Construction of criminal conceptions
o Conceptions of crime are constructed and diffused in the segments of society by
various means of communication
o If you formulate a law, you have to convince everyone else that the behaviour is
wrong and people shouldn’t do it– you convince people through the media,
education/school
- The social reality of crime
o Is constructed by the formulation and application of criminal definitions, the
development of behaviour patterns related to criminal definitions, and the
construction of criminal conceptions
Turk – theory of criminalization
- Examines different interest groups
- Have a consensus coercion balance within the groups
- We want consensus in groups
- We don’t want to use extreme coercion to get people to behave
- Acknowledge that people are different, and there are different interest groups and this can
lead to conflict
- Cultural norms
o Conflict happens when conflict between cultural and social norms
▪ Conflict is when the norms are in alignment
▪ Say things are wrong and it is being enforced
o Law as it is written
- Social norms
o Law as it is going to be enforced
- Organization
o How organized the two sides are
o Assuming the people that are making the laws and have the power are organized
o If the people with the power are disorganized there won’t be much conflict
o The more organized the group that is not in power, the more likely there will be
conflict
- Sophistication
o How sophisticated the two sides are
o Having knowledge and expertise in terms of the other groups strategies
o If the group that is not in power is sophisticated then there is less likely to be
conflict
o If you are less sophisticated you are more likely to use coercive action which
means there will likely be conflict
o More sophisticated = less conflict
- Enforcers
o How the laws are enforced and if they are enforced
o Front line vs high level
▪ Front line = police officers
▪ High level = prosecutors, judges
▪ If front line don’t find behaviour offensive – less arrests take place
▪ If high level find it offensive – those who are arrested will be punished
▪ If the front line are arresting people but the high level are not prosecuting
them, then people are less likely to be punished
▪ If front line and high level are in agreement, there will be lots of arrests
and convictions, or very few arrests and convictions
Quinney – Radical Conflict Theory
- Have basic conflict between those who own means of production (bourgeoise) and those
who sell their labour power (proletariat)
- Argue that the main thing is the exploitation of the labour from the workers and the
appropriation of the surplus value (owners of the means of production keep the profit –
argued that the workers should get this money)
- Ideology – the ideas and beliefs that govern peoples lives
o These are communicated through the superstructure – the social structure the
organization created to create these things – e.g. religion, media, TV
o Communicate these ideas, legitimize the economic system, legitimize the
exploitation
o Can back up the ideas with the police and military
- Different types of crimes
o Crimes of domination
▪ Crimes engaged in by the capitalist class – representatives of the state
▪ Felonies, misdemeanors, violations of civil liberties, forms of surveillance,
denial of __ process, use of provocateurs (people used to instigate trouble
so laws can be instituted), assassinations of other country’s leaders, things
undertaken by corporations (pollution, unsafe work conditions), sexism,
racism, appropriation of surplus value
▪ All these are undertaken to further the capitalist system
o Crimes of accommodation
▪ Street crimes
▪ Crimes that people are engaging in to support themselves/to deal with the
inequality
▪ Burglary, robbery, drug dealing
▪ Because of the stresses of the inequality, this can lead to violent offenses
o Crimes of resistance
▪ Unconscious attempts to resist the capitalist order
▪ Things in workplace that are seen as crimes
▪ Stealing from employer
▪ Sabotage equipment
▪ Take extra sick days, take longer lunch breaks
Kingston, Regoili and Hewitt -- The theory of differential oppression
- Perspective at how different macro and micro experiences will lead people to engage in
deviance
- Focuses on children
- Healthy child development requires that the social context provide opportunities to fulfill
physical, intellectual, psychological and social development needs
- Oppression restrains, restricts, prevents people from experiencing the essential attributes
of human life
Document Summary
Argues that we tend to organize into groups to further our own interests. If someone wants to further their interests by making a law, they go to the legislative institutions (parliament) Try to convince the legislative body to put our interests into the law things to protect our rights. This criminalizes other groups people who lost the vote get criminalized. The police enforce this law against the losing group because they are engaging in behaviours the other group doesn"t like. It is a theory of law making, law breaking, and law enforcement. Definition of crime: crime is a definition of human conduct that is created by authorized agents in a politically organized society. Application of criminal definitions: criminal definitions are applied by the segments of society that have the power to shape the enforcement and administration of criminal law, control police and enforcement systems.
