welcome to this tutorial sociology topic video on marxist theories of crime and deviance focusing on the concept of criminogenic capitalism one explanation for crime that is put forward by marxists is that capitalism is responsible for most of the crime that is experienced in society now that might not be surprising given the marxist position on all things capitalist but villembonga first suggested the notion of criminogenic capitalism in the early 20th century he suggested that the design of capital assistance will inevitably lead to criminal behavior capitalism promotes goods and services or false needs as marxists would suggest for people to consume however the problem is that capitalism in its search for profits also denies many people the opportunities to afford these goods so how does capitalism create crime it does this in two ways firstly capitalism advertises products that many people do not need but desire people are sold a lifestyle based upon their consumption of a certain good and this entices them into wanting that good but marxists would suggest that this is a false second factor is that capitalists look to exploit the maximum amount of work out of their employees for the lowest possible wage this is done partly through keeping unemployment high and having a reserve army of labor and partly through stagnating wages the more costs are controlled the more profit for capitalists this results in people having a desire for a good but no legitimate means of obtaining it in a similar way to merton's explanation of strain this leads to people turning to criminal means in order to obtain the good that they desire hence capitalism causing crime william chambliss was one of many marxists in the 1970s that re-examined bonga's work and agreed that capitalism promoted false needs he argued that crime was universal and present in each of the different social classes this was due to the individualistic nature of capitalism and its focus on utilitarian or financial gains what differed according to chambliss was the means that different social classes used to achieve those goods services and capital he argued that the limited means that the working class have to acquire these goods means they turn to violent crimes and theft often against others in a similar position to either alleviate frustrations or to make whatever financial gains they can the ruling class however have a broader range of methods they can use and they utilize these in order to increase their wealth this can be corporate crimes such as cutting safety precautions or false accounting or white collar crimes such as fraud or embezzlement marxist economist david gordon agreed with chambliss stating the doggy dog nature of capitalism generated increased criminal activities as people tried to make ends meet or to get ahead of others for gordon crime is a rational response to the competition of capitalism and this can be seen in elements of corporate and white collar crime as well as organized crime syndicates having a ruthless edge in order to succeed this situation is amplified particularly in the usa by the lack of adequate provision for individuals basic needs such as the welfare state and according to gordon there is a positive correlation between crime and poverty in society in support of gordon mankoff found lower levels of crime in europe than in the usa in the post-war era because of the creation of welfare states this leaves citizens feeling protected as their health housing and well-being are supported at a basic level by the government policies such as free health care child support social housing and out-of-work benefits were seen to reduce the level of crime in europe compared to the usa lauren schneider was a further marxist that looked at the role of capitalism in crime only she examined its impact on corporate crime rather than working-class crime snyler suggested that the competition and pressure for companies to please their shareholders with year-on-year increase in profits puts pressure on companies to take shortcuts and break or circumvent the law in order to post higher profits snyder also suggested that corporate crimes are often disguised or invisible despite having far more devastating impacts on the structure of society than street crime crimes such as money laundering insider trading and fraudulent accounting cost the us economy billions of dollars each year in her research she highlighted the cost of street crime being estimated at four billion dollars a year and in the same year the u.s government had to bail out financial services to the tune of 325 billion due to illegal operating procedures in evaluating the idea of criminogenic capitalism we have to state that capitalism can be seen to be a relevant cause of crime in society and both left realists and even functions such as merton suggests that the impacts inequality has are caused by a capitalist system and this makes crime inevitable however criminogenic capitalism doesn't explain why people target those in their local areas and not the financial institutions and companies that have surplus capital nor does it explain why most people on low incomes do conform while it offers us a rationale for crime it's worth looking deeper to understand not just the structural factors that shape criminality but also the agency that individuals show in criminal acts that concludes this cheetah to you sociology topic video on marx's theories of crime and deviance focusing on criminogenic capitalism thanks for watching