Deck 11: Marxist Theories

Question 1

Structural Marxists agree with instrumental Marxists that in both the long and short term, the law and criminal justice system serve the interests of the ruling capitalist class.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Akers and Sellers argue that Marxists have failed to conduct the proper type of cross-national comparison of real socialist and real capitalist societies.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Studies of the connection between unemployment rates and imprisonment rates are generally consistent with predictions made by Marxist theory.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Akers and Sellers make a case that the crime-generating contradictions of capitalism can be tested only by cross-national comparisons.

Question 5

According to Bonger's Marxist theory, crime is the result of the greed and selfishness promoted in capitalist society.

Question 6

The basic proposition in Marxist theory of crime is that crime is caused by egoism in capitalism and lack of economic opportunities in socialism.

Question 7

Many Marxist criminologists have been drawn from the ranks of those who previously supported pluralistic conflict models.

Question 8

A core difference between Marxist theory and conflict theory is that the latter focuses on power decentralized in multiple competing interests groups whereas the former envisions power concentrated in a single power elite.

Question 9

Marxist criminologists depict society as being comprised of three classes: the bourgeoisie, white-collar workers, and the proletariat.

Question 10

Marxist theorists predict that incarceration rates will decline in times of economic prosperity and increase in times of economic depression.

Question 11

The Marxist hypothesis that the capitalist system is crime generating whereas the socialist system reduces motivation for crime is well supported by cross?national comparisons of crime rates.

Question 12

In the past two decades the rates of several major crimes in some other capitalist countries have come to equal or exceed those of the United States.

Question 13

Structuralist Marxist theory differs from instrumentalist Marxist theory primarily in that it stresses:

A) the relative autonomy of the state
B) the weaknesses of the proletariat
C) the imposition of law and order by the capitalists
D) the loosely coupled nature of the criminal justice system
E) b and c

Question 14

In Marxist theory, the term "bourgeoisie" refers to:

A) those who sell their labor in the marketplace
B) state governmental officials
C) those who own and control the means of production
D) a pool of unemployed people
E) the great masses of people who are controlled by the proletariat

Question 15

According to Marxist theory, the control of the political state and manipulation of the legal system by the capitalist class to protect its own interests and perpetuate its position of power will change only when:

A) the masses become organized, overthrow the government, and replace capitalism with socialism
B) the capitalist class is educated to understand the oppression experienced by the masses of people under capitalist domination
C) the capitalist class realizes that both its own and the long-term interests of society would be better served by making the transition to a socialistic system
D) the masses organize, recognize their common interests, and democratically elect members of their own class to fill positions of political power
E) b and c

Question 16

Marxist theorists would characterize white-collar employees who distinguish themselves from common laborers and identify with the capitalist class as suffering from:

A) cognitive dissonance
B) false class consciousness
C) the contradictions of capitalism
D) wishful thinking
E) repression of alienation

Question 17

The view that the state is relatively autonomous, that the capitalist class is not monolithic, and that the state may pass laws that do not serve the short-run interests of capitalists is:

A) consistent with neo-Marxist thought
B) consistent with structural Marxism
C) associated with revisionist Marxist theory
D) consistent with instrumental Marxism
E) antithetical to all Marxist thought

Question 18

Marxist criminologists favor which approach to theory testing?

A) participant observation studies
B) quantitative analyses
C) cross-cultural studies
D) historical analyses
E) autobiographical accounts

Question 19

In Quinney's Marxist theory, criminal behavior is:

A) found principally in the lower classes
B) more a function of accommodation and resistance than domination and repression
C) a function of the unequal social structure found in all societies
D) inevitable in a capitalist society but unlikely in a socialist society
E) all of the above

Question 20

Comparisons of crime in capitalist and socialist systems indicate that:

A) crime rates are considerably lower in socialist systems
B) the range of acts outlawed in capitalist societies is much greater than in socialist systems
C) socioeconomic factors are unrelated to crime in socialist societies
D) a and c
E) none of the above

Question 21

The first application of Marxist theory to crime was presented by:

A) Richard Quinney
B) William Chambliss
C) Karl Marx
D) Steven Spitzer
E) Willem Bonger

Question 22

Marxist criminologists locate the roots of crime in:

A) ideological conflict
B) economic conditions
C) political power struggles
D) interracial tensions
E) cultural values

Question 23

Who among the following is associated with the idea that burglary and theft are merely replications by members of the proletariat of acts of exploitation lawfully committed by members of the bourgeoisie?

A) George Vold
B) Richard Quinney
C) W. Byron Groves
D) Thorsten Sellin
E) John Hagan

Question 24

David Greenberg frames his analysis of juvenile delinquency in terms of:

A) adolescents' place in the socioeconomic structure
B) intergenerational conflict
C) struggles for autonomy in the transition from childhood to adulthood
D) adolescents' reproduction of acts of violence and manipulation committed against them by abusive parents
E) the transition from capitalism to socialism

Question 25

According to Marxist theory, members of the working class who mistakenly believe that their interests coincide with those of the bourgeoisie are said to have:

A) role confusion
B) false class consciousness
C) mistaken identity
D) the prisoner of war syndrome
E) cognitive dissonance

Question 26

Richard Quinney is highly critical of academicians who teach traditional criminology courses because he believes that:

A) criminology should be abandoned as a discipline
B) such teaching only furthers the ideology that sustains the power of the bourgeoisie
C) traditional criminology ignores the real pain and suffering caused by working-class crime
D) traditional criminology is overly critical of the efforts of the bourgeoisie to promote social justice
E) c and d

Question 27

To Marxist theorists, the primary purpose of imprisonment is to:

A) incapacitate those who pose a serious threat to the general welfare
B) siphon off the surplus labor that the capitalist economy cannot absorb
C) quiet political revolutionaries who pose a threat to the capitalist system
D) restore the balance of power between competing interest groups
E) reinforce collective values by banishing those who violate them

Question 28

Which of the following is consistent with the policy implications of Marxist theory?

A) Nothing short of elimination of capitalism and adoption of the socialist system will solve the crime problem.
B) Reform of the existing criminal justice system in capitalist society is futile.
C) Penal and police reform can counteract the underlying pathology of capitalist society without changing the whole system.
D) a and b
E) a and c

Question 29

Bonger's theory and Shaw and McKay's theory identify both structural and cultural elements in crime. Compare and contrast the two theories. In what ways are they at odds, and in what ways do they strike similar or complementary themes?

Question 30

Identify and discuss the chief criticisms of Marxist theory of crime. In what ways has Marxist theory made an important contribution to criminology?

Question 31

Discuss the major points of agreement and disagreement between pluralistic conflict models and Marxist models of the origins and functions of law.

Question 32

Discuss the Marxist view of capitalism as its relates to the development and enforcement of law.

Question 33

According to Marxist criminology, capitalism is the cause of crime. How would the theory explain crime in a socialist society?

Question 34

Why, according to Marxist theory, can a capitalist system not survive? Explain why you agree or disagree.

Question 35

Compare the 4 different types of crimes. Which of the following type of crime do you believe is the worst for society: crimes of control, crimes of domination and repression, and crimes of government? Why?

Question 36

What policy implications do Marxist theories offer? Discuss whether you think such policies are possible to implement.