7- the critical perspective

8/21/2019 7- The Critical Perspective

1/27

7- THECRITICALPERSPECTIVE

Presented by:

Lucas Espinoza, MS, MA


2/27

CRITICALPERSPECTIVE

The critical perspective stems from the Marxist tradition.

Crises, turbulence, and upheaval seem to be common

occurrences in modern, urban, industrial societies.

Foundational understanding toward the perpetuation ofsocial problems.

Encompasses other theories and perspectives within this

framework.

Social problems derive from the exploitation of the workingclass.


3/27

ECONOMICINSTITUTIONASDOMINANT

Info from all other institutions (government, legal

systems, law enforcement, education, family ... )

Transition: tribal societies-slavery- feudalism--

capitalism-socialism

Marxism: class conflict between bourgeoisie

(capitalists) and proletariat (workers)

Central struggle of power

Social problems reside in class dominance in theconflict: the "haves" hold on to what they have and

maintain what they have at the continued expense

of the have-nots.


4/27

SOCIOLOGISTS

Germany, Great Britain, and the United States

found that crises in their particular societies were

experiencing called into question the adequacy of

the dominant social problems perspectives of the

day.


5/27

WITHINTHISPERSPECTIVE

Sociology takes a critical stance against status quo:

examines the relationship between capitalism and crime.

Capitalism-imposed social organization; hierarchy

between privileged and marginalized classes

The working class experiences such miseries as poverty,

unemployment, shorter life expectancy, poor physical and

mental health, alcoholism, and high rates of crime against

persons, and property.


6/27

THEPROCESS

Ultimately the rich get richer and the poor get

poorer.

The only solution to the assortment of social

problems that are common to advanced capitalist

societies is for the working class to win the class

struggle and usher in true socialism, which will lead

to a classless society.


7/27

CAPITALISMANDTHEPROBLEMSOF

CLASS, RACE, ANDGENDERAl lan G. John son


8/27

ECONOMICINSTITUTION

Exerts more influence on human life than any other

institution.

Sociologists see the economy generating a two-

class system, being the cause of most of the

society's social problems.

Johnson describes a number of these problems,

and shows how capitalism feeds into racial and

gender inequalities in the differential distribution of

wealth, power and respect


9/27

The unequal distribution of wealth and human

suffering.

The "American Dream" aside, most people also

have relatively little power to improve their class

position.


10/27

CAPITALISM, DIFFERENCE, AND

PRIVILEGE: RACE

It connects to white racism in ways that are both direct and

indirect.

In the history of the United States, the direct connection is

most apparent in the enslavement of millions of Africans as

a source of cheap labor on cotton and tobacco plantations

in the South.

The number of enslaved blacks in the United States

jumped from 1 million in 1800 to almost 4 million in 1860,

just before the start of the Civil War.


11/27

CHEAPLABOR?

Following the Civil War, the capitalist appetite for

cheap agricultural labor was no less than before,

and freed blacks were held in a new form of

bondage by an oppressive system of tenant farming

that kept them perpetually in debt.

Whites developed the idea of whiteness to define a

privileged social category elevated above everyone

who wasn't included in it.


12/27

PROGRAMS

The controversy and conflict over affirmative action

programs, for example, as well as the influx of

immigrant workers from Mexico and Asia reflect an

underlying belief that the greatest challenge facing

white workers is unfair competition from people ofcolor.


13/27

CAPITALISM, DIFFERENCE, AND PRIVILEGE:

GENDER

Capitalism also shapes and makes use of gender

inequality.

Cultural devaluing of women, for example, has long

been used as an excuse to pay them less and

exploit them as a source of cheap labor.

Corporate secretarial pool in New York or garment

sweatshops in Los Angeles or electronics industry

assembly plants in Asia.


14/27

WOMEN

Capitalism couldn't function without the army of

women who do the shopping for households (which

is how most goods are purchased)

Do the labor through which those goods are

consumed: cooking the meals, making the bed with

the new set of sheets, and so on


15/27

WOMEN

Ones who nurture and raise each new generation

of workers on which capitalism depends, and this

vital service is provided without anyone's having to

pay wages or provide health and retirement

benefits.

The reading states women do it for free- even when

they also work outside the home.


16/27

CAPITALISM

Provides an important social context for the trouble

around privilege and difference.

The class dynamics that arise from capitalism

interact with that trouble in powerful ways that both

protect capitalism and class privilege and

perpetuate privilege and oppression based on

difference.


17/27

THECASEOFASTATE-

CORPORATECRIMEJudy Root Aulette and Raymond Michalow sk i


18/27

THEAUTHORS

Show how a commitment to capitalist values

established the conditions for a fire in Hamlet that

cost the lives of twenty-five people.

A case of state-corporate crime.

A faltering economy forced a coalition of federal,

state, and local agencies and the Imperial Food

Products plant to cut costs.


19/27

WHATHAPPENED?

In Sept 1991, an explosion and fire at Imperial FoodsProduct Chicken Plant in Hamlet NC.

25 died mostly to smoke inhalation, 1 died to extremeburns and 56 were injured.

Negligent oversight by the Federal Agencies- OSHA(Occupational and Safety Health Administration) andUSDA (United States Department of Agriculture)- stateand local agencies contributed to the unsafe conditionsin which management locked employees in theirworkplace leading to them being trapped in the fire.

The illegal socially injurious action resulted from theinteraction of public and private institutions pursuingtheir own means and goals


20/27

ISSUE

In looking at the media coverage, the newspaper

coverage accounted the deaths to the lax

enforcement of safety regulations and did not

address their deaths as a crime.

The notion of the state-corporate crime continues to

be met with resistance.


21/27

CONCLUSION

The deaths in Hamlet, NC are clear evidence that

Jaws (Reporting) alone are not sufficient to protect

worker safety.

They require political will for their effective

enforcement.

The Hamlet fire constitutes a clear instance of

state-corporate crime precisely because it was the

absence of this political will and the omissions on

the part of politically constituted agencies thatenabled the management to continue violating

basic safety requirements at the plant in its pursuit

of private profit.


22/27

EVALUATINGTHECRITICAL

PERSPECTIVEMarshall B. Clinard and Robert F. Meier


23/27

CPCONFLICT

Critical perspective regards deviance as conflict,

generally as a rational adjustment to the

contradictions of the capitalist social and economic

system.

Focuses attention on how political, economic, and

social structures shape legal definitions of crime

and deviance.


24/27

INVERSERELATIONSHIP

Between power and punishment- those who

commit conventional crimes (generally lower-class)

are much more likely to be arrested, convicted, and

sentenced to longer prison terms titan those who

commit white-collar and corporate crimes

Adds validity to the critical perspective.


25/27

WEAKNESSES

There are many more sources of conflict than

political or economic ones, that laws benefit all

classes (not just the ruling or powerful class) and

do not cause criminal or deviant behavior by

themselves.

Few empirical studies support the claims of the

critical perspective, and that the perspective makes

more sense as an ideology than as a theory.


26/27

CONCLUSION

The elimination of deviation and crime through the

dissolution of capitalism and the transition to

socialism is perceived to be too costly, however, the

appeal of the conflict view diminishes.

It is not sufficient merely to analyze the conditions

under which deviance develops; one must also be

willing to change those conditions.


27/27

7- the critical perspective

Documents