Radical and Marxist Theories of Crime

The essays selected for this volume show how radical and Marxist criminology has established itself as an influential critique since it emerged in the late 1960s. Unlike orthodox criminology which emphasizes individual level explanations of criminal behavior, radical and Marxist criminology emphasizes power inequality and structures, especially those related to class, as key factors in crime, law and justice. This collection of essays draws attention to the way in which structural forces shape and influence both individual and institutional (for example, governmental) behavior; highlights neglected crime (corporate, governmental, state-corporate and environmental) which causes more extensive damage than the street crimes examined by orthodox criminology; and discusses the ways in which law and criminal justice processes reinforce power structures and contribute to class control.

Contents: Introduction; Part I Definitions and Background: Social class and the definition of crime, Herman Schwendinger and Julia Schwendinger; From 'crime' to social harm?, Paddy Hillyard and Steve Tombs; Critical criminology and the critique of domination: the story of an intellectual movement, Raymond J. Michalowski; Toward a political economy of crime, William J. Chambliss; The value of quantitative analysis for a critical understanding of crime and society, Steven E. Barkan; Toward a Marxian theory of deviance, Steven Spitzer. Part II Varieties of Radical/Marxist Criminology: The tasks facing a realist criminology, Jock Young; The state of the criminology of crimes of the state, Dawn L. Rothe and David O. Friedrichs; Corporate violence against Canadian women: assessing left-realist research and policy, Walter S. DeKeseredy and Colin Goff; Rape, sexual inequality and levels of violence, Julia Schwendinger and Herman Schwendinger. Part III Explaining Crime: Class and the economics of crime, David M. Gordon; A cross-national test of Bonger's theory of criminality and economic conditions, Olena Antonaccio and Charles R. Tittle; A tale of two capitalisms: preliminary spatial and historical comparisons of homicide rates in Western Europe and the USA, Steve Hall and Craig McLean; The rate of surplus value and crime: a theoretical and empirical examination of Marxian economic theory and criminology, Michael J. Lynch, W. Byron Groves and Alan Lizotte; A critique of criminology: toward an integrated structural-Marxist theory of delinquency production, Mark Colvin and John Pauly; Delinquency and the age structure of society, David F. Greenberg; Poverty, inequality and youth violence, Ronald C. Kramer. Part IV Social Control: Policing and Punishment: Unemployment, imprisonment and social structures of accumulation: historical contingency in the Rusche-Kirchheimer hypothesis, Raymond J. Michalowski and Susan M. Carlson; The Buffalo police, 1872-1900: labor unrest, politi

Michael J. Lynch is Professor in the Department of Criminology, University of South Florida, USA and Paul B. Stretesky is Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, Denver, USA.