Chapter 4- Crime and inequality

ideology

In Marxism, the view that the beliefs and values of a society reflect the interests of the dominant class.

Rape shields

Laws that prevent defense lawyers from interrogating the sexual history of rape victims.

private property: the belief that we own certain objects and that, as a result, we have the absolute right to do with them what we wish.

One of the most important aspects of American ideology is

class struggle

The Marxist theory that human history is shaped by the fight for power between different economic groups (classes).

Feminist criminology

The criminological theory rooted in the view that women are treated unjustly in society and that these inequalities are reflected in criminal justice.

Intersectionality

The critical approach that seeks to understand how different inequalities (race, class, gender) interact.

Carceral feminism

The feminist theory that the best response to crimes against women is to aggressively push for harsher punishments against those who commit these crimes.

patriarchy

The feminist view of society that argues that social power is in the hands of men and serves male interests.

Green criminology

The field of criminology that studies environmental crimes.

Marxism

The social theory formulated by Karl Marx that views society as structured by conflicts between economic groups or classes

Racial Threat Theory

The theory that white Americans see African Americans as a threat to their power, wealth, and security, and as such must be controlled.

critical race theory

The view that American society is structurally unequal and that minorities are targeted by the government in general and by the criminal justice system in particular.

the economy

What did Marx say shapes the conflicts between the classes?

, society is composed of different economic classes (such as workers and business owners) who have differing and ultimately conflicting interests.

What is Marx's view?

white hegemony

dominance of white people over other minorities politically, economically, and ideologically.

Postmodernism

is a catchall term that refers to a wide variety of different theories that are used in sociology, literary studies, and philosophy.

symbolic threat

occurs when whites perceive minorities as deviant and a threat to culture

conflict criminologists

they see society as a struggle between different groups, and they argue that crime and criminal justice policy reflect this struggle. (critical criminologists)

economic threat, political threat, and symbolic threat.

According to Blalock, racial minorities represent three different sorts of threats to white Americans