SOCIAL CONFLICT AND CRIMINALITY - FOR A CRITIQUE OF THE THEORY ON CONFLICTS IN CRIMINOLOGY

• NCJ Number: 64468
• Journal: Questione Criminale Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (JANUARY-APRIL 1977) Pages: 9-50
• Author(s): A BARATTA
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 42 pages
• Corporate Author: Societa Editrice Il Mulino
• Publication Format: Article
• Country: Italy

Annotation

THIS CRITIQUE FINDS ONE-SIDED AND UNREALISTIC THE THEORIES OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN CRIMINOLOGISTS, WHICH HAVE ATTEMPTED TO DEFINE CRIME AND DEVIANCE SOLELY IN TERMS OF SOCIAL CONFLICT.

Abstract

MANY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS AND CRIMINOLOGISTS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC HAVE DISTINGUISHED BETWEEN SO-CALLED 'NATURAL' UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED AS VIOLATING BASIC HUMAN VALUES) AND 'ARTIFICIAL' CRIMES, WHICH ARE THE RESULT OF EXPEDIENT CRIMINALIZATION BY POWER ELITES OF ALL ACTS AND TYPES OF BEHAVIOR WHICH THREATEN THEIR INTERESTS. RADICAL CRIMINOLOGISTS HAVE BLAMED SOCIETY AND ITS NORMS FOR CRIME AND DEVIANCE, WHILE TRADITIONAL THEORISTS HAVE POSTULATED THE EXISTENCE OF UTOPIAN SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM MODELS. VARIOUS CONCEPTS OF DEVIANCE HAVE DEFINED IT AS AN UNLAWFUL, BUT NOT NECESSARILY IRRATIONAL, MEANS TO AN END, CONSIDERED DESIRABLE BY SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. MEANWHILE CRIME HAS BEEN EXPLAINED AS THE RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS ENCOUNTERED BY INDIVIDUALS IN THE COURSE OF SOCIALIZATION, WHO HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY FRUSTRATED AND DEFEATED IN THEIR ATTEMPTS TO PLAY THEIR ADULT ROLES. SOCIOLOGISTS HAVE ASSIGNED DYNAMIC AND NOT ENTIRELY NEGATIVE ROLE TO CONFLICT AND DEVIANCE IN STRENGTHENING THE SOCIAL COHESION OF THE DOMINANT GROUPS. YET OTHER THEORIES REGARD (1) ORGANIZED CRIME AS PROVIDING GOODS AND SERVICES FORBIDDEN BY LAW BUT DEMANDED BY SO-CALLED LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS; (2) JUVENILE DELINQUENCY, JUVENILE GANGS, AND JUVENILE SUBCULTURES AS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN GENERATIONS AND OF THE MARGINALITY AND ALIENATION FELT BY YOUNG PEOPLE WHO CANNOT FIND A PLACE IN THE MAINSTREAM OF SOCIETY; AND (3) CRIME AS THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE RULERS AND THE RULED AND BETWEEN THE POWERFUL AND THE POWERLESS. WHAT IS TO BE CRITICIZED IS THAT ALL THESE THEORIES ARE PURELY DESCRIPTIVE OF PHENOMENA AND DO NOT TRACE THEM BACK TO THEIR DEEP-ROOTED CAUSES. AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY IS APPENDED. --IN ITALIAN. (LGR)