NCJ Number
109914
Journal
Crime and Social Justice Issue: 29 Dated: (1987) Pages: 70-87
Date Published
1987
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines issues pertaining to whether theorizing explicitly in terms of crime makes any sense in Marxist terms, with an analysis of organized crime used as an example.
Abstract
After reviewing central concepts in Marxist criminology and crime's conceptual status, the article argues that crime is an open-ended construct with ambiguous boundaries, such that it is inherently impossible to assign historical phenomena to it with any degree of theoretical closure. The transfer of crime into Marxist theory thus creates major problems. Some of these problems are discussed in the context of analyzing organized crime. The use of the term 'organized crime' presents a double problem for Marxist conceptualization, compounding the ideological category 'crime' and the subcategory of crimes designated as 'organized.' One effect of addressing crime as a theoretical concept, as does Marxist conceptualization, is that it becomes the central criterion for ordering analysis. The focus on 'crime' draws attention to connections with other crimes and compels attention to theoretical uniformities between such 'crimes' and other phenomena. Yet analysis of production and distribution associated with organized crime, e.g., the cocaine industry, cannot be understood in such terms. 8 notes and 50 references.