Transcript The Birth of Statistics

Karl Marx
The Foundation of Critical Criminology
Social Context
Capitalism emerges:
1. The Industrial Revolution
2. The development of overseas markets and products
Capitalist Effects:
 Overcrowding
 Underpaid/overworked
 Unemployment as machines replace people
 Harsh living conditions (urban mass)
 Capitalists: workers are part of the machine
Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
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German philosopher,
economist revolutionary
Most influential theorist
Macro level critique
(theoretical scope)
Not focused on crime in
particular
Crime is merely a part of a
broad social system
Material conditions…
Intellectual context
Enlightenment Influence
Traveled across Europe
Begins with Hegel and notion of society (ideas)
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Society evolves ‘naturally’ from tribal to rational
Breaks from Hegel
 People MUST be able to realize their potential
 Focus on material reality
 The culmination of a classless society
 People act in their own interests
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If you don’t, its because needs are hidden from
you...
Outlook shaped by material conditions
Pre-Marx
Consensus Model
Enlightenment ideals assumed:
 Homogeneity
 Laws and Social control practices reflects the morals and
norms of the majority
 CJS operates to benefit majority of the population
 Change occurs: ‘evolution’
 Does not questions what is crime and why....
E.g. Social Contract
Conflict Model (Marx)
Law - in both its application and codification - is not
neutral; Law reflects the interests of powerful
segments of society and functions to benefit certain
populations at the expense of others.
Assumes:
 Pluralism: diverse society
 Definitions of deviance tied to dominant ideologies
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morals and norms of the powerful
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Change occurs:‘revolution’
Social institutions (including ‘crime’) are ordered by economy
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Historical Materialism
Method of ‘doing history’ by looking at the ‘real’
conditions during particular periods
Veronica Foster
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Economic conditions >> physical conditions
Historically specific modes of production
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productive forces: labour power & means of
production
social and technical relations of production:
relations between classes of people and the objects
of their work.
Materialism: change economic and social relations
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E.g. WW2 Factory Demands
Capitalist Mode of Production
Capitalism:
 Economic system whereby the means of
production are privately owned by capitalists
who purchase labour power from those who
do not own or have access to the means of
production (proletariat)
Labour power is purchased for wages
Legal process:
Economic power = political power to control or
create laws
Capitalist Mode of Production
Need for capital to realize profit through the
sale of a product produced by a worker
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Worker is paid less than the value that is
contributed to the value of the product or
service
US: surplus value of manufacturing is +400%
Exploitive relationship between
worker/capitalists
E.g. See “Fast Food Nation” (2006)
Capitalism:
The Superstructure
Class
People are ordered by their
relationship to production
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Proletariat: working class
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only have labour
Bourgeois: own the means of
production (e.g. Trump)
Class conflict will lead to
revolution
Capitalism: The Superstructure
Ideology
Ways of thinking support material
reality
Position of ruling class reflected in
ideology
Presented as natural or ‘common
sense’
False Consciousness
People have natural interests & if
they do not behave in these
interests, it is because they have
been deceived about their interests
“You say you want a revolution...”
Conflict is inherent to class structure
Revolt is inevitable...
Eventually the oppressed will become
conscious of their exploitation
Socialism without exploitation....
Social control and legislation focused
on quelling uprisings & not
interested in addressing concerns...
Shift from enlightenment’s belief that the
state was ‘naturally neutral’
The Birth of Statistics
The Social Mechanics of Crime: Adolphe Quetelet
Statistics
Central component of criminological theories that seek to
explain criminality
But what do statistics tell us?
1. Norms
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2.
Standard
Ordinary
Rates
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Indicators of trends
Used to predict
Birth of Statistics (early 1800s):
Social Context
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Democratic State
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Industrial Revolution
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Emergence of Welfare State (taxation)
Model of factory/society
Duty tied to rational production
Urbanization
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Dangerous Classes :
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not controlled by ideology of industry or the social contract
Counts related to diseases – moral panics
Birth of Statistics (early 1800s): Social
Context
Media
 Emerging literacy
 Moral Panics
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Overreaction about particular groups
Science: Desire to control nature
 Natural laws /social laws
 Personal freedom
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limited by environment & constitution
Statistics
Desire of Government to control population
 Practices of enumeration
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Previously for taxation
Training /standards of conduct
Church & military
State encroaches on social life
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Knowledge on citizens expands
Welfare state (‘programs’ & tax payers)
Crime Statistics
Compte 1827
 General record of all criminal offences in Paris
 Divided by types of justice system (civic or criminal)
Records indicate:
1. Number of previous offences
2. If accused was acquitted or convicted
3. Punishment (if convicted)
4. Time of year of offence
5. Age, sex, occupation and education of accused
Became more detailed over time, looking for correlates
Records about ‘habits’ begin to circulate...
Adolphe Quetelet 1796-1874
Key: methodological & conceptual
contributions
Biography
 Avoided deterministic arguments of later
positivism
 Known for scientific rigor
 Math & Astronomy
 Academic (not concerned with crime
orig.)
Social Mechanics
Interest in applying natural laws
to human actions:
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Social facts: social laws
governing societies
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Laws identified through
analysis of statistics
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Think about the criteria of
critical theory…..
Quetelet’s 3 Statistical Rules
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Average ‘man’ = natural distribution
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Bell curve (midpoint)
Average person = centre of gravity
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Physical characteristics of a population
Moral statistics (suicide, marriage, etc)
KEY: Individual differences not as important as the
SUM of individuals (Society)
Quetelet’s Statistical Rules
2. Law of large numbers
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Need a large sample
3. Law of Regularity
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Changes are rare
Predictability
Moral Statistics
Statistics indicate social problems
 Crime, suicide, etc...
Social laws are more complex than natural
law because of freewill:
Not reducible to individuals
 Space for freedom to act
 Laws govern human behaviour
 Humans somewhat predictable (social beings)
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We study moral statistics today...
Quetelet’s Analysis of Crime 1826-1829
Consistency of Crime
 Types of murders and property
offences
 Regularities in court practices
Patterns exist!
Dark Figure of Crime
 Aware problems of statistics
Quetelet’s Analysis of Crime 1826-1829
Criminal Propensity
 Everyone has potential to be
criminal
 Propensity, not
 Propensity
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determinism!
could be visualized
Probability & chance
Individuality was the ‘chance’
that impacted the ‘probability’ of
criminality
Quetelet’s Analysis of Crime 1826-1829
Individuality:
 Upbringing
 Ability to improve situation
Young males, poor uneducated without employment or in
lowly employment would have a greater propensity to
commit crimes.
Poverty and lack of education did not cause crime!
Extreme disparity (temptation & suffering) did....
Quetelet’s Analysis of Crime 1826-1829
Society as the cause of crime:
 Society ‘prepares’ crime, the guilty are
the instruments by which it is executed
 Social conditions are more influential
than individual will
Quetelet’s thesis supports:
 Social transformation
 Less focus on incarceration as
deterrence