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Class, State, and Crime

NCJ Number
71048
Author(s)
R Quinney
Date Published
1980
Length
223 pages
Annotation
The thesis of this book is that the social and moral problems of today result from the historical link between capitalist development and the secularization of ultimate concerns.
Abstract
Religious socialism is proposed as an antidote to the oppressive and alienating forms of capitalism. Since the dialectic of class struggle assures a continuing conflict within capitalist society, the capitalist state contains the contradictions for its own demise. The book argues that a political consciousness is developing that questions the legitimacy of the existing system. Because capitalist society generates social problems it cannot solve within its own existence, policies for controlling the population are devised and implemented. Crime and criminal justice are thus integral to the larger issues of the historical development of capitalism. It is predicted that the future of criminal justice will be determined by changes in the objective conditions of the last stages of capitalism and by a rising consciousness, especially among members of the working class. Chapters discuss the meaning of justice in a capitalist society, crime and the development of capitalism, the structure of advanced capitalist society, and the political economy of criminal justice. Footnotes and a subject index are provided.

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