Outline and assess the view that the law operates to serve the ruling class
As crime is subjective concept we must look at the explanations of crime and how it occurs, this assumption clearly suggests that social class plays a large role in explanations of crime. We must consider how social class affects us as a society and thus how it is reflected in the laws set for our society to conform to. The idea of the law serving the ruling class is clearly a
Marxist perspective however other sociologists do appreciate this assumption particularly Integrationists and Left Realists. In order to assess the view accurately other factors must be considered for example how the law operates to serve different genders, ages and ethnicities as well as social classes.
Firstly Marxists would argue that the ruling class are protected by the law and therefore are less likely to be punished for a crime. Snider found that the state is hesitant to pass laws that regulate large capitalist concerns for example: laws on health and safety or monoplies, as it can scare off investors and damge profitability for the state’s economy. This suggests that the law serves the ruling class as it protects them from being punished as laws aren’t in place to prevent corporate crimes ( such as tax evasion)and prosecute the criminals. Futhermore we can suggest that this happens due to those who make the laws being part of the ruling class; politicians are predominantly wealthy middle class individuals and therefore are unlikely to regulate laws that could potentially damage their own wealth and so safeguard hegemony; this is the dominance of one social group. A contemporary example of this is the Guinness Affair, this crime was committed by the chief executive of Guinness and a number of financiers all with well paid jobs and high status, these individuals worked together to manipulate the stock market in