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Marxism And Conflict Theories Of Jeffrey Monaghan

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Theory Essay #2 Dustin W. Villeneuve, 101305398, Department of Criminology. Carleton University CRCJ 2100C Criminological Theories Jeffrey Monaghan April 9th, 2024. Introduction Since the pandemic in late 2020, the prices of housing have increased dramatically, causing outrage in Canada (Global News, 2023). People suffering from poor economic status have been largely impacted and often end up losing their homes. Eventually, these people become homeless and suffer from economic inequalities. This denies them access to essential resources and programs that allow them to escape poverty, which leaves them at a disadvantage (Global News, 2023). While this issue does negatively affect low economic status people, it also reinforces power and …show more content…

These theories are Marxism and conflict theory (Monaghan, 2024). The main idea of these theories moves away from the causation of crimes and focuses more on how society is controlled and influenced by high powers, which makes society unfair (Monaghan, 2024). The goal of this essay is to break down Marxism and conflict theory by examining the building blocks of each theory and using research to back up these claims (Monaghan, 2024). After exploring those concepts, the limitations of each theory will be examined. Finally, the theories will be applied to a major contemporary issue, which is the homelessness crisis in Canada. This crisis refers to the lack of housing available to a large population of homeless people, which causes them to live in poor conditions and limits their access to support services (Global News, 2023). Using a specific case example involving the Belle Park Encampment, which will be explained during the essay. Marxism and conflict theory are critical theories that abandon the idea of the causation of crime and take a different approach …show more content…

In the Marxist approach, the ideal society eliminates class and capitalism as well as the state (Monaghan, 2024). Eliminating capitalism would cause crime to not exist (Monaghan, 2024). Scholars later determined that this concept was not realistic and not possible (Monaghan, 2024). Development and Implications of Conflict Theory Moving forward, conflict theory would later be developed using the foundations and some of the key assumptions provided by Marxism, which would mark “the major turning point of criminology” (Lily et al., 2019, p. 168). Conflict theory is an evolutionary version of Marxism, but it has a larger input in sociology (Lily et al., 2019). This theory still believes that conflict within a society produces crime, but it takes a broader approach to what creates conflict (Lily et al., 2019). Furthermore, another key assumption used in conflict theory is when someone receives fewer of the essential resources, they start to question the system and challenge the state (Monaghan, 2024). When an individual questions this, they damage the relationship and shared values of the community, causing a decline in social solidarity (Monaghan, 2024). As Marxism states, when this occurs it leads

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