1.6. Conflict View 
SHANELL SANCHEZ 
A third perspective of how we define crime or create laws is referred to as conflict view, commonly 
associated with Karl Marx in the 1800s. Conflict view sees society as a collection of diverse groups that 
can include owners, workers, wealthy, poor, students, professionals, younger older, and more. This view 
recognizes that the creation of laws is unequal and may not have consensus like in the example discussed 
previously. 
1 
Further, the conflict view takes a very Marxian perspective and suggests that these groups are often in 
constant conflict with one another. Unlike the consensus perspective, the conflict view would suggest that 
the crime definitions are controlled by those with wealth, power, and social position in society. Essentially, 
laws are made by a select group in society, and the laws protect the ‘haves.’ Criminality shapes the values of 
the ruling class and is not of ‘moral consensus’. 
2 There are many examples we use in the criminal justice field 
that demonstrates the conflict view in action. 
Edwin Sutherland: White Collar Crime 
Edwin Sutherland, a sociologist, first introduced white-collar crime during his presidential address at the 
American Sociological Society Meeting in 1939 and later published articles and books on the topic. 
3 Specifically, he 
was concerned with the criminological community’s preoccupation with the low-status offender and “street crimes” 
and the lack of attention given to crimes that were perpetrated by people in higher status occupations. 
Sutherland wrote a book, White Collar Crime, that sparked lots of debate. 
4 However, there is a limited focus 
on white-collar crime and even less enforcement of it in the United States. From the conflict view, this would be 
because white-collar and corporate crime is committed by the ‘haves’ and they write their laws and define what is 
or is not a crime. Going back to how we define crime in society, white-collar crime is still a contested one. 
1. Hawkins, D. (1987). Beyond anomalies: Rethinking the conflict perspective on race and criminal punishment. Social Forces, 65(3), 
719–745, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/65.3.719 
2. Boundless. (2016). The conflict perspective. Sociology – Cochise College Boundless, 26. 
3. Sutherland, E. (1940). White collar criminality. American Sociological Review, 5(1), 1-12. 
4. Sutherland, E. (1949). White collar crime. Dryden Press. 
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