Marxist Perspectives in Criminology

Teacher(s)

Brion Fabienne; Devresse Marie-Sophie;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

- Theoretical aspects : gain an in - depth understanding of basic concepts of Marxist analysis and its epistemological, theoretical, methodological and ethical connotations.
- Application aspects : gain an in-depth knowledge of criminological literature written (or claimed to be written) from a Marxist perspective
- Methodological aspects : familiarization with different methods of producing and analyzing data used in Marxist criminological and penological analysis;
- Ethical aspects : raise awareness amongst students of ethical, epistemological issues pertaining to Marxist analysis. Assessment of the uses, purpose and effects of research conducted on the basis of this perspective. 

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	At the end of the course, students will have learnt the skills and methodology required to : - consider the validity, truth, method and scientific nature of the Marxist perspective (dialectical materialism) and draw their own conclusions for criminological research; - carry out research using this perspective and read the research of others with a critical eye.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

Analysis of the recommended texts during seminars aims to highlight and deconstruct prejudices about criminology that can arise right at the start of the learning process. These texts are from the different disciplines that make up the field of criminology.

Teaching methods

Students will be encouraged to play an active part throughout seminars in three different ways : discussion following presentations, discussions after reading literature on the subject and wrinting an essay. Seminars will also provide the opportunity for debate on epistemological issues related to research conducted by the participating students.

Faculty or entity

ECRI