5.4e Marxist Theory
Karl Marx focused his analysis of society on the development of capitalism and its effects (see Chapter 7). Marxist theory (also known as a conflict perspective) examines how social class inequality is integral to capitalist economic systems. Under capitalism, employers keep workers’ dependent on them for income and benefits, such as health insurance. This dependence enables capitalists to exploit their workers and extract as much profit as possible from them. To keep power and their economic advantage, capitalists use the law. They may lobby governments for favorable laws that help their industry, even if the result harms people, such as by increasing pollution.
Moreover, deviant behavior may become a crime because treating it as such can help capitalism. Typically, deviant behavior that becomes criminal is behavior done by people with less power. Anti-homeless laws are an example of how the activities associated with a group with little power become crimes.
Marxist Theory and Homelessness
Most U.S. states have at least one law that targets people experiencing homelessness. These laws prohibit sleeping in vehicles, camping in public places such as city parks, loitering, panhandling, and public urination, among other activities. Anti-homeless laws vary, but their sponsors propose and pass them to motivate people to move into housing. In effect, however, they make homelessness a crime and do not prevent it because low incomes and high housing costs cause homelessness (Colburn & Aldern, 2022).
Photo 5.7
Some Cities Have Laws Against Public Camping Making Homelessness a Crime
The prohibitive cost of housing in the United States is a growing challenge for many. In 2024, for example, there were at least 71,000 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County (State of California, 2025). Los Angeles County has some of the most expensive housing costs in the country. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,400 (Rent Group Inc., 2025), which is 134% higher than the national average (Gregory, 2022). In 2025, the median sale price for a home in Los Angeles County was $907,000 (Redfin, 2025). Analyses of rates of homelessness and housing costs consistently show a correlation between housing costs and homelessness rates (Yu, 2018; Love & Loh, 2023).
A Marxist approach to understanding why cities and states make activities related to experiencing homelessness (sleeping in public) crimes focuses on how such laws serve capitalism. Laws punishing people experiencing homelessness serve capitalism by trying to remove people experiencing homelessness from public life (Selbin et al., 2018). Business owners, for example, believe that having unhoused people near their property will deter customers and hurt their business. Moreover, unhoused people are not following the norms of U.S. capitalism, whereby people are expected to work and pay for housing via rent or a mortgage.