UNIT 18

► Ex. I. Scan through the text. Restore the word order in the questions that follow and answer them.

Marxist theories. Marxism is the system of political thinking invented by Karl Marx, which explains changes in history as the result of a struggle between social classes. In accordance with Marxist theories crime is viewed as a product of class society, of exploitative systems founded upon the institution of private property. [Exploitative means treating people unfairly to get money or an advantage.] Because the socialist system is considered by its proponents as incapable of producing crime, a number of specific sources of criminal activity have been suggested: (1) external enemies and remnants of the overthrown reactionary classes who infiltrate the country with spies and foreign-inspired sabotage; (2) remains of the old society, such as gangsters and hooligans, who refuse to reform; (3) lingering aspects of bourgeois ideology that prize profit-seeking, cunning, selfishness/ and decadence and thus encourage crime; and (4) the poverty and cultural backwardness that is seen as the legacy of the old society. The Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in China has also been cited as a cause of crime; it is said to have confused notions of right and wrong and to have destroyed respect for authority. [An action that is right is morally correct. Wrong is not morally right or acceptable.] Crime is ultimately to be eliminated by thought reform and by education.