Abstract
From a realist perspective there is a growing body of criminology that can be classified as ‘So What?’ criminology in that it involves a low level of theorisation, thin, inconsistent or vague concepts and categories, embodies a dubious methodology or has little or no policy relevance. The production of ‘So What?’ criminology is, of course, no accident but the outcome of a number of lines of force that have served to shape the nature of mainstream academic criminology in recent years. The aim of this article is to identify some of these lines of force and to assess their impact.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amin, A. (1994). Post-Fordism: A reader. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bauman, Z. (1995). Life in fragments: Essays in postmodern morality. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bhaskar, R. (1979). A realist theory of science. Brighton: Harvester.
Blumstein, A., & Wallman, J. (2000). The crime drop in America. Cambridge University Press.
Braithwaite, J., & Pettit, P. (1990). Not just deserts: A republican theory of criminal justice. Oxford: Clarendon.
Callinicos, A. (1989). Against postmodernism: A Marxist critique. Oxford: Polity.
Cann, J. (2006). Cognitive skills programmes: Impact on reducing reconviction among a sample of female prisoners, research findings 276. London: Home Office.
Cann, J., Falshaw, L., Nugent, F., & Friendship, C. (2005). Understanding what works; accredited cognitive skills programmes for adult men and young offenders. London: Home Office.
Carlen, P. (2002). Carceral Clawback: the case of women’s imprisonment in Canada. Punishment and Society, 4(1), 115–121.
Carlen, P., & Worrall, A. (2004). Analysing women’s imprisonment. Cullompton: Willan.
Chesney-Lind, M. (2006). Patriarchy crime and justice: feminist criminology in an era of backlash. Feminist Criminology, 1(1), 6–26.
Cohen, S. (1985). Visions of social control. Polity.
Cohen, S. (1998). Against criminology. New Brunswick: Transaction.
Cook, T., & Campbell, D. (1979). Quasi-experimentation. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Crawford, A. (2006). Networked governance and the post-regulatory state. Theoretical Criminology, 10(4), 449–480.
Cullen, F., & Gendrau, P. (2001). From nothing works to what works: changing professional ideology in the 21st. century. The Prison Journal, 81(3), 313–338.
Currie, E. (2007). Against marginality: arguments for a public criminology. Theoretical Criminology, 11(2), 175–190.
Deleuze, G. (1995). Negotiations. New York: Columbia University Press.
Dilworth, C. (1990). Empiricism vs. realism: high points in the debate during the past 150 years. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 21(3), 431–462.
Ericson, R. (2007). Crime in an insecure world. Cambridge: Polity.
Ferrell, J. (1999). Cultural criminology. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 395–415.
Ferrell, J. (2007). For a ruthless cultural criticism of everything existing. Crime, Media and Culture, 3(1), 91–100.
Ferrell, J., Milovanovic, D., & Lyng, S. (2001). Edgework, media practices and the elongation of meaning. Theoretical Criminology, 5(2), 177–202.
Ferrell, J., Hayward, K., & Young, J. (2008). Cultural criminology. London: Sage.
Fraser, N. (2003). From discipline to flexibilization? Re-reading foucault in the shadow of globalization. Constellations, 10(2), 161–171.
Garland, D. (1995). Penal modernism and postmodernism. In T. Blomberg & S. Cohen (Eds.), Punishment and social control. New York: Aldine and Gruyter.
Garland, D. (2006). Concepts of culture in the sociology of punishment. Theoretical Criminology, 10(4), 419–448.
Gelb, K. (2003). Women in prison—why the rate of incarceration is increasing. Paper presented at the Evaluation on Crime and Justice; Trends and Methods’ Conference. Canberra. March. Australian Institute of Criminology.
Greenberg, G. (2001). Novus ordo saeclorum? A commentary on downes and Beckett and Western. Punishment and Society, 3(1), 81–93.
Hall, S., & Winlow, S. (2007). Cultural criminology and primitive accumulation: a formal introduction to two strangers who really should become more intimate. Crime, Media and Culture, 3(1), 82–90.
Harvey, D. (1989). The condition of postmodernity. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Hillyard, P., Pantazis, C., Tombs, S., & Gordon, D. (eds) Beyond criminology: Taking harm seriously. London: Pluto.
Hope, T. (2004). Pretend it works: evidence and governance in the evaluation of the reducing burglary initiative. Criminal Justice, 4(3), 287–308.
Hough, M., Allen, R., & Solomon, E. (2008). Tackling prison overcrowding. Bristol: The Policy.
Hutchinson, S. (2006). Countering catastrophic criminology. Punishment and Society, 8(4), 443–467.
Jacobson, M. (2005). Downsizing prisons: How to reduce crime and end mass incarceration. New York University Press.
Karmen, A. (2000). The New York murder mystery. New York University Press.
Kong, R., & AuCoin, K. (2008). Female offenders in Canada. Juristat, 28(1). Catalogue No. 85–002_XIE. Canadian Centre for Justice Studies.
Lea, J. (1998). Criminology and postmodernity. In P. Walton & J. Young (Eds.), The new criminology revisited. London: Macmillan.
Lucken, K. (1998). Contemporary penal trends: modern or postmodern? British Journal of Criminology, 38(1), 106–123.
Lyon, D. (1999). Postmodernity. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Lyotard, J. (1996). The postmodern condition. Manchester University Press.
MacLennan, G., & Thomas, P. (2003). Cultural studies: Towards a realist intervention. In J. Cruickshank (Ed.), Critical realism: The difference it makes. London: Routledge.
Manicas, P. (2006). A realist philosophy of social sciences. London: Routledge.
Mathieson, T. (1974). The politics of abolition. London: Martin Robertson.
Matthews, R. (2009). Beyond “So What?” criminology: Rediscovering realism. Theoretical Criminology, 13(3), 341–362.
Matthews, R. (2009). Doing time: An introduction to the sociology of imprisonment (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave.
Matthews, R., & Young, J. (1992). Reflections on realism. In J. Young & R. Matthews (Eds.), Rethinking criminology: The realist debate. London: Sage.
Nola, R., & Irzik, G. (2003). Incredulity towards Lyotard: a critique of a postmodernist account of science and knowledge. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 34, 391–421.
O’Brien, M. (2005). What is cultural about cultural criminology? British Journal of Criminology, 45, 599–612.
Pavlich, G. (1999). Criticism and criminology: in search of legitimacy. Theoretical Criminology, 3(1), 29–53.
Pawson, R. (2006). Evidence-based policy: A realist perspective. London: Sage.
Pawson, R., & Tilley, N. (1997). Realist evaluation. London: Sage.
Pitts, J. (2007). Who cares what works? Youth and Policy, 95. Spring.
Pratt, J., Brown, D., Brown, M., Hallsworth, S., & Morrison, W. (2005). The new punitiveness: Trends, theories, perspectives. Collumpton: Willan.
Presdee, M. (2000). Cultural criminology and the carnival of crime. London: Routledge.
Ray, L., & Sayer, A. (1999). Culture and economy after the cultural turn. London: Sage.
Sabol, W., Conture, P., & Harrison, P. (2007). Prisoners in America. Bureau of Justice Statistics NCJ 219416: US Department of Justice.
Sayer, A. (1992). Methods in social science: A realist approach. London: Routledge.
Sayer, A. (1997). Critical realism and the limits to critical social science. Journal of the Theory of Social Behaviour, 27(4), 473–488.
Sayer, A. (2000). Realism and social science. London: Sage.
Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. London: Norton.
Sim, J. (2009). Punishment and prisons: Power and the carceral state. London: Sage.
Simon, J. (1993). Poor discipline: Parole and the social control of the underclass, 1890–1990. The University of Chicago Press.
Simon, J. (2001). Entitlement to cruelty; neo-liberalism and the punitive mentality in the United States. In K. Stenson & R. Sullivan (Eds.), Crime risk and justice. Collumpton: Willan.
Smart, C. (1990). Feminist approaches to criminology or postmodern woman meets atavistic man. In A. Morris & L. Gelsthope (Eds.), Feminist perspectives in criminology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Tilley, N. (2001). Evaluation and evidence—led crime reduction and policy. In R. Matthews & J. Pitts (Eds.), Crime, disorder and community safety. London: Routledge.
Tonry, M. (2001). Penal reform in overcrowded times. Oxford University Press.
Van Swaaningen, R. (1999). Reclaiming critical criminology: social justice and the European tradition. Theoretical Criminology, 3(1), 5–29.
Wacquant, L. (2000). The new peculiar institution: on the prison as a surrogate ghetto. Theoretical Criminology, 4(3), 377–389.
Wacquant, L. (2005). The great penal leap backwards: Incarceration in America from Nixon to Clinton. In J. Pratt et al. (Eds.), The new punitiveness: Trends theories, perspectives. Collumpton: Willan.
Walters, R. (2003). New modes of governance and the commodification of criminological knowledge. Social and Legal Studies, 12(1), 5–26.
Wright Mills, C. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.
Young, J. (1976). Working class criminology. In I. Taylor, P. Walton, & J. Young (Eds.), Critical criminology. London: Routledge.
Zedner, L. (2002). Dangers of dystopias in penal theory. Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 22(2), 341–366.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matthews, R.A. The construction of ‘So What?’ criminology: a realist analysis. Crime Law Soc Change 54, 125–140 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-010-9249-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-010-9249-2