Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Continuing Relevance of Marxism to Critical Criminology

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, the ``new directions'' in Critical Criminology have consciously excluded Marxism as being out-dated. This article critically assesses the fundamental theoretical shifts within critical criminology. It argues that Marxism remains as relevant as ever for analysing crime, criminal justice, and the role of the state. There is a great need for critical criminologists to redirect their attention back to Marxist theory by developing and extending its tools of critical theoretical analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alder, C. (1995). Feminist criminology in Australia. In N.H. Rafter and F. Heidensohn (eds.), International Feminist Perspectives in Criminology. Buckingham: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, K. and Quinney, R. (eds.) (2000). Erich Fromm and Critical Criminology[:] Beyond the Punitive Society. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrigo, B.A. (2001). Critical criminology, existential humanism, and social justice: Exploring the contours of conceptual integration. Critical Criminology 10(2), 83-95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barak, G. (1994–1995). A response to the editors' call for dialogue: Time for an integrated critical criminology. Critical Criminologist 6(3) & 7(1), 3-6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barak, G. (1998a). Time for an integrated critical criminology. In J. Ross (ed.), Cutting the Edge: Current Perspectives in Critical and Radical Criminology. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barak, G. (1998b). Integrating Criminologies. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barak, G. (ed.) (1998c). Integrative Criminology. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beirne, P. and Messerschmidt, J. (1995). Criminology, 2nd edn. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellioti, R. (1995). The legacy of Marxist jurisprudence. In D. Caudill and S.J. Gold (eds.), Radical Philosophies of Law[:] Contemporary Challenges to Mainstream Legal Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonger, W. (1916 [1969]). Criminality and Economic Conditions. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (2002). Pour un savoir engage. Le Monde Diplomatique, February. www.mondediplomatique. fr/2002/02/BOURDIEU/16120.

  • Brownstein, H. (1991). Left realism and drug law enforcement. Critical Criminologist 3(4), 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callinicos, A. (1995). Theories and Narratives: Reflections on the Philosophy of History. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardarelli, A. and Hicks, S. (1993). Radicalism in law and criminology: A retro-spective view of critical legal studies and radical criminology. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 8(3), 502-553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrington, K. and Hogg, R. (eds.) (2002). Critical Criminology: Issues, Debates, Challenges. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambliss, W. (1975). Toward a political economy of crime. Theory and Society 2, 152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, J. (1996). The future of criminologies: An introduction. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 8(1), 7-13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danner, M., Michalowski, R., and Lynch, M. (1994). From the editors. Critical Criminologist 6(2), 1, 2, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeKeseredy, W. and Schwartz, M. (1996). Contemporary Criminology. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friday, P. (1987). Socialist criminology. Crime and Social Justice 29, 136-142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichs, D. (1983). Victimology: A consideration of the radical critique. Crime and Delinquency 29, 283-294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichs, D. (1991). Peacemaking criminology in a world filled with conflict. In B. MacLean and D. Milovanovic (eds.), New Directions in Critical Criminology. Vancouver: Collective Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedrichs, D. (1996). Critical criminology and progressive pluralism: Strength in diversity for these times. Critical Criminology 7(1), 121-128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garton, S. (1991). The convict origins debate: Historians and the problem of the ‘criminal class’. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 24(2), 66-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garza, C. (1992). Postmodern paradigms and chicana feminist thought: Creating a “space and language”. Critical Criminologist 4 (3/4), 1, 2, 11-13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, D. (1971). Class and the economics of crime. Review of Radical Political Economy 3, 51-75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. (1976). On one-dimensional Marxist criminology. Theory and Society 3(4), 611-621.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. (1977). Delinquency and the age structure of society. Contemporary Crises 1, 189-233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. (ed.) (1993). Crime and Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology, 2nd edn. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallett, M. (1992). Peacemaking: A devotional criminology. Critical Criminologist 4(3/4), 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamm, M. (1991). From robes to combat troops: On deconstructing hate crime. Critical Criminologist 3(4), 7, 8, 13, 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, S. and Milovanovic, D. (1994). The constitution of constitutive criminology: A postmodern approach to criminological theory. In D. Nelken (ed.), The Futures of Criminology. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry, S. and Milovanovic, D. (1996). Constitutive Criminology: Beyond Postermodernism. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, R. (2000). Toward a more “progressive criminology?” A rejoinder to Elliott Currie. Western Criminology Review 2(2).

  • Hinch, R. (1983). Marxist criminology in the 1970s: Clarifying the clutter. Crime and Social Justice 19, 65-74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, R. (1996). Criminological failure and governmental effect. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 8(1), 43-59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, A. (1990). Postmodernism and critical criminology. Critical Criminologist 2(1), 5, 6, 17, 18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, A. and Wickham, G. (1994). Foucault and Law[:] Towards a Sociology of Law and Governance. London, Boulder: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelter, D. (1992). A semiotic analysis of juvenile testimony in juvenile sexual assault cases: Narrative construction of justice-rendering. Critical Criminologist 4(1), 3, 4, 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, R. (1995). Capitalism's collapse: Henryk Grossmann's Marxism. Science and Society 59(2), 174-192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange, S. (1992). Rereading Giroux: Lacan's four discourses and a postmodern critique. Critical Criminologist 4(3/4), 3, 4, 11-14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laster, K. (1996). Feminist criminology: Coping with success. Current Issues in Criminal Justice 8(2), 192-200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lilly, R., Cullen, F., and Ball, R. (1989). Criminological Theory[:] Context and Consequences. Newbury Park/London/Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M. (1987). Quantitative analysis and Marxist criminology: Some old answers to a dilemma in Marxist criminology. Crime and Social Justice 29, 110-127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M., Lynch, R., and Milovanovic, D. (1995). Deconstruction and radical criminology: An analysis of post-modernism and its Possible uses in criminology. In R. Janikowski and D. Milovanovic (eds.), Legality and Illegality[:] Semiotics, Postmodernism and Law. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLean, B. and Milovanovic. D. (1991a). On critical criminology. In B. MacLean and D. Milovanovic (eds.), New Directions in Critical Criminology. Vancouver: Collective Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLean, B. and Milovanovic, D. (eds.) (1991b). New Directions in Critical Criminology. Vancouver: Collective Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandel, E. (1992). The current situation in the future of socialism. Socialism of the Future 1(1), 50-62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandel, M. (1996). The dialectics of constitutional repression. In T. O'Reilly-Fleming (ed.), Post-Critical Criminology. Scarborough Canada: Prentice Hall Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning, P.K. (1989). Critical semiotics. Critical Criminologist 1(4), 7, 8, 16, 18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning, P.K. (1990). Critical semiotics part II. Critical Criminologist 2(1), 5, 6, 16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, B. (1996). From shamans to shaming: A history of criminological thought. In K. Hazlehurst (ed.), Crime and Justice[:] An Australian Textbook in Criminology. North Ryde NSW Australia: LBC Information Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • McShane, M. and Williams, F. (1992). Radical victimology: A critique of the concept of victim in traditional victimology. Crime and Delinquency 38(2), 258-271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meiksins Wood, E. (1995). Democracy Against Capitalism[:] Renewing Historical Materialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. (1986). Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Crime: Toward a Socialist Feminist Criminology. Totowa NJ: Rowman and Crittlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. (1988). From Marx to Bonger: Socialist writings on women, gender, and crime. Sociological Inquiry 58(4), 378-393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messerschmidt, J. (1993). Masculinities and Crime[:] Critique and Reconceptualization of Theory. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalowski, R. (1996). Critical criminology and the critique of domination: The story of an intellectual movement. Critical Criminology 7(1), 9-16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, M. and Bryant, K. (1993). Predicting police behaviour: Ecology, class, and autonomy. American Journal of Criminal Justice 18(1), 133-151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milovanovic, D. (1989). Critical criminology and the challenge of post-modernism. Critical Criminologist 1(4), 9, 10, 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin, E. (2002). Une mondialisation plurielle. Le Monde/Selection Hebdomadaire. March 30, p. 8.

  • Morrison, W. (1994). Criminology, modernity and the “truth” of the human condition: Reflections on the melancholy of postmodernism. In D. Nelken (ed.), The Futures of Criminology. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muncie, J., McLaughlin, E. and Langan, M. (1996). Introduction. In J. Muncie, E. McLaughlin, and M. Langan (eds.), Criminological Perspectives[:] A Reader. London/ Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelken, D. (ed.) (1994). The Futures of Criminology. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nina, D. and Russell, S. (1997). Policing ‘by any means necessary’: Reflections on privatisation, human rights and police issues-considerations for Australia and South Africa. Australian Journal of Human Rights 3(2), 157-182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Opels, R. (1994). Social justice through peace education: Why nonviolence should be taught in the classroom. Critical Criminologist 6(2), 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Reilly-Fleming, T. (ed.) (1996). Post-Critical Criminology. Scarborough Canada: Prentice Hall Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Reilly-Fleming, T. (1996a). Preface. In T. O'Reilly-Fleming (ed.), Post-Critical Criminology. Scarborough Canada: Prentice Hall Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Reilly-Fleming, T. (1996b). Left realism as theoretical retreatism or paradigm shift: toward post-critical criminology. In T. O'Reilly-Fleming (ed.), Post-Critical Criminology. Scarborough Canada: Prentice Hall Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parekh, B. (1992). Marxism and the problem of violence. Development and Change 23(3), 103-120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pepinsky, H. and Quinney, R. (1991). Peacemaking Criminology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. (ed.) (1995). Crime and Inequality. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petras, J. and Polychroniou, D. (1996). Capitalist transformation: The relevance of and challenges of Marxism. In C. Polychroniou and H. Targ (eds.), Marxism Today[:] Essays on Capitalism, Socialism, and Strategies for Social Change. Westport CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phipps, A. (1986). Radical criminology and criminal victimization: Propsoals for the development of theory and intervention. In R. Matthews and J. Young (eds.), Confronting Crime. Beverly Hills, CA: Save, 97-117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polychroniou, C. and Targ, H. (1996) Capitalist transformation: The relevance and challenges of Marxism. In C. Polychroniou and H. Targ (eds.), Marxism Today[:] Essays on Capitalism, Socialism, and Strategies for Social Change. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinney, R. (1974a). Critique of the Legal Order: Crime Control in Capitalist Society. Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinney, R. (1974b). Criminal Justice in America: A Critical Understanding. Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinney, R. (1977). Class, State, and Crime: On the Theory and Practice of Criminal Justice. New York: D. McKay Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinney, R. (1995). Socialist humanism and the problem of crime. Crime, Law and Social Change 23, 147-156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratner, R.S. (1987). Wither critical criminology? Socialist Studies Bulletin [Canada] 7, 3-8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiman, J. (1995). The Marxian critique of criminal justice. In D. Caudill and S.J. Gold (eds.), Radical Philosophies of Law[:] Contemporary Challenges to Mainstream Legal Theory. New Jersey: Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiman, J. (1990). The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 3rd edn. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robitaille, A. (2002). L'internationale dont la gauche a toujours reve a pris naissance a Porto Alegre. Le Devoir, April 2. www.ledevoir.com/public/client-css/news-webview4fad. html?newsid=9215.

  • Russell, S. (1996). Profits before human needs: The case against private prisons in Australia. Imbizo [South Africa] 2, 10-12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, S. (1997). The failure of postmodern criminology. Critical Criminology 8(2), 61-90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schissel, B. (1996). Post-critical criminology and moral panics: Deconstructing the conspiracy against youth. In T. O'Reilly-Fleming (ed.), Post-Critical Criminology. Scarborough Canada: Prentice Hall Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. (1991). The future of critical criminology. In B. MacLean and D. Milovanovic (eds.), New Directions in Critical Criminology. Vancouver: Collective Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. and Friedrichs, D. (1994). Postmodern thought and criminological discontent: New Metaphors for understanding violence. Criminology 32(2), 221-246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwendinger, J. and Schwendinger, H. (1983). Rape and Inequality. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scraton, P. and Chadwick, K. (1996). The theoretical and political priorities of critical criminology. In J. Muncie, E. McLaughlin, and M. Langan (eds.), Criminological Perspectives[:] A Reader. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seaton, E. (1989). Profaned bodies and purloined looks: The prisoner's tattoo and the researcher's gaze. Journal of Communication Inquiry 11, 17-25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seoane, J. and Taddei, E. (2002). From Seattle to Porto Alegre: The anti-neoliberal globalization movements. Current Sociology 50(1), 99-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, C. (1996). Marx at the Millennium. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sims, B. (1997). Crime, punishment and the American dream: Toward a Marxist integration. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 34(1), 5-24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, M. (1994). Invisible Leviathan: The Marxist Critique of Market Despotism Beyond Postmodernism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spitzer, S. (1975). Toward a Marxian Tteory of deviance, Social Problems 22(5), 638-651.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, I., Walton, P., and Young, J. (1973). The New Criminology. London: RKP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, J. and O'Maolchatha, A. (1989). Reassessing the critical metaphor: An optimistic revisionist view. Justice Quarterly 6(2), 143-172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Swaaningen, R. (1997). Critical Criminology: Visions from Europe. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Swaaningen, R. (1999). Reclaiming critical criminology: Social justice and the European tradition. Theoretical Criminology 3(1), 5-28.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Swaaningen, R. and Taylor, I. (1994). Rethinking critical criminology[:] A panel discussion. Crime, Law and Social Change 21, 183-190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, R. (2001). “Repatriating” low-wage work: The political economy of prison labor reprivatization in the postindustrial United States. Criminology 39(2), 253-291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch, M. (1996). Critical criminology, social justice, and an alternative view of incarceration. Critical Criminology 7(2), 43-58.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (1996). Target hardening[:] Crime and the perception of the risk. Arena Magazine [Australia]. 25 (Oct.–Nov.), pp. 32-33.

  • White, R. and Haines, F. (1996). Crime and Criminology[:] An Introduction. SouthMelbourne Australia: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. and van der Velden, J. (1995). Class and criminality. Social Justice 22(1), 51-74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, L. (1991). Punishment, Crime and Market Forces. Brookfield, VT: Dartmouth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, A. (1996). Imagining Crime[:] Textual Outlaws and Criminal Conversations. London/Thousand Oaks/New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R.A. (2000). Left out? The coverage of critical perspectives in introductory criminology textbooks, 1990–1999. Critical Criminology 9(1/2), 101-122.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Stuart Russell

Authors
  1. Stuart Russell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Russell, S. The Continuing Relevance of Marxism to Critical Criminology. Critical Criminology 11, 113–135 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025560117048

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025560117048

Keywords

Search

Navigation