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a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title"><a href="/wiki/Criminology" title="Criminology">Criminology</a> and <a href="/wiki/Penology" title="Penology">penology</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image" style="padding:0.5em 1.0em 1.0em;"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Pentonvilleiso19.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Pentonvilleiso19.jpg/220px-Pentonvilleiso19.jpg" decoding="async" width="220" height="145" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Pentonvilleiso19.jpg/330px-Pentonvilleiso19.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/Pentonvilleiso19.jpg/440px-Pentonvilleiso19.jpg 2x" data-file-width="797" data-file-height="525" /></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Theory</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist" style="padding-left:0.75em;padding-right:0.75em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anomie" title="Anomie">Anomie</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biosocial_criminology" title="Biosocial criminology">Biosocial criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" title="Broken windows theory">Broken windows</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Collective_efficacy" title="Collective efficacy">Collective efficacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crime_analysis" title="Crime analysis">Crime analysis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Criminalization" title="Criminalization">Criminalization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Differential_association" title="Differential association">Differential association</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deviance_(sociology)" title="Deviance (sociology)">Deviance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Expressive_function_of_law" title="Expressive function of law">Expressive function of law</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Labeling_theory" title="Labeling theory">Labeling theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Psychopathy" title="Psychopathy">Psychopathy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rational_choice_theory_(criminology)" title="Rational choice theory (criminology)">Rational choice</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Risk_and_actuarial_criminology" title="Risk and actuarial criminology">Risk & actuarial criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_control_theory" title="Social control theory">Social control</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_learning_theory" title="Social learning theory">Social learning</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strain_theory_(sociology)" title="Strain theory (sociology)">Strain</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subcultural_theory" title="Subcultural theory">Subculture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Symbolic_interactionism" title="Symbolic interactionism">Symbolic interactionism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Victimology" title="Victimology">Victimology</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Major theorists</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Émile Durkheim</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hans_Eysenck" title="Hans Eysenck">Hans Eysenck</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Enrico_Ferri_(criminologist)" title="Enrico Ferri (criminologist)">Enrico Ferri</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Michel_Foucault" title="Michel Foucault">Michel Foucault</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Alexandre_Lacassagne" title="Alexandre Lacassagne">Alexandre Lacassagne</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cesare_Lombroso" title="Cesare Lombroso">Cesare Lombroso</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Archibald_Reiss" title="Archibald Reiss">Archibald Reiss</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Types of <a href="/wiki/Crime" title="Crime">crime</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li>Against <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Crimes_against_humanity" title="Crimes against humanity">Humanity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Offence_against_the_person" title="Offence against the person">Person</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Offence_against_the_state" class="mw-redirect" title="Offence against the state">State</a></li></ul></li> <li>Class <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Blue-collar_crime" title="Blue-collar crime">Blue-collar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/White-collar_crime" title="White-collar crime">White-collar</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cold_case" title="Cold case">Cold case</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Perfect_crime" title="Perfect crime">Perfect</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Corporate_crime" title="Corporate crime">Corporate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hate_crime" title="Hate crime">Hate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_criminal_law" title="International criminal law">International</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Juvenile_delinquency" title="Juvenile delinquency">Juvenile</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Organized_crime" title="Organized crime">Organized</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_crime" title="Political crime">Political</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public-order_crime" title="Public-order crime"><span class="nowrap">Public-order</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/State_crime" title="State crime">State</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/State-corporate_crime" title="State-corporate crime">State-corporate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transnational_crime" title="Transnational crime">Transnational</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Victimless_crime" title="Victimless crime">Victimless</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/War_crime" title="War crime">War</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Methods</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Comparative_historical_research" title="Comparative historical research">Comparative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Offender_profiling" title="Offender profiling">Profiling</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory">Critical theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ethnography" title="Ethnography">Ethnography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Uniform_Crime_Reports" title="Uniform Crime Reports">Uniform Crime Reports</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crime_mapping" title="Crime mapping">Crime mapping</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crime_statistics" title="Crime statistics">Crime statistics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Positivist_school" class="mw-redirect" title="Positivist school">Positivist school</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Qualitative_research" title="Qualitative research">Qualitative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantitative_research" title="Quantitative research">Quantitative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bureau_of_Justice_Statistics" title="Bureau of Justice Statistics">BJS</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/National_Incident-Based_Reporting_System" title="National Incident-Based Reporting System">NIBRS</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="/wiki/Penology" title="Penology">Penology</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks" style="background-color: transparent; color: var( --color-base ); border-collapse:collapse; border-spacing:0px; border:none; width:100%; margin:0px; font-size:100%; clear:none; float:none"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Denunciation_(penology)" title="Denunciation (penology)">Denunciation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deterrence_(penology)" title="Deterrence (penology)">Deterrence</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Incapacitation_(penology)" title="Incapacitation (penology)">Incapacitation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Trial" title="Trial">Trial</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prison" title="Prison">Prison</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Prison_abolition_movement" class="mw-redirect" title="Prison abolition movement">abolition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Open_prison" title="Open prison">open</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prison_reform" title="Prison reform">reform</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prisoner" title="Prisoner">Prisoner</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Prisoner_abuse" title="Prisoner abuse">Prisoner abuse</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Prisoners%27_rights" title="Prisoners' rights">Prisoners' rights</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rehabilitation_(penology)" title="Rehabilitation (penology)">Rehabilitation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Recidivism" title="Recidivism">Recidivism</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#e9e9ff;font-weight:normal;padding-bottom:0.2em;"> <a href="/wiki/Justice" title="Justice">Justice</a> in penology</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content" style="padding-top:0.15em;padding-bottom:0.6em;;padding-bottom:0;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Participatory_justice" title="Participatory justice">Participatory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Restorative_justice" title="Restorative justice">Restorative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transformative_justice" title="Transformative justice">Transformative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Retributive_justice" title="Retributive justice">Retributive</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Justice#Utilitarian_justice" title="Justice">Utilitarian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Solitary_confinement" title="Solitary confinement">Solitary confinement</a></li></ul></td> </tr></tbody></table></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Schools</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anarchist_criminology" title="Anarchist criminology">Anarchist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Chicago_school_(sociology)" title="Chicago school (sociology)">Chicago</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classical_school_(criminology)" title="Classical school (criminology)">Classical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conflict_criminology" title="Conflict criminology">Conflict</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_criminology" title="Critical criminology">Critical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Environmental_criminology" title="Environmental criminology">Environmental</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Feminist_school_of_criminology" title="Feminist school of criminology">Feminist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Integrative_criminology" title="Integrative criminology">Integrative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Italian_school_of_criminology" title="Italian school of criminology">Italian</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Marxist_criminology" title="Marxist criminology">Marxist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neo-classical_school_(criminology)" title="Neo-classical school (criminology)">Neo-classical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Positivist_school" class="mw-redirect" title="Positivist school">Positivist</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernist_school" class="mw-redirect" title="Postmodernist school">Postmodernist</a></li> <li>Realism <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Left_realism" title="Left realism">Left</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Right_realism" title="Right realism">Right</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Subfields</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/American_Society_of_Criminology" title="American Society of Criminology">American</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Anthropological_criminology" title="Anthropological criminology">Anthropological</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Biosocial_criminology" title="Biosocial criminology">Biosocial criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conflict_criminology" title="Conflict criminology">Conflict</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Criminology" title="Criminology">Criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Critical_criminology" title="Critical criminology">Critical</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cultural_criminology" title="Cultural criminology">Culture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cybercrime" title="Cybercrime"> Cyber</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Demography" title="Demography">Demography</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Development_theory" title="Development theory">Development</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Environmental_criminology" title="Environmental criminology">Environmental</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Experimental_criminology" title="Experimental criminology">Experimental</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Organizational_theory" title="Organizational theory">Organizational</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Political_crime" title="Political crime">Political</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Public_criminology" title="Public criminology">Public</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Radical_criminology" title="Radical criminology">Radical criminology</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:#ddf;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)">Browse</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Index_of_criminology_articles" title="Index of criminology articles">Index</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Criminology_journals" title="Category:Criminology journals">Journals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Category:Criminology_organizations" title="Category:Criminology organizations">Organizations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/List_of_criminologists" title="List of criminologists">People</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Criminology_and_penology" title="Template:Criminology and penology"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Criminology_and_penology" title="Template talk:Criminology and penology"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Criminology_and_penology" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Criminology and penology"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>The <b>postmodernist school</b> in <a href="/wiki/Criminology" title="Criminology">criminology</a> applies <a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">postmodernism</a> to the study of crime and criminals. It is based on an understanding of "<a href="/wiki/Criminality" class="mw-redirect" title="Criminality">criminality</a>" as a product of the use of <a href="/wiki/Power_(social_and_political)" title="Power (social and political)">power</a> to limit the behaviour of those individuals excluded from power, but who try to overcome social inequality and behave in ways which the power structure prohibits. It focuses on the <a href="/wiki/Identity_(social_science)" title="Identity (social science)">identity</a> of the human subject, <a href="/wiki/Multiculturalism" title="Multiculturalism">multiculturalism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Feminism" title="Feminism">feminism</a>, and human relationships to deal with the concepts of "difference" and "otherness" without <a href="/wiki/Essentialism" title="Essentialism">essentialism</a> or <a href="/wiki/Reductionism" title="Reductionism">reductionism</a>, but its contributions are not always appreciated (Carrington: 1998). Postmodernists shift attention from <a href="/wiki/Marx" class="mw-redirect" title="Marx">Marxist</a> concerns of economic and social oppression to linguistic production, arguing that <a href="/wiki/Criminal_law" title="Criminal law">criminal law</a> is a <a href="/wiki/Language" title="Language">language</a> to create dominance relationships. For example, the language of courts (the so-called "legalese") expresses and institutionalises the domination of the individual, whether accused or accuser, criminal or victim, by social institutions. According to postmodernist criminology, the <a href="/wiki/Discourse" title="Discourse">discourse</a> of criminal law is dominant, exclusive and rejecting, less diverse, and <a href="/wiki/Culture" title="Culture">culturally</a> not <a href="/wiki/Pluralism_(political_philosophy)" title="Pluralism (political philosophy)">pluralistic</a>, exaggerating narrowly defined rules for the exclusion of others. </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definitional_issues">Definitional issues</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Definitional issues"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Postmodernism is associated with relativism and a focus on the role of ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power. Postmodernists are "skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person".<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2024)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> A crime might be defined on the basis that the behaviour represents a danger to <a href="/wiki/Society" title="Society">society</a> and it is designated as such in the penal code (<i>nullum crimen sine lege</i> the <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> presumption that there can be no crime without a law defining it as such). Human activity extends its range as society develops, and any of these activities (with or without reason) may be considered harmful for people and are therefore “extinguished” by society either through informal <a href="/wiki/Morality" title="Morality">moral</a> condemnation or by the <a href="/wiki/State_(polity)" title="State (polity)">state</a> when formal legal restrictions are infringed. There are overlapping explanations of criminality: </p> <ul><li>There is nothing inherently "criminal" in any given act; crime and criminality are relative terms, social constructs reflecting <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diachronic" class="extiw" title="wikt:diachronic">diachronic</a> social policies, e.g. one killing may be <a href="/wiki/Murder" title="Murder">murder</a>, another <a href="/wiki/Justifiable_homicide" title="Justifiable homicide">justifiable homicide</a>.</li> <li>Hess and Scheerer (1997) suggest that criminality is not so much an <a href="/wiki/Ontology" title="Ontology">ontological</a> phenomenon as a mental construct having an historical and protean character.</li> <li>Society “constructs” its elements on the basis of ontological realities. Thus, in reality certain types of human activity are harmful and damaging, and are understood and judged so by others, by society as a whole. But it is also true that other forms of criminal behaviour do not harm others and are therefore <a href="/wiki/Criminalisation" class="mw-redirect" title="Criminalisation">criminalised</a> without sufficient ontological grounds (see <a href="/wiki/Public_order_crime" class="mw-redirect" title="Public order crime">Public order crime</a>).</li> <li>Criminality is almost completely constructed by the controlling institutions which establish norms and attribute determinate meanings to certain acts; criminality is thus a social and linguistic construct.</li></ul> <p>This difficulty in defining the basic concept of criminality applies equally to questions concerning its causes; even in physical and biological systems it is difficult, although not impossible, to isolate the cause-effect link from its context of interrelationships. It is more difficult for social systems. Indeed, some<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Unsupported_attributions" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch"><span title="The material near this tag possibly uses too-vague attribution or weasel words. (January 2015)">who?</span></a></i>]</sup> argue that <a href="/wiki/Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">chaos theory</a> may provide a more appropriate model for what is termed the "<a href="/wiki/Social_science" title="Social science">social sciences</a>". Thus, for postmodernism, the key “criminogenic” factor is the change in society from hierarchical relationships to ones based on differentiation with the meta-codes for identity as the determinant for social inclusion/exclusion (Gilinskiy: 2001). </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Theoretical_concerns">Theoretical concerns</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Theoretical concerns"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1246091330"><table class="sidebar nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="background:#66ccff;"><a href="/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">Postmodernism</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-above" style="font-style:italic;font-weight:normal;"> Preceded by <a href="/wiki/Modernism" title="Modernism">Modernism</a></td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#aaddff;"> <a href="/wiki/Postmodernity" title="Postmodernity">Postmodernity</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Deconstruction" title="Deconstruction">Deconstruction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hypermodernity" title="Hypermodernity">Hypermodernity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hyperreality" title="Hyperreality">Hyperreality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Posthumanism" title="Posthumanism">Posthumanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-structuralism" title="Post-structuralism">Post-structuralism</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#aaddff;"> Fields</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernist_anthropology" title="Postmodernist anthropology">Anthropology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-processual_archaeology" title="Post-processual archaeology">Archaeology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_architecture" title="Postmodern architecture">Architecture</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_art" title="Postmodern art">Art</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Criminology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_dance" title="Postmodern dance">Dance</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_feminism" title="Postmodern feminism">Feminism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernist_film" title="Postmodernist film">Film</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_television" class="mw-redirect" title="Postmodern television">Television</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_literature" title="Postmodern literature">Literature</a> (<a href="/wiki/Postmodern_picture_book" title="Postmodern picture book">Picture books</a>)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_music" title="Postmodern music">Music</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernism_(international_relations)" class="mw-redirect" title="Postmodernism (international relations)">International relations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_philosophy" title="Postmodern philosophy">Philosophy</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Post-anarchism" class="mw-redirect" title="Post-anarchism">Anarchism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-Marxism" title="Post-Marxism">Marxism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postpositivism" title="Postpositivism">Postpositivism</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_psychology" title="Postmodern psychology">Psychology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodernism_in_political_science" title="Postmodernism in political science">Political science</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_theatre" title="Postmodern theatre">Theatre</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_theology" title="Postmodern theology">Theology</a> and <a href="/wiki/Postmodern_religion" title="Postmodern religion">Religion</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#aaddff;"> Reactions</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Criticism_of_postmodernism" title="Criticism of postmodernism">Criticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Metamodernism" title="Metamodernism">Metamodernism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Post-postmodernism" title="Post-postmodernism">Post-postmodernism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Remodernism" title="Remodernism">Remodernism</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading" style="background:#aaddff;"> Related</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content hlist"> <ul><li>"<a href="/wiki/Social_constructionism" title="Social constructionism">Social constructionism</a>" and <a href="/wiki/Social_constructivism" title="Social constructivism">social constructivism</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Postmodern_social_construction_of_nature" title="Postmodern social construction of nature"><span class="wrap">Social construction of nature</span></a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_construction_of_gender" title="Social construction of gender">Social construction of gender</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Social_construction_of_technology" title="Social construction of technology">Social construction of technology</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_turn" title="Linguistic turn">Linguistic turn</a></li></ul></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Postmodernism" title="Template:Postmodernism"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Postmodernism" title="Template talk:Postmodernism"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Postmodernism" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Postmodernism"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Postmodernism is associated with the decline of <a href="/wiki/Left-wing_politics" title="Left-wing politics">the left</a>'s credibility, specifically in the failure of <a href="/wiki/State_socialism" title="State socialism">state socialism</a> to offer an attractive and, later, even a viable alternative to Western <a href="/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalism</a>. Both Marxism and <a href="/wiki/Socialism" title="Socialism">socialism</a> derived their philosophical foundation from the <a href="/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a>. Postmodernism is a critique of the Enlightenment and of scientific <a href="/wiki/Positivism" title="Positivism">positivism</a> which has argued that the world can be understood and both "<a href="/wiki/Truth" title="Truth">truth</a>" and "<a href="/wiki/Justice" title="Justice">justice</a>" can be discovered by applying the universal linear principle of reason (see Milovanovic, who describes the shift from <a href="/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel" title="Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel">Hegelian</a> to <a href="/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche" title="Friedrich Nietzsche">Nietzschean</a> and <a href="/wiki/Jacques_Lacan" title="Jacques Lacan">Lacanian</a> thought). The idea that the application of scientific principles to social life will uncover the laws of society, making human life predictable and social engineering practical and possible, is discounted. Postmodernists argue that this claim for the universality of reason was ethnocentric in that it privileged one Western view of the world while discounting other views (Kiely, 1995: 153-154). and truth claims were part of a relationship of domination, a claim to power. Given the history of <a href="/wiki/Colonialism" title="Colonialism">colonialism</a> and <a href="/wiki/Globalisation" class="mw-redirect" title="Globalisation">globalisation</a> in both the physical and the intellectual world, this critique asserts righteous indignation and moral superiority. In postmodernism, "truth" and "falsity" are purely relative; each culture has its own standard for judging truth that is not inherently superior to any other. Postmodernist analysis is a method to uncover how the world is made to appear real, "thereby questioning that it is real in truth or fact, or that there is any way of making such judgements". No truth claim, and certainly not Enlightenment scientism, rests on any more secure foundation than any other. No knowledge claim is privileged. </p><p>The main weakness of <a href="/wiki/Relativism" title="Relativism">relativism</a> is that it offers no basis for evaluation. Henry and Milovanovic (1996) posit that all claims are to be considered valid, all social practices merely cultural variations, neither inherently inferior nor superior to any other. This may be potentially progressive because it challenges the absolutist assumptions of the superiority of, for example, Western <a href="/wiki/Economics" title="Economics">economics</a> and <a href="/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism">capitalism</a>. But it does not challenge the <i>status quo</i>. On the contrary, as Kiely (1995: 155) argues, appeals for tolerance and pluralism "at its worse . . . simply ignores, or even becomes an apology for, all kinds of oppressive practices" that violate any sense of <a href="/wiki/Human_rights" title="Human rights">human</a> and <a href="/wiki/Social_rights" class="mw-redirect" title="Social rights">social rights</a>. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="The_human_subject">The human subject</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: The human subject"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The human subject is said to be one or a number of <a href="/wiki/Ideology" title="Ideology">ideological</a> constructions which are transient, multifaceted works-in-process. The discourse has the power to create a convincing truth claim about the reality of any subject that is historically conditioned, particularly when depicting human action. Subjects are continually recreating themselves while simultaneously continually recreating the social context that shapes their identity and potential for action as well as the identity and potential of others to act. Human agents are all "investors" in constructing their version of reality. Praxis is defined as purposive social activity born of human agents' consciousness of their world, and mediated through the social groups to which they belong". It assumes dualistic forms, such as negation/affirmation. Hierarchies are often reconstituted through negation; they are subject to deconstruction through affirmation. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Structure">Structure</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Structure"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The human subject is a "role-maker", an agent who can occupy situations and may act contingently in relation to others to affirm or negate their representations. Whereas early conceptions of structure posited an underlying "reality" which could be understood <a href="/wiki/Empiricism" title="Empiricism">empirically</a>, postmodernism, considers structural contexts to be constituted by the discourse to produce culturally and historically specific representations which are imbued with object-like reality and attain relative stability. In this process, other representations are silenced or denied and the human agency that constituted the contingent and transitory "reality" may be hidden. At any instance, however, certain depictions gain ascendancy and are strengthened by social action which is undertaken in relation to them. Social actors "invest" in these depictions; they organise action to defend specific representations, giving them the appearance of stability and producing the dynamics of subordination and oppression. Social change creates competing discourses and, for a time, alternative realities. When change begins, initial states are always uncertain and through iteration over time, produce outcomes. Inevitably, as change is occurring, cracks and slippage exist, providing the basis for strategic intervention. Action is then organised to defend or deny the representation. In the end, structures as well as subjects possess "relative autonomy" while being co-dependent. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Crime_and_harmfulness">Crime and harmfulness</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Crime and harmfulness"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Crime and the identification of harm are categories constituted by the discourse but they are, nevertheless, "real" in their consequences. There may be harms of reduction, which occur when a social agent experiences a loss of some quality, and harms of repression, which occur when a social agent experiences a restriction preventing the achievement of a desired end. Crime is the outcome of an agent's "investment" in constituting a difference which, through the exercise of "disrespecting" power over others, denies their full humanity and, thereby, renders them powerless to constitute their own differences. Far from being confined to "law", in this expanded view, the exercise of power is the genesis of harms of all types and, hence, of crime. Law merely legitimises existing social relations of power. Crime, then, is a contingent "universality": Victims are numerous but are constituted contingently, relative to historically specifiable relations of power. Power itself is produced and maintained through ideology, through discursive practices. While all humans invest in their respective constructions of reality, some become "excessive investors", conflating socially constructed differences with differential evaluations of worth, reinforcing a social hierarchy while suppressing others' co-production, rendering them silent. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Carrington, K. (1998). "Postmodernism and Feminist Criminologies: Fragmenting the Criminological Subject". in <i>The New Criminology Revisited</i>. Walton, P. & Young, J. (eds.). London: Macmillan.</li> <li>Henry, Stuart & Milovanovic, Dragan. (1996). <i>Constitutive Criminology: Beyond Postmodernism</i>. London: Sage.</li> <li>Gilinskiy, Y. (2001). "Concept of Criminality in Contemporary Criminology". Papers of St. Petersburg's Juridical Institute of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russian Federation. No 3. pp74-79. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061112223015/http://www.erces.com/journal/articles/archives/v02/v_02_06.htm">[1]</a></li> <li>Hess, H. & Scheerer, S. (1997) "Was ist Kriminalität?" <i>Kriminologische Journal</i>. Heft 2.</li> <li>Kiely, Ray 1995 Sociology and Development: The Impasse and Beyond. London: UCL Press.</li> <li>Milovanovic, Dragan. <i>Dueling Paradigms: Modernist v Postmodernist Thought</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="https://archive.today/20000824105201/http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~critcrim/papers/drag-pomo.html">[2]</a></li> <li>Thomson, Anthony. (1997). <i>Post-Modernism and Social Justice</i>. Acadia University. June.</li></ul>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&oldid=1225741172">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Postmodernist_school_(criminology)&oldid=1225741172</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Category</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Criminology" title="Category:Criminology">Criminology</a></li></ul></div><div id="mw-hidden-catlinks" class="mw-hidden-catlinks mw-hidden-cats-hidden">Hidden categories: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_lacking_in-text_citations_from_August_2019" title="Category:Articles lacking in-text citations from August 2019">Articles lacking in-text citations from August 2019</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_lacking_in-text_citations" title="Category:All articles lacking in-text citations">All articles lacking in-text citations</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_unsourced_statements" title="Category:All articles with unsourced statements">All articles with unsourced statements</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_unsourced_statements_from_May_2024" title="Category:Articles with unsourced statements from May 2024">Articles with unsourced statements from May 2024</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_specifically_marked_weasel-worded_phrases" title="Category:All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases">All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Articles_with_specifically_marked_weasel-worded_phrases_from_January_2015" title="Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2015">Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from January 2015</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 26 May 2024, at 12:09<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. 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