ABSTRACT
This book began by identifying some of the key themes which have underpinned both the disciplines of criminology and victimology as they have tried to develop an understanding of the nature of criminal behaviour and its impact. One of those themes, which feminist work has challenged, provides a thread of continuity between these disciplinary areas and other social sciences. That thread is concerned with questions of what constitutes rational knowledge for the social sciences. The feminist challenge on this issue has encouraged a critical analysis of what counts as knowledge and who can possess it. In a similar vein to the implications derivable from the quote by MacIntyre, that feminist work has led to a consideration of alternative ways of characterising that which counts as rational knowledge. In the context of the study of crime and the law, this
has also led to a consideration of alternative ways of characterising what counts as justice. The debate engendered by these explorations raises a more fundamental debate concerning whether, as a consequence, this means that all knowledge is relative; a position which those fully committed to positivism would find difficult to accept but one which postmodernism would accommodate more readily. These issues aside, the general purpose of this chapter is to consider the fruitfulness of alternative ways of thinking about the law and justice which have been derived from feminist work in this area and the value of exploring such questions through the lens of masculinity.
