ABSTRACT
This chapter explores serial homicide, one of the rarest forms of violent crime but arguably the most prominent in the popular cultural sphere. Serial homicide is viewed through the lens of Lacan's Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic, returning to questions of aetiology and motivation in an attempt to understand why serial killers kill. Medico-psychological and structural approaches are critically considered prior to evaluating the potential contribution of a multi-level, ultra-realist conceptual framework. The chapter concludes that it is no longer helpful to consider serial killers the antithesis of mainstream social values. In a neoliberal, consumer capitalist society, they are the extreme embodiment of these values, and it is high time our theoretical tools took account of this.
