ABSTRACT
This chapter considers discusses the revitalizing criminology agenda which argues that the mistakes, weaknesses and cul-de-sacs of traditional liberal criminology are to be resolved in a new paradigm of ultra-realism. This draws heavily on the work of significant contemporary critical realist social theorists where it is argued that the context of criminological reality is provided by a global capitalism and neoliberalism which is in a condition of permanent intensifying crisis and insecurity. The scholars fundamentally follow the philosopher SlavojŽižek, whose work is infamously idiosyncratic and features striking reversals of received common sense while challenging many of the crucial assumptions of the contemporary left-liberal academy, including the elevation of difference or otherness to ends in themselves. Some have nevertheless articulate a series of reservations about ultra-realist crime causation theory whereby they (1) question the ability of the breakdown of the pseudo-pacification process to account for gender-related disparities in criminal behaviour; (2) critically consider the explanation of violence offered by ultra-realism through reference to drives, libidinal energy, and sublimation; and (3) outline reservations about special liberty with regard to its explanation of crime as an expression of capitalist values.
