Left Realism

Definition of Left Realism

The Canada social science dictionary [1] provides the following meaning of Left Realism: A criminological perspective emerging in Britain in response to the rise of neo-conservatism. The right-wing politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher made it clear that left-leaning criminology had little impact on social policy and was going to have little significance in the future. Some critical criminologists struggled to make their work relevant and did so by focusing on the working class as victims of street crime, state and corporate crime and women as victims of male crime. They asserted that official studies of crime underestimated victimization of the working class and women and supported community controlled research as a method of getting at the ‘reality’ of their experience. Social policies to reduce victimization of marginal communities, involve communities in crime prevention, return political control to local communities and increase police accountability follow from this beginning point. Left realism can be contrasted with left idealism, which, while also believing that the structure of capitalism is the culprit in crime, tended to see working class crime as acts of rebellion or political resistance. This can be seen as a somewhat romantic or idealistic view.

Left Realism: Resources

Notes and References

• Drislane, R., & Parkinson, G. (2016). (Concept of) Left Realism. Online dictionary of the social sciences. Open University of Canada