The demise of the criminological imagination: A critique of recent criminology

Abstract

While there have been some imaginative theoretical works in the past decade, little of that work has become accepted by the criminological field. Instead, the focus has been on the development of methodological and technical tools, even to the extent that theory development itself has been tied to the general movement. The argument presented here is that more useful and insightful theories are products of imagination and speculation. Thus, the current movement is largely useful for testing theories of the past, but not for developing theories of the future. Three general explanations for this state of affairs are provided: the specificity of empirical theory, the implications of the sociologies of the 1960s, and the rise of criminal justice vis-a-vis criminology. The answer to this problem lies in the development of critical and creative thought within our field and graduate schools in particular.