So, what Exactly is cultural About Criminology?

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze and critique cultural criminology's most prominent arguments. I contend that the project is plagued by widespread confusion regarding what is meant by "culture" when discussing criminal and deviant conduct. Both recent theoretical frameworks that attempt to analyze crime from a cultural perspective and large-scale empirical research of cultural criminology contain these flaws. In this article, I argue that cultural criminology's claim that the cultural lens is a critical tool for understanding criminal acts is undermined by the field's superficial engagement with classic debates in social anthropology. Gouldner's (1975) accusation that cultural criminologists are just "zoo-keepers" of modern-day deviance is easy to make because of the lack of a comprehensive theoretical explanation of culture.

Keywords:  cultural criminology's, social anthropology, criminal acts, cultural perspective.