Confronting Progressive Retreatism and

Minimalism: The Role of a New Left Realist

Approach
Walter S.DeKeseredy & Martin
D.Schwartz

Critical Criminology
The official Journal of the ASC Division
on Critical Criminology and the ACJS
Section on Critical Criminology
ISSN 1205-8629
Crit Crim
DOI 10.1007/s10612-013-9192-5

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Crit Crim
DOI 10.1007/s10612-013-9192-5

Confronting Progressive Retreatism and Minimalism:

The Role of a New Left Realist Approach
Walter S. DeKeseredy Martin D. Schwartz

 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract Left realists continue to offer progressive ways of studying and solving various
types of crime in the streets, in the suites, and in intimate relationships. This article briefly
describes the central themes, assumptions, and concepts of left realism and charts new
directions in research, theory, and policy. Special attention is devoted to using new electronic
technologies and to responding to the rabid corporatization of institutions of higher learning.

Introduction
In November, 2012, people around the world, including progressives living in the US,
celebrated the re-election of President Barak Obama. After all, if neo-liberalism was in
over-drive at that time, it would definitely have been turbo-charged under Republican
leadership. This does not mean that the current political economic state of affairs will get
better, and there is already plenty of evidence indicating that it will get worse. For critical
scholars, it may seem painfully obvious, but this era is riddled with rabid corporate greed,
interpersonal violence, corporate crime, numerous assaults on indigenous sovereignty and
the environment, international racist and xenophobic state policies thinly disguised as
national security measures, and widespread sexism and homophobia.
Within criminology, what is to be done about law and order? This has been a central
concern for left realists ever since that query about the future of criminal justice was used
as the title of Lea and Youngs (1984) ground-breaking book. Unfortunately, many people
today have simply given up. As Currie (2013:3) puts it:

W. S. DeKeseredy (&)
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, University of Ontario Institute of Technology,
Oshawa, ON L1N 8X5, Canada
e-mail: walter.dekeseredy@uoit.ca
M. D. Schwartz
Department of Sociology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
e-mail: schwartm@gwu.edu

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[T]here is a sense that there is not much anybody can do about it. There is a
widespread sense that the alternatives to an out-of-control capitalism have also failed
or are simply irrelevant in this new global age. The result is a kind of deep resignation - a profound pessimism, even among many progressive people, about the
possibilities for a better society (emphasis in original).
Numerous other progressives, including some who are liberal or critical criminologists,
have not given up, but rather continue down the well-worn paths of what Currie (1992)
refers to as progressive retreatism and progressive minimalism. The former approach
involves embracing parts of conservative policies to win elections, while the latter tends to
minimize the seriousness of the crime and/or drug problem and attempts to minimize
the role of the state in dealing with it (1992:91). Certainly, many progressives have
justified voting for politicians who promote regressive politics, because he or she is less
right-wing than the opponent. Minimalists have often declared a concern with inner-city or
street crime to be a form of racism, fed by media moral panics. Of course, while the call
has always been to study corporate malfeasance rather than working class crime, there is a
vibrant cohort of critical scholars who mainly study state and corporate crimes but do not
trivialize predatory street crime and the abuse of intimate partners and family members.1
The intention here is not to rekindle the dated and destructive debates between left realists
and those they previously labelled as left idealists.2 The original left realist writings of Jock
Young, John Lea, and Roger Matthews sent shock waves through radical criminology,
opening up personal disputes and ideological cleavages that endure today (Hayward
2010:264). Nevertheless, it is necessary to develop a richer, critical understanding of
crimes at the bottom and effective new alternatives to progressive retreatism and
minimalism. The main objective of this paper, then, is to help set out a new left realist
agenda, one that, in the words of Currie (2013:14), has the potential to inspire, and to
mobilize broad constituencies behind real solutions to the endemic problems of predatory
capitalism. Our recommendations, however, are not restricted to the relationship between
social class and crime. Consistent with scholars who focus on intersectionality (e.g, Collins
2000; Potter 2008; Miller 2009), the ways in which race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality
shape crime and social control are viewed as equally important. It is to the central themes,
assumptions, and concepts of left realism that we turn to first.

Overview of Left Realist Criminology

Left realism was born in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
The writings of Young (1975, 1979), Platt (1978), and Taylor (1981) sparked this variant
of critical criminology, but the flames did not emerge until the publication of Lea and
Youngs (1984) What is to Be Done about Law and Order? and Curries (1985) Confronting Crime: An American Challenge. Due, in large part, to the intellectual and political
efforts of Brian Maclean and John Lowman, left realism garnered the attention of a few
Canadians in the late 1980s and Walter DeKeseredy continues to identify himself with this
school of thought. As well, some Australian scholars, such as Brown and Hogg (1992a, b),
1

See, for example, Chambliss et al. (2010), Doig (2011), Friedrichs (2010), and Rothe and Mullins (2011).

Left realists once argued left idealists are those who offer simplistic and flawed theories of working class
crime, crude instrumental Marxist theories of the state, only pay attention to elite deviance, trivialized street
crime, and who suggest weak strategies for progressive social change (DeKeseredy and Schwartz 1996;
Schwartz and DeKeseredy 1991; Young 1979; Currie 1992).

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engaged with left realism in the early 1990s, but this approach currently receives little, if
any, attention in the Pacific Rim.
In its infancy, left realism was primarily concerned with predatory street crime (e.g.,
mugging) because most critical criminologists at that time ignored the causes and possible
control of crimes committed by members of the working class against other members of
the working class. Of course, there were exceptions to this sweeping generalization, chief
among them being the critical studies of violence against women, children, and members
of certain ethnic groups. Even so, the general failure to acknowledge working-class crime
came at a great price to the left. It indirectly helped conservative politicians in several
countries to claim opposition to street crime as their own issue, giving them room to
generate ideological support for harsh law and order policies, and establishing in the
minds of politicians around the world that conservatives are the only experts on crime and
policing. Progressive minimalism helped to perpetuate an image of progressives being
both fuzzy-minded and, much worse, unconcerned about the realities of life for those
ordinary Americans who are understandably frightened and enraged by the suffering and
fear crime brings to their communities and families (Currie 1992:91). Someone who just
was raped and had their wallet stolen would rarely react well to accusations that complaints
about street crime were a form of racism or a social construction of Rupert Murdoch.
Empowered by their realization that the primary victims of working class crime was in
fact working class members themselves, British left realism in the 1980s mainly concerned
itself with progressive criminal justice reforms. They received both attention and criticism
from the left for their ideas on the democratic control of policing with an aim toward
minimal policing, or law enforcement only in those areas where the community wanted a
police presence (Kinsey et al. 1986). North American realists were also concerned with
reforming the criminal justice system, but many of their proposals moved (both then and
now) outward to embrace economic policies, social services, and community crime prevention (DeKeseredy and Schwartz 1991a). It is an important argument of North American
realists that one cannot assume, as many do, that the criminal justice system is solely
responsible for dealing with crime and that other state agencies should manage the social,
economic, or family problems that criminologists believe cause this crime. Such thinking
does not consider how decisions on economic issues (e.g., deindustrialization, cuts to social
services, etc.) may significantly influence the rate of predatory street crime. Thus,
according to Currie (1985:19):
The failure to make these necessary connections between causes and consequences
stifles the development of intelligent policies to prevent criminal violence, and
burdens the criminal justice system with the impossible job of picking up the pieces
after broader social policies have done their damage.
In the early days, left realists on both sides of the Atlantic centered their attention on
street crime, in an attempt to fill the vacuum of thinking on the left about such crime that
existed through the 1980s. This left little time to pay attention to crimes of the powerful.3
Today, there is more attention such as the work that realists are doing toward developing
policies aimed at the highly injurious effects of new electronic technologies in the distribution of violent pornography (DeKeseredy 2011a, b; DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2014).
Nonetheless, their critics are correct in suggesting that left realists need to do more work on
developing progressive initiatives aimed at reducing crimes of the powerful.
3

In the early 1990s, a few critical criminologists produced a small body of literature on corporate crime
(DeKeseredy and Goff 1992; Pearce 1992; Pearce and Tombs 1992).

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Left realism offers much more than simply progressive, short-term solutions to crime,
although it would be hard to find this out by reading mainstream criminology texts.
Although many books include material on left realism today, a typical treatment might be
found in the conflict theory chapter in a popular Canadian undergraduate text, Dupont
(2012) includes extensive material on left realism, but virtually nothing on theory. Turning
to American textbooks that focus on criminology theory, Akers and Sellers (2009:260)
report:
In short, left realists are former radical or critical criminologists who have recognized the reality of crime, have softened their critique of capitalist society and the
criminal justice system, and are now advocating less radical and more ameliorative
reform. The empirical validity of left realism, however, has not been established. The
question is what theory of crime or criminal justice is proposed by left realists that
can be tested? Reactions to the idealism of the left and proposals for more realistic
reform of the system are not theoretical explanations; they are philosophical and
political statements about what society should be and how the system ought to
operate. Do left realists go beyond these statements to offer a new testable explanation of crime or of criminal justice as an alternative to existing theory? Despite
calls by left realists themselves to engage in detailed empirical investigation
rather than dogmatically reiterate abstract beliefs (Matthews 1987:377), the answer
is not yet.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual for people who have not read the large left realist
theoretical literature to feel comfortable making pronouncements that it does not exist.
There remains some question as to whether this problem results from unfamiliarity, or from
selective inattention. The favor, however, is not returned. While few traditional criminologists have borrowed concepts from critical offerings,4 one variant of left realist theory
draws from those developed by traditional scholars such as Merton (1938) or Cohen
(1955). For instance, Lea and Young (1984) argued that relative deprivationnot absolute
deprivationcauses political discontent that leads to crime. As well, they maintained that
working class people lacking legitimate means of solving the problem of relative deprivation may come into contact with other frustrated, disenfranchised people and form
subcultures, which, in turn, encourage and legitimate criminal conduct.
More recently, DeKeseredy and Schwartz (2010) built upon this theory and contend that
in this current neo-liberal era, criminogenic subcultural development in advanced Western
societies is heavily shaped by the devastating effects of right-wing Milton Friedman or
Chicago School economic policies and marginalized mens attempts to live up to the
principles of what Connell (1995) defines as hegemonic masculinity.5 Woman abuse in
intimate relationships (e.g., sexual assault and beatings), an issue absent from Lea and
Young (1984) is also addressed in DeKeseredy and Schwartzs perspective. In fact, since
they first started engaging with left realism (see DeKeseredy and Schwartz 1991a, b;
Schwartz and DeKeseredy 1991), these two North Americans consistently made gender
and other feminist issues integral parts of their theoretical developments.
4

One notable exception to this rule is Robert Agnew. His Toward a Unified Criminology (2011) stands
apart from most orthodox theory books, as he tries to set the stage for a unified theory of crime, one that
embraces the strengths of all major theories, including critical perspectives.

The basic components of hegemonic masculinity are: men are supposed to avoid all things feminine;
restrict their emotions severely; show toughness and aggression; exhibit self-reliance; strive for achievement
and status; exhibit nonrelational attitudes toward sexuality; and actively engage in homophobia (DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2014; Levant 1994).

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The concept of subculture is also found in Gibbs (2010) left realist theory of terrorism,
and feminist concerns are part and parcel of Dragiewiczs (2010) left realist perspective on
anti-feminist fathers rights group activism. Some left realists, though, are striking out in
new directions. For instance, Matthews (2009) refashioned left realist theory prioritizes
the role of the state, class, and structure in his effort to explain crime and punishment.
Moreover, Currie (2004) provides a theory of white, middle class delinquency that
emphasizes the role of modern social Darwinist culture.
There are other left realist theories,6 but it is beyond the scope of this article to review
them here. The most important point to consider is that realists are involved in ongoing
theoretical projects and see intellectual endeavors to be just as important as policy work.
For reasons to be described in a subsequent section, such thinking about criminological
theory is increasingly becoming rare in many North American institutions of higher
learning (DeKeseredy 2012; Hall and Winlow 2012).
Critical criminologists are well known for their disdain for what Mills (1959) coined as
abstracted empiricism (research divorced from theory), which continues to dominate US
criminology (DeKeseredy 2012; Young 2011). Yet, the critical opposition to positivism is
generally defined by mainstream criminologists as being anti-research and non-science. For example, Kubrin et al. (2009:239) claim that the critical criminological literature is characterized by too many ideas and not enough systematic research and most
empirical studies are illustrative of, but do not actually test theory (emphasis in original).
Many things could be said about this statement, but the most important reaction is reiterating that critical criminology is much more than a theoretical and/or political enterprise.
It also entails using a variety of research methods to study crimes at the top, crimes at the
bottom, societal reactions to these harms, and how crime, law, and social control are
influenced by broader social, political, and economic forces.7 Within critical criminology,
however, left realism was the first to warmly embrace the use of quantitative methods. In
its early days, it relied heavily on gathering and analyzing local victimization survey data,
such as the widely cited statistics generated by the first and second sweeps of the Islington
Crime Survey conducted in inner-city London (Crawford et al. 1990; Jones et al. 1986).
These surveys, and others modeled after them (e.g., DeKeseredy et al. 2003), generated
much higher incidence and prevalence rates of male-to-female physical and sexual violence in adult intimate relationships, sexual and verbal harassment of gays, lesbians, and
people of color in public places, and corporate crime, than orthodox government studies
like the ongoing US National Crime Victimization Survey. Even so, contrary to what many
scholars believe (e.g., Dupont 2012), the local victimization survey is not the only method
used by left realists to collect and analyze crime data. For example, DeKeseredy and
Schwartz used Canadian national self-report survey data on woman abuse in university/
college dating to test hypotheses derived from feminist theories, male peer support theory,
and routine activities theory. Another scientific study was recently conducted by DeKeseredy, a purely qualitative study of separation and divorce sexual assault in rural Ohio that
was partially informed by left realist thought (see DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2009). Certainly, the policies proposed to curb this type of woman abuse are heavily influenced by the
ongoing left realist quest to seek progressive short-term solutions that chip away at
broader structural and cultural forces (Messerschmidt 1986).

See DeKeseredy and Schwartz (2012) for an in-depth review of left realist theories.

See DeKeseredy (2011a), DeKeseredy and Dragiewicz (2012) for reviews of recent critical criminological
research on a variety of topics.

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In sum, left realism continues to make its mark in the field. Still, like any type of
criminology, it has pitfalls and needs to pursue new avenues of inquiry, new ways of
theorizing crime, and new policy developments without distancing itself from its roots. It is
to these concerns that we turn to next.

The Future of Left Realism

It is not the responsibility of any type of criminology to address every social problem,
although it often seems that a central pastime of many criminologists is to criticize their
peers work for missing something. Of course, the good side of this is that intense academic debates are healthy, exciting, and foster intellectual growth. Certainly this has
happened within left realism, as it has provided the motivation to engage new issues. Four
in particular warrant attention here: (1) rural crime and social control, (2) the corporatization of institutions of higher learning, (3) the relationship between race/ethnicity and
crime, and (4) new electronic technologies.
Rural Crime and Social Control
Most criminologies are urban-centric and this was certainly also true of left realism until a few
years ago (Donnermeyer 2012). Left realists were trying to fill a major void in critical thinking
about inner-city, working class crime. Yet, over 20 years ago, some scholars viewed left
realism as having the potential to enhance a critical, social scientific understanding of rural
crime. For instance, US mainstream criminologist Wood (1990:14) argued that:
Not only can left realism provide aid to the study of rural crime, but the study of rural
crime can also support the foundations of left realism. That rural areas can also be
impacted by working class crime provides much to the left realist argument that the
study of such behavior must go beyond the perspectives which have been fed to
scholars for a long time now. And when we consider that the political economic
situations of both inner-city citizens and rural citizens are similar, left realism is
provided with further justification for trying to provide a socialist response to
working class criminality.
To date, only two scholars answered Woods call (DeKeseredy and Donnermyer 2013;
Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy 2008). They describe the relevance of the left realist
square of crime or what Lea (2010:144) calls the social relations of crime control to
an understanding of rural crime and social control. This is a novel contribution because,
still to this day, the theoretical contributions most commonly used to understand rural
crime are place-based perspectives, such as social disorganization theory (Donnermeyer
and DeKeseredy 2014). Furthermore, the ever-expanding corpus of rural criminology is
largely atheoretical and is mostly composed of either quantitative, statistical studies or indepth qualitative studies (Donnermeyer 2012). Definitely, more theoretical work of any
sort is required and left realism can help achieve this goal.
One possible new direction in left realist theoretical work on rural crime involves
applying the concept of subculture. For example, somewhat similar to the youth groups
studied and theorized by the Birmingham Universitys Center for Contemporary Cultural
Studies (Hall and Jefferson 1975), rural areas spawn varieties of resistant and oppositional
subcultures, often spawned by decades of poverty and social, cultural, and political
exclusion (Donnermeyer 2012; Fisher 1993; Stough-Hunter 2010). These oppositional

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groups express their resistance through music, language, and behaviors that make them
distinctive from the mainstream, which is important subject matter for left realists as well
as cultural criminologists (e.g., Ferrell et al. 2008; Muzzatti 2012). Also, Donnermeyer
(2012) and Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy (2014) observe that violations of wildlife and
hunting regulations (Forsyth et al. 1998), varieties of rural-located drug production (Weisheit 1992, 1993, 2008), and other legal violations can be viewed as forms of subcultural
behavior based on rural context reflected in dependency and resistance.
Two years after Woods (1990) call for a rural left realism, DeKeseredy (1992) recommended that left realist local victimization surveys be administered in rural, isolated,
and aboriginal communities. This goal has yet to be achieved; however, some mainstream
scholars have conducted surveys of violence against Native women in parts of the US (e.g.,
Samaniego et al. 2010; Wood and Magen 2009). The next logical step, then, is to design a
rural victimization survey that specifically addresses a broader range of left realist concerns. Additionally, regardless of where they are conducted, left realists need to design
more self-report surveys to capture richer data on the factors that motivate people to
commit crime (DeKeseredy et al. 2004). Certain offenses such as drug use, sex trade work,
delinquency, drinking and driving, and shoplifting are typically excluded from victimization surveys, but can be measured by self-report surveys (Maxfield and Babbie 2005).
Left realists may have much more theoretical and empirical work to do on rural crime
and societal reactions to it, but they have a strong track record of proposing progressive,
short-term reforms in North Americas heartland, especially those aimed at reducing
violence against women (see DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2009). On top of this, their recommendations are not simply calls for specific actions that can be initiated at the local
level by citizens, law enforcement, and various criminal justice agencies. For example,
Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy (2014) recommend stricter gun control (especially in light
of Adam Lanzas December 2012 mass killing in Newtown, Connecticut), the creation of
meaningful employment, job training and education, and other initiatives that move well
beyond the limited realm of the criminal justice system.
Nonetheless, as rural criminologists Weisheit et al. (2006) correctly point out, the
development of effective policies requires a strong, empirically-based understanding of the
needs of rural people and such an understanding is currently in short supply. Also,
regardless of what left realist solutions are developed and suggested for rural crime, from
woman abuse to agricultural crime and everything in between, they must always be highly
sensitive to the local context of the specific communities in which they are designed
(DeKeseredy and Donnermyer 2013). Above all, left realist solutions must be translated
into meaningful social action (Currie 2010:122).
Responding to the Corporatization of Institutions of Higher Learning
It was never easy being a critical criminologist in the academy and it is getting harder
because universities and colleges are pushing for more applied or practical criminology
programs aimed at helping students acquire jobs in state agencies or in private businesses
specializing in social control (DeKeseredy 2012; Huey 2011). Meanwhile, critical criminology is almost invisible in most university curricula (Frederick 2012). Rewards tend to
go to those who can bring in external funds from mainstream groups, while an emerging
cadre of senior college and university administrators, under pressure from Boards of
Governors, compel faculty to develop partnerships with large corporations that are
hardly sympathetic to critical thinking and more equitable and less punitive systems of
governance (DeKeseredy 2013).

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It should also be noted that in North America, as elsewhere, part-time faculty greatly
outnumber tenured professors (Finder 2007; Fordyce 2011). Not only is this a stealth
method of eliminating tenure (Unger 1995), but it also tends to keep insecure instructors
from speaking out against corporatization and the assault on thinking critically about
crime. Part-time or adjunct faculty have more to fear from students teaching evaluations,
which may also keep many from devoting much, if any, attention to theoretical concerns
(DeKeseredy 2012). Not catering to student pre-conceived interests could endanger the
employment of contingent faculty.
Critical criminologists may be under attack in many countries, but they are not banding
together to effectively challenge these threats (Huey 2011). In a political economic
atmosphere riddled with rabid conservative attacks on the liberal arts and humanities, the
time is ripe for developing initiatives aimed at warding off attempts to turn university and
colleges into non-academic training grounds for future agents of social control. Left realists
are well-trained to develop short-term solutions and thus they should direct their attention
to the role they can play in higher education.
Race/Ethnicity and Crime
Left realists are no strangers to issues of race/ethnicity and some of them focus on how this
factor comes into play in the creation of violent or socially deviant subcultures and
criminal justice responses to members of certain racial/ethnic groups (DeKeseredy 1996;
DeKeseredy and Schwartz 2010; Jones et al. 1986; Kinsey et al. 1986; Lea and Young
1984; Young 1992). However, this has not included all people of color. With the exception
of the Currie et al. (1990) analysis of racist police practices in Canadian Aboriginal
communities, there has not been much work on the problems of the worlds Indigenous
populations. This is of particular concern if left realists intend to develop a strong rural
agenda, as sizeable portion of the worlds Indigenous population lives in rural areas.
Actually, criminology in general has not done much to accurately describe Aboriginal
peoples plight and to help their struggle for change. In fact, criminological work on
Indigenous people may have done more harm than good because the bulk of it is conservative, predominantly driven by statistically-focused and government funded abstracted
empiricism, and avoids in-depth, critical analyses of racist government practices (Donnermeyer and DeKeseredy 2014; Tauri 2013).
In addition to being subjected to racist policing and other unjust criminal justice
practices, Indigenous people experience much native-on-native crime (Restoule 2009).
For instance, only about 4 percent of the 35 million Canadian residents identify themselves
as Aboriginal, but it is estimated that they are twelve-and-a-half times more likely to be
victims of robbery or of physical or sexual assault than non-Aboriginal people (Siegel and
McCormick 2012). Native Americans and Alaskan Natives suffer from violent victimizations, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey (which no doubt underestimates prevalence), at rates more than three times the rate of the majority population,
and more than twice as often as any other minority group (Truman 2011). This type of
problem is specifically the one that formed the very basis of left realism. Starting in the
1970s, some on the left were concerned that an outcry about property and violent crime
was a media scare or moral panic designed to demonize minority group members enough
to win white public support for conservative candidates and repressive policies. To be sure,
there were enough examples of this purposeful racist action to continue to fuel these
analyses. What left realism brought to the table was a realization that these property crimes
and violent acts constituted a rather major attack on the working class. It was the inner-city

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working poor that were being killed, beaten, raped and victimized by home, personal and
auto theft at rates that were multiples of the victimization of majority population members.
The pain and suffering of working class men and women, boys and girls, was enormous
and real. Of course, the realists felt that these same people were the victims of crimes from
abovewhite collar and corporate crimeat much higher rates also.
This realist emphasis on working-class on-working-class crime, within a context of
colonialism,8 means that realists could greatly assist in offering sophisticated leftist
alternatives to orthodox empirical, theoretical, and political work on Indigenous communities. However, new left realist approaches to understanding the relationship between
race/ethnicity and crime should not stop with Indigenous communities. For example, we
live in a post 911 world where Muslim communities in rural and urban places are routinely
targets of hate crime, racist immigration practices, and racist criminal justice initiatives
(Chakraborti and Garland 2004; DeKeseredy et al. 2005; Carrington and Hogg 2012;
Poynting 2009). Left realists potentially have much say about these issues, as well as
addressing the concerns of other ethnic/minority groups. Like all progressive schools of
thought, in this current era that Young (2007) refers to as late modernity, when left
realists like us meet to develop new ways of thinking critically about race/ethnicity and
crime, we should always be conscious of who is not there and that are not hearing those
perspectives (Gilfus et al. 1999:1207).
New Electronic Technologies
Left realism was born prior to the advent of the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Facebook,
Twitter, and the like. Further, until recently (see DeKeseredy 2011a, b; DeKeseredy and
Schwartz 2014), left realists said little, if anything, about how social media and other new
technologies can be used to mobilize people to protest harmful corporations and government policies and to influence people to move beyond progressive retreatism and minimalism. More needs to said about new information technologies because they can easily be
included in a refashioned left realism and are innovative ways of doing newsmaking
criminology (Barak 2007). Since its inception (see Barak 1988), newsmaking criminology has not yet been taken up to any great degree in Canada (or elsewhere) (Doyle and
Moore 2011:20). The voices of conservative criminologists have been heard the most and it
is time for all critical criminologists to challenge this hegemony with some blogs, websites,
social media, and other electronic resources.
Whether progressives like it or not and whether or not they are computer savvy,
communicating via social media today is vital for two key reasons. First, many people
living in societies characterized by turbo-charged capitalism and competitive individualism (Luttwak 1995; Young 1999), especially youth, spend more time on their
computers than they do in face-to-face relationships. As Klein (2012:112) puts it, In a
culture that values independence and self-reliance to such extremes over connection,
community, and interdependence, technology is more likely to be used as a means of
escape from others. Indeed, there is ample evidence to support Kleins claim that most
socializing among youth is done through electronic channels, but it is more than socializing. Many people today get all of their news from hip hop, rap, comedy, and a number of
social commentary sites, rather than traditional news channels, newspapers or magazines.
8

Colonialism is defined here as the systematic oppression of people through a variety of assimilationist
measures that are intended to eradicate the people and/or their sense of individual and cultural identity
(Restoule 2009:272).

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Therefore, using social media will enable more people to become aware of various types of
racist, sexist, homophobic and other types of hurtful practices spawned by structured social
inequality and thus help motivate them to voice their discontent with the prevailing
inequitable status quo by electing politicians committed to promoting social justice (DeKeseredy 2011a). As well, it is easier to influence people to join a progressive Facebook
group to make a political point than it is to get large groups of people marching in the
streets (Rettberg 2009).
Although he does not identify himself as a left realist, Kauzlarich (2014), the editor of
this journal, has another directly relevant innovative suggestion. Technology is used to
play and listen to music and thus oppositional variants of this art form should be used to
challenge crimes of the powerful, such as state oppression. According to Kauzlarich and
Awsumb (2012:503):
The Internet has many resources to offer those musically interested in both the
consumption of music and the performance. Free sources of music both for
recordings and for lessons exist. Instructions on how to build ones own instruments
along with videos demonstrating the techniques can be found. Online communities
for performers connect musicians with listeners, other musicians, and place in which
to perform.
Many readers could suggest other transformative ways of using new technologies. The
most important thing to consider here is that communication technology is constantly
changing and critical criminologists must stay on top of it and harness it for progressive
causes. This is not to say, though, that using the Internet should be a substitute for other
policies discussed here and elsewhere. Rather, new technologies should be part of a multipronged effort to alleviate much pain and suffering caused by crimes of all sorts.

Conclusion
Left realism is one of many branches attached to the tree trunk of critical criminology.
Realists do not claim to have a monopoly on the truth about crime, law, and social control
and they do not want to revisit the vitriolic debates about their work that ran from the mid
1980s to the late 1990s. Rather, the goal of todays realism is to work in collaboration with
proponents of other progressive schools of thought while continuing down the paths of
constructing integrated theories, doing rigorous, theoretically informed qualitative and
quantitative studies, and offering short-term solutions to crime and oppressive means of
social control. Thankfully, the days of what Australian critical criminologist Juan Tauri
calls throwing stones are over. Again, intense debate is healthy and welcomed, but it is
pointless to attack other critical schools of thought for the purpose of advancing a particular theoretical, empirical, and other policy position.
Left realism always went beyond progressive retreatism and minimalism thanks to the
efforts of Currie (1992), the scholar who coined these terms, and others working in the
realist tradition. Nonetheless, there is much more work to be done and many new challenges to be faced in the future. One of the main objectives of this paper is to help set a new
left realist agenda that entails: studying crime and social control in rural areas, challenging
the corporatization of universities and colleges, developing new approaches to study the
relationship between race/ethnicity and crime, and using new electronic technologies to
help advance progressive social change. Still, heavily guided by one of realisms wise
parents, to truly achieve social democratic victories, it is vital to help develop an alliance

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of broader constituencies (Currie 2013:11). This entails working closely with proponents
of the schools of thought covered in the other articles featured in this special issue, as well
as creating sincere and meaningful relationships with womens groups, civil liberties
associations, LGBT groups, and a host of other progressive collectives.
Acknowledgments We would like to thank David Kauzlarich and the reviewers for their thoughtful
insight and guidance. Please send all correspondence to Walter DeKeseredy.

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