Welcome back to CSS Breakdown: Book by Book — Season 2. We’re exploring ‘An Introduction to Criminological Theory’ by Roger Hopkins Burke. In Episode 10, we delve deeper into the structural roots of crime with conflict and radical criminological theories.

This episode, based on Chapter 10 of Roger Hopkins Burke’s An Introduction to Criminological Theory, explores the structural and ideological critiques offered by conflict and radical criminological theories.

We examine:

⚔️ Conflict Theories – Inspired by thinkers like Thorsten Sellin and George Vold, these theories argue that law and criminality are shaped by struggles between competing interest groups. Laws reflect the values of the powerful, often leading to the marginalization and criminalization of weaker or minority groups.

📉 Radical Criminology – Drawing heavily from Marxist ideology, this school of thought sees crime as an inevitable outcome of capitalist inequality. According to this view, the criminal justice system functions primarily to protect the interests of the ruling class, framing working-class deviance while overlooking corporate crime and structural violence.

🇬🇧 We also look at the New Criminology movement in the UK, which aimed to build a comprehensive understanding of deviance by integrating individual motivation with wider social structures. While this approach was ambitious, it has been critiqued for being too theoretical or idealistic.

For CSS aspirants preparing for Criminology, Sociology, or Political Science, this episode is a must-listen for understanding how power, inequality, and ideology shape both crime and its control.

You’re listening to CSS Breakdown: Book by Book — Season 2. We’re exploring ‘An Introduction to Criminological Theory’ by Roger Hopkins Burke. In Episode 9, we dive into the victimised actor model of crime, with a special focus on labelling and conflict theories that challenge traditional notions of deviance."

In this episode, based on Chapter 9 of An Introduction to Criminological Theory, we explore the victimised actor model— a perspective that sees individuals as shaped by social structures and labels rather than inherently criminal or fully rational.

We unpack two foundational strands:

🔖 Labelling Theory – Rooted in symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, and ethnomethodology, this approach views deviance not as an intrinsic quality of an act, but as a label imposed by society. We explore how deviant identities are socially constructed, how labels lead to deviance amplification, and how moral panics influence public perception.

⚖️ Conflict Theory – Drawing from Marx, Weber, Simmel, and Dahrendorf, this perspective examines how power dynamics and inequality shape the legal system, influence which behaviors are criminalized, and highlight the selective application of justice.

We also touch on criticisms of these theories and their evolution in recent years.

Perfect for CSS candidates studying Criminology, Sociology, or Political Science, this episode challenges you to rethink how crime is defined — and who gets to define it.

Welcome to CSS Breakdown: Book by Book — Season 2. We’re covering ‘An Introduction to Criminological Theory’ by Roger Hopkins Burke. In Episode 8, we explore how female criminality has been understood — and misunderstood — through the lens of classical positivist theories."

In this episode, we dive into Chapter 8 of Roger Hopkins Burke’s An Introduction to Criminological Theory, turning our attention to how criminological theories have approached female criminality—often with significant bias.

We examine three major strands of positivist criminology and their interpretations of women who commit crime:

🧬 Biological Positivism – including Lombroso’s outdated and disproven notions of women as biologically passive or atavistic criminals.

🧠 Psychological Positivism – analyzing perspectives from Freud and W.I. Thomas that linked crime in women to emotional instability, sexuality, or psychological dysfunction, often ignoring context.

🏘️ Sociological Positivism – exploring theories like anomie, subcultural theory, and differential association, while critiquing their male-centered assumptions and failure to account for the distinct social and economic conditions women face.

We also discuss the concept of “malestream criminology” — the historical dominance of male viewpoints in theory development — and why this matters for CSS aspirants seeking a complete and nuanced understanding of criminal behavior across genders.

This episode is key for anyone preparing for CSS exams in Criminology, Gender Studies, or Sociology, and for listeners interested in how theory often reflects — and distorts — real social dynamics.