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🧬 Biological Positivism – including Lombroso’s outdated and disproven notions of women as biologically passive or atavistic criminals.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