University of Nebraska at Omaha DigitalCommons@UNO Student Work 8-1-1979 Radical Criminology: A Sympathetic Criticism from the Viewpoints of Philosophical and Theological Anarchism J. Anthony Watkins University of Nebraska at Omaha Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork Recommended Citation Watkins, J. Anthony, "Radical Criminology: A Sympathetic Criticism from the Viewpoints of Philosophical and Theological Anarchism" (1979). Student Work. 2119. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/2119 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Work by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY: A SYMPATHETIC CRITICISM FROM THE VIEWPOINTS OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL ANARCHISM A Thesis Presented to the Department of Criminal Justice and the Faculty of the College of Graduate Studies University of Nebraska at Omaha In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by J. Anthony Watkins August 1979 UMI Number: EP73659 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissortaiion Publishing UMI EP73659 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 THESIS ACCEPTANCE Accepted for the faculty of the Graduate College, University of Nebraska, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts, University of Nebraska at Omaha. Thesis Committee _____________________________________ Name Department TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......... ................................. - Purpose and Scope of Thesis - Anarchism, Marxism, Radical Criminology and Religion - Ultimate Questions Radical Criminology has Failed to Answer - Radical Criminology's Theoretical Confusion - Concerns of a Political Theology of Anarchism - Chapter Descriptions Chapter I. THE IDEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF RECENT CRIMINOLOGY. - The Problem of Ideology - Ideology as a Reflection of Political Struggles in Society - A Political Definition of Ideology - Coping with Ideological Relativism Chapter II. A THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF IDEOLOGY IN CONVENTIONAL CRIMINOLOGY ..................................... - Purposes of the Analysis - Comparison of Ontology of Human Nature and Society - Comparison of Social Value Orientations - Comparison of Etiology and Function of Crime - Comparison of Ideas on the Function of the Criminal Justice System - Comparison of Ideas on Ideology, Change, Politicality and Utopianism - Radical Criminology as a Political Reaction to Conventionality Chapter III. RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY: IS IT A MARXIST OR NEW LEFT THEORY OF CRIME? ............................ 79 - The Unity of Radical Criminology and Agreement of Chapter - Radical Criminology: A Career Analysis: From the Early Sixties to the Present - Radical Criminology as New Left Criminology Chapter IV. RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY: IS ITS HERETICAL MARXISM ACTUALLY AN UNCONSCIOUS ANARCHIST THEORY OF CRIME? ........................................... 159 - Summary of Chapter's Argument - Obstacles in Associating Heretical Marxism with Secular Anarchism - Explanation of Secular Anarchist Theory, Including the Works of Classical and Contemporary Theorists - Comparison of Secular Anarchism to Major Theoretical Features of Radical Criminology - Towards a Deliberate Anarchist Criminology - Questions Concerning Ultimate Human Realities; An Anarchist Criminological Response EPILOGUE: CHRISTIAN ANARCHISM IN RELATION TO RADICAL CRIMINOLOGY.............................. 234 - Assumptions and Argument - A Conventional Criticism of the Religious Dimension in Radical Criminology Toward a Positive Assessment of Radical Criminology's Religious Dimension Lack of Historical and Theological Inquiry into Nature of Christian Anarchism Historical and Thematic Overview of Christian Anarchism The Political Reality of Christian Anarchism The Religious Reality of Secular Anarchism Left-Radicalism as Secularized Religious Activity The Religious Dimension of Radical Criminology Conventional Sociological Criminology as an Orthodox Religion of Humanity The Possibilities for Reconciliation between Conventional and Radical Criminology NOTES 301 BIBLIOGRAPHY 377 1 INTRODUCTION Purpose and Scope of Thesis The point of departure for this work is to sympa­ thetically critique American radical criminology from an anarchist philosophical and theological viewpoint. Most criticism of radical criminology has thus far come from 1 politically conventional and orthodox Marxist sources. Anarchism is to the left of Marxism or scientific socialism and has been characteristically left of conservatism and 2 liberalism. By sympathetic critique what is meant is that this author tends to favor and support most of the criticism radical criminology has levelled against conventional crim­ inology. However, radical criminology is apparently unwil­ ling to critically comprehend its own essentially anarcho- religious, rather than authentically Marxist character. Thus, the criticism herein is mainly to assist radical crimin­ ology in its search for a Weltanschauung which best fits its purposes and ends. A philosophical and theological critique of radical criminology is a difficult task, especially since it is to be done in a sympathetic rather than hostile manner. For reasons of clarity the author has restricted the theological discussion mainly to the Epilogue and deals with differing ideological and political questions in the bulk of the thesis. 2 The reader should understand that at back of all that is presented herein is the question of what relationship does religious anarchism have with radical criminology? Such terms as orthodox, heterodox, heresy, prophetic, secular and existential confusion should clue the reader into the author's own Weltanschauug which is Christian anarchist in focus. Further and also for the sake of clarity, this thesis inter­ prets orthodox Marxism as the equivalent of scientific social­ ism, while unorthodox or heterodox Marxism is seen as the equivalent of a New Left anarcho-utopian and religious world­ view. This interpretation does not deny that Marx was anarch­ ist, utopianist or religious but rather it tries to be honest to what Marx himself believed his system to be: scientific socialism. Anarchism, Marxism, Radical Criminology and Religion Nineteenth century secular anarchism was viciously attacked by Marx for being a brand of "left utopian opportun- 3 ism". Engels denounced anarchists as "madmen and provaca- 4 teurs". Lenin accused anarchism and utopian socialism of being little more than "left-wing communism: an infantile 5 disorder." Contemporary secular anarchism as represented by New Left ideology, has been accused by orthodox Marxists and non-Marxists alike of moving beyond scientific socialism or Marxism in that, contrary to Marx, it has "stressed the 6 individual, the deviant, the Utopian and anarchistic aspects" of Marx's prophetic beliefs. Terrence Ball, an orthodox 3 Marxist -sociologist, commenting on the contemporary American academic "doctoring of Marxism" by New Left social theorists has written that: Indeed, today history repeats itself. If the bowdlerizing of Marx by the Revisionists /■Bernstein and Kautsky: mine; was a tragedy, the current "rediscovery" of a respectable/ young/Hegelian/humanist/social democratic Marx has all the making of a farce. The farceurs include those whose brand of Marxism has affinities with religion of one kind (Christianity) or another (Zen Buddhism); with a contentless "humanism"; with philo­ sophical idealism with piecemeal reformism, and social democracy; and so on.7 8 Contrary to the unconscious "academic prophesy" of radical criminology Marx himself held that "the criticism 9 of religion is the premise of all criticism". Marx under­ stood his own system to be scientific and thus unprophetic and irreligious to the extent that: It is the task of history, therefore, once the otherworld of truth has vanished, to estab­ lish the truth of this world. The immediate task of philosophy, which is in the service of history, is to unmask human self-alienation in its secular form now that it has been un­ masked in its sacred form. Thus the criticism of heaven is transformed into criticism of earth, the criticism of religion into the criticism of law, and the criticism of theology into the criticism of politics. If in terms of orthodox Marxist criticism, law and politics are seen as secularized transformations of religion and theology, then, of course, the flip-side is true: religion and theology are the sacramentalization of law and politics. The result is that the combination of law and politics is theoretically, if not functionally, 4 equivalent in as far as orthodox Marxist criticism is con­ cerned. Without advocating extreme elasticity in thinking, radical criticism of law and politics must entail a simul­ taneous criticism of religion and theology. Unorthodox radical criminology, following this line of thought,