Introduction

In 1991, Sandra Harding published her seminal work on scientific inquiry Whose science? Whose knowledge? Thinking from women's lives (Harding, 1991); this chapter borrows part of the title of her book to highlight the challenge to established forms of knowledge that is presented by postmodern thought. The challenge is epistemological and ethical. It involves re-examining the basis of criminological knowledge and how this impacts on the practices of criminal justice agencies. Key to this exploration is the social construction of crime. From a postmodern perspective, crime, people who commit crimes, people who suffer as a result of crimes and the legal processes through which crimes are defined and processed are not considered only to have objective characteristics that can be measured and described. They are open to interpretation, and it is interpretation that ‘constructs’ the science and the knowledge. Postmodernism introduces the possibility of there being many voices that can contribute to understanding. It challenges the authority of positivist-dominated criminology to speak about crime, criminals and victims. It demands a re-examination of criminal justice processes that are underpinned by positivist assumptions and positivist forms of knowledge. In bringing these challenges, postmodernist approaches provide a means whereby the experiences and voices of marginalised groups (eg women, minority ethnic groups, sexual minorities, disabled people and victims of crime) can enter the dominant discourses that shape criminology and community justice.

In doing this, postmodern theory demands that the question first posed by Becker (1967) concerning ‘sides’ and ‘allegiances’ in relation to research and (by extension) policy and practice is addressed. By giving voice to groups, their ‘side’ is more clearly articulated. By problematising the authority of ‘scientific’ epistemologies, it could be argued that postmodern thought is clearly on the ‘side’ of the subordinate; the person, group or community that is defined and contained by someone else's knowledge. However, it is not that straightforward. As other chapters in this book show, taking sides is not merely a binary choice. Postmodernism highlights this complexity and the difficulties involved in articulating allegiances and identifying standpoints.

This chapter first outlines some basic tenets of postmodern thought, it then moves on to consider the impact of postmodern thought on theorising crime and deviance. Closely linked to this is how criminological research is conducted; the discussion explores this and what it means.