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Critical Criminologist

Text Box: Uniting Class, Race and Criticism Through the Study of Environmental Justice

Text Box: Michael J. Lynch University of South Florida and Paul B. Stretesky Rochester Institute of Technology The call for increased attention to race-specific theory and explanation within critical criminology has been widely articulated over the past several years (e.g., MacLean and Milovanovic 1990; Schwartz and Milovanovic 1996; Lynch and Patterson 1991, 1996). More recently, Pavlich (1997) challenged critical criminologists to revive the role of criticism by refocusing attention on broader questions of grounded action that establish social justice (see Arrigo 1999). In Pavlich’s (1997:1) view, grounded action necessitates that specific attention be given to the “plight of the oppressed.” In this article, we look at the issue of environmental justice to illustrate how critical criminologists can unite race-inclusive theory and criticism. We focus on environmental justice for four reasons. First, it addresses the plight of the oppressed as suggested in Pavlich’s recent remarks. Second, environmental justice centers on two forms of systematic oppression: race and class. Third, criticism is a central feature of environmental justice studies, and both race and class criticism serve as the basis for understanding and acting against environmental injustice. Finally, the issue of environmental justice often is presented in the literature as either a race or a class-based analytic perspective. As we argue below, a unified race-class view is necessary for developing a more complete understanding of and response to environmental injustice. We begin our discussion by addressing the importance of class. This discussion highlights our preference for grafting race onto a class-anchored perspective (see Lynch 1996). Still, we respect alternative viewpoints and fully recognize that selecting either class or race as the origin for an analysis is a personal preference. The Declining Significance of Class and Marx Over the past decade, several criminologists have argued that critical criminology needs to be more inclusive of theories and issues that deal with race and gender (e.g., Daly 1994; Schwartz and Milovanovic 1996; Messerschmidt 1986, 1993,

Text Box: 1997). This argument, when combined with the historical shift to both critical/Frankfurt and post-modern approaches, has lead to a declining interest in class analysis and Marxian interpretation among critical criminologists. And while it is important for us to emphasize that the movement away from class-only analysis has produced positive contributions, such as increased attention to matters concerning race and gender, and the discovery of new explanatory perspectives and problems for analysis, it is also the case that a simultaneous decline in critical class-based analysis has occurred. This neglect has resulted in the underdevelopment of class-based analyses and a more general loss of a unified direction within critical criminology. It is important, then, that we recognize that the diversification of a critical criminology has occurred primarily at the expense of class-based analysis. The decline of Marxian class-based analysis is a problem that extends well beyond the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice into a number of other social-science disciplines. However, in the case of criminology and criminal justice, the decline of a class-based analysis is a highly significant trend, especially since class is a defining characteristic of both crime and justice (Reiman 1998). In short, we agree with James O’Connor (1998:1) who recently observed: [J]ust at the moment [in history] when world economy simulates the model . . . Marx developed in Capital, Marxism is dismissed as totally flawed, a failed enterprise . . . .All the identity politics and politics of place in the world cannot conceal the fact that global labor is being battered by an unprecedented attack on living standards. With respect to Pavlich’s (1997) conclusions concerning the decline of criticism in critical criminology, we note that Marx’s class model is inherently oriented toward criticism--especially forms of criticism that are action-based (praxis-oriented). Also noteworthy to our argument is the emphasis on criticism and action evident in current global environmental movements aimed at achieving environmental justice (e.g., the Green Environmental and the Red-Green movements; see generally, O’Connor 1998:225-340; within criminology see, Lynch 1990; Frank and Lynch 1992, Chapter 6, on “Green Criminology”). Many of these movements have a working class basis, and target working class issues such as non-toxic workplace environments, green production techniques and environmental injustice in working