This book provides a short, comprehensive and accessible introduction to
ultra-realism: a unique and radical school of criminological thought
that has been developed by the authors over a number of years. After
first outlining existing schools of thought, their major intellectual flaws
and their underlying politics in a condensed guide that will be invaluable
to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, Hall and Winlow introduce
a number of important new concepts to criminology and suggest a
new philosophical foundation, theoretical framework and research
programme. These developments will enhance the discipline’s ability to
explain human motivations, construct insightful representations of reality
and answer the fundamental question of why some human beings risk
inflicting harm on others to further their own interests or achieve
various ends.