Shock and Awe: On Progressive Minimalism and Retreatism, and the New Ultra-Realism

In this article, we respond to DeKeseredy and Schwartz’s (2013) article, “Confronting Progressive Retreatism and Minimalism: The Role of a New Left Realist Approach.” In that 2013 piece, the authors contend that many critical scholars are “retreating” from the crucial challenges of our time, and that many more are “minimizing” their critique and truncating the breadth of their critical scholarship. Given the tragedies that await us in the near future, we argue that it is vital that critical criminologists recognize the importance of their mission, ditch redundant theoretical frameworks, and focus again on the realities of global capitalism. We argue that critical criminologists can rejuvenate this crucial area of study by adopting the new ultra-realism.