Abstract
While the winds of change may not yet be of gale wind force, there is a definite sense that criminology is experiencing the initial symptoms of a paradigm shift. This shift is being driven by greater inclusion of research outside the typical sociological sphere that has dominated criminology. A salient example of research propelling this shift is the surge provided by the biosocial approach to human behavior. Thus far, much of the extant biosocial research has been focused on individual-level variables. Professor Anthony Walsh’s book is an excellent initial step for the investigation of macro-level outcomes from a biosocial perspective. The main purpose of the book is to illustrate the value of the biosocial method in exploring what is considered a uniquely sociological topic: social class. Walsh accomplishes this task with a thorough coverage of the biosocial approach and a clear, concise, and convincing application of the paradigm to social class and crime.
In the first four chapters, Walsh provides an overview of the biosocial perspective. These introductory chapters outline the general approach of biosocial research, the interplay between genes and the environment, the importance of an evolutionary approach, and the advances provided by neurosciences. If a reader is generally familiar with the biosocial approach, she would be safe in skimming these chapters. However, if the reader is a biosocial novice, the overview provided by Walsh in these four chapters is invaluable. Walsh’s coverage of these areas is succinct, yet sufficiently detailed to provide a nonexpert reader the requisite knowledge and understanding of biosocial research in order to apply the ideas to an analysis of social class and crime. In a mere 51 pages, Walsh’s first four chapters would provide any undergraduate or graduate student a clear picture of the role biology can play in criminological research.
Chapters 5–11 illustrate the manner in which a biosocial approach can help illuminate a number of the core concepts in exploring social class. Walsh begins the discussion with a piercing look at how social class is approached in criminology. His discussion serves to refute the proposed “myth” of a social class-crime link and outlines the coverage of social class in criminological theory. Throughout, he interjects key points derived from a biosocial approach that serve to aid the explanatory power of criminological hypotheses. For example, Walsh draws on the evidence and theory provided in the introductory chapters to illuminate the importance of how individual traits can influence one’s standing on the social class ladder. Finally, and as if on cue, Walsh concludes the discussion with requisite coverage of the naturalistic fallacy (mistaking is with ought) and the moralistic fallacy (mistaking ought with is), in anticipation of the typical reactionary arguments to such claims.
After establishing the link between social class and antisocial behavior and providing forceful arguments for the application of a biosocial approach to such analyses, Walsh then tackles three main aspects of social class research: socialization processes, poverty, and social stratification.
In the discussion of socialization, Walsh demonstrates the recognition provided by behavioral genetics that socialization is not a one-way street but a reciprocal process between child and parent (evocative gene–environment correlations) and later between adolescent and peers (active gene–environment correlations). Walsh concludes the discussion with a reiteration that socialization is an important factor in antisocial outcomes. However, it is a factor that is significantly impacted by inherited traits that individuals possess which both evoke differential socialization responses and guide an individual’s differential choice of environment. Put succinctly, “[s]ocialization is the process in which biological potential is exposed to conditions that will affect the way it is expressed” (p. 88).
In the discussion of both poverty and social stratification, Walsh relies heavily on research from the neurosciences and evolutionary biology. His critical look at the etiology of poverty will bring pause to most sociologically trained minds. However, his assessment is logically sound and sufficiently supported so that any scientist wishing to explore poverty further would be remiss to ignore the arguments he puts forth. Additionally, Walsh provides an invaluable discussion of the cumulative effects of raising children in impoverished conditions. To do so, he articulates the developmental deficits and negative behavioral outcomes associated with teratogenic chemical exposure, reduced levels of breastfeeding, and lead exposure. Addressing social stratification, Walsh provides a lucid exploration of the evolutionary underpinnings of status hierarchies. Additionally, he signifies how the biochemistry of primate species leads to social stratification and the differential expression of traits, which allow for success or failure in such a dynamic.
In his final two chapters, Walsh emphatically points out the crucial importance of intelligence in directing one’s mobility on the social class ladder. The underlying argument found throughout the preceding discussions manifests itself in full bloom in his concluding chapters. Walsh champions the idea that intelligence, like all individual traits, develops via a steady interaction between genes and the environment and significantly impacts where one ends up, and where one remains, in the social class hierarchy. Walsh concludes with a brief look at how temperament and personality, particularly conscientiousness and agreeableness, are also significant contributors to antisocial behavior and social class.
Overall, Walsh has provided an outstanding initial foray for the biosocial approach into the seemingly last vestige of sociological thought. Social Class and Crime is exceptionally well written and is peppered with language and philosophical allusions that is typical of a scholar with such eclectic interest and expertise as Walsh. The book provides an unapologetic assessment of the glaring omission of the importance of a biosocial approach in contemporary criminological research. The final takeaway, however, is not that the entire field needs to adopt the theoretical and methodological approaches of the paradigm. Rather, at a minimum, modern criminologists should recognize the value of incorporating such methods into the existing research modalities in a way that will only lead to a greater refinement of explanatory theories and a better understanding of the phenomena we all seek to scrutinize.