Bourdieusian criminology ‘from off the map’: Violence and symbolic capital in the streets of Naples

This article introduces Bourdieusian criminology to Naples, with the aim of re-examining the local nexus between street culture and urban crime. Drawing on a year-long ethnography conducted between 2016 and 2017, it focuses on the performance of violence and its symbolic value in the Quartieri Spagnoli, a disadvantaged neighbourhood long infiltrated by the Camorra (Naples’ local mafia) that has, in recent years, witnessed a dramatic surge in tourism amid the city's broader transformation. The article argues that, as a result of this transformation, symbolic returns on violence are diminishing, as illustrated by an ethnographic case of failed criminal distinction. Beyond offering an original insight into the workings of street fields ‘from off the map’ of the extant literature, the article also shows how Bourdieusian criminology can serve as a powerful antidote to stubbornly persistent essentialist readings of organised crime in southern Italy.