Willem Adriaan Bonger in the United States

Willem Adriaan Bonger (1876–1940) in relation to Crime and Race

Willem Adriaan Bonger (1876–1940) is included in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime (1), beginning with: Willem Adriaan Bonger was a preeminent Dutch criminologist and scholar whose pioneering research transcended the landscape of criminological thought at a historical juncture when biologically based explanations of crime predominated. His work was rooted in economic determinism, as a lens through which he believed that examinations of the etiology of crime were best explored. Bonger was characterized as a staunch anti-Lombrosian or someone who was adamantly against biological positivism and an advocate of Marxist historical materialism. His research emerged as a critique of extant criminological theory in general and of the capitalistic economic structure that was a dominant feature in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A revival of Marxist thought, Bonger’s work provides the earliest systematic application of Marxian concepts to explore the etiology of crime as a manifestation of capitalism.

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Notes and References

1. Entry about Willem Adriaan Bonger (1876–1940) in the Encyclopedia of Race and Crime

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