LIBERAL STATE, URBANIZATION AND ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE CHICAGO SCHOOL AND GREEN CRIMINOLOGY

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the liberal state, urbanization processes, and the ecological crisis, based on an analysis that articulates the theoretical foundations of the Chicago School with the critical perspective of Green Criminology. It starts from the hypothesis that the liberal state model, by privileging individual freedom and minimal state intervention, has proven incapable of addressing socio-spatial inequalities and the effects of environmental degradation in urban centers. The Chicago School, with its emphasis on human ecology and social disorganization, offered relevant tools for understanding urban dynamics, but remained anchored in an epistemology of consensus. By integrating the contributions of critical criminology and climate justice, this work proposes a contemporary interpretation of these categories, highlighting how ecological degradation can characterize a cause or consequence of structural and selective violence. It is concluded that criminology, as a theoretical and political field, should incorporate environmental dimensions in the analysis of urban crime, contributing to the construction of public policies aimed at socio-environmental justice. Inductive reasoning was therefore used, anchored in descriptive and exploratory procedure methods, with exclusive use of the bibliographic review technique, which characterizes the study as eminently theoretical.