THE ACHIEVEMENTS THAT HAVE OCCURED IN BRITISH CRIMINOLOGY ARE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SERIES OF THEORIES RATHER THAN ISOLATED INDIVIDUAL THEORIES. THIS DEVELOPMENT CAN BEST BE PERCEIVED USING LAKATOS' CONCEPT OF 'PROGRESSIVE AND DEGENERATING PROBLEMSHIFTS' IN ANALYZING SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENTS. A SERIES OF SCIENTIFIC THEORIES IS THEORETICALLY PROGRESSIVE (OR CONSTITUTES A THEORETICALLY PROGRESSIVE PROBLEMSHIFT) IF EACH NEW THEORY HAS SOME EXCESS EMPIRICAL CONTENT OVER ITS PREDECESSOR, SO THAT IT PREDICTS SOME NOVEL, HITHERTO UNEXPECTED FACT. USING THIS MODEL AS THE BASIS FOR ASSESSING DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITISH CRIMINOLOGY, THERE ARE TWO MAJOR AND TWO MINOR ATTEMPTS AT EFFECTING A 'PROGRESSIVE PROBLEMSHIFT'. ONE OF THE MAJOR RESEARCH EFFORTS INVOLVES WORK IN THE ORTHODOX CRIMINOLOGICAL TRADITION, FOCUSING ON TESTING PARTICULAR THEORIES OR SET OF THEORIES OR PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING CRIME, DELINQUENCY, AND THE EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT PENAL MEASURES. A SECOND MAJOR RESEARCH EFFORT INVOLVES SOCIOLOGICAL WORK IN THE MARXIST TRADITIONS AIMING TO LINK CRIME, DELINQUENCY, AND CONFLICT (RATHER THAN DEVIANCE) TO THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CAPITALISM AND THE DYNAMICS OF CLASS CONFLICT--THE FORMER OCCUPYING THE 'NEW' OR 'CRITICAL' CRIMINOLOGISTS, THE LATTER THE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL. TWO MINOR ATTEMPTS INVOLVE SOCIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF DEVIANCE, DERIVING FROM LABELING THEORY AND FOCUSING ON SOCIAL REACTION TO DEVIANT BEHAVIOR, USING PROCESSUAL AND INTERACTIONIST APPROACHES TO SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; AND INVESTIGATION OF THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH TO DEVIANCE. NOTES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)