Author: Co-authored by Eamonn Carrabine, Pam Cox, Maggy Lee, Ken Plummer and Nigel South
ISBN No: 978-0-415-4645
Review date: 14/08/2026
No of pages: 530
Publisher: Routledge
Year of publication:
Brief:
As we have said before on this reviews page, a collection of essays or a textbook is a valuable (and value for money) way to get into a subject. If you are looking to do an academic masters degree or other study in security management, a criminology textbook has a use as a reference tool.
As the title Criminology: A Sociological Introduction suggests, you get sociology besides criminology – about the politics, statistics and theories behind crime (and punishment and โvictimologyโ). Prof Eamonn Carrabine for instance is the head of the sociology department at the University of Essex. Besides a guide to the subject, you get โcritical thinking questionsโ and plentiful suggestions for further study, and a mighty list of books and websites at the end. Though itโs a thick volume, inevitably the authors have to gallop through most things, though the chapters are well broken up with boxed points. Police and policing for instance get 20 pages, corporate fraud (โcrimes of the powerfulโ) five pages. The authors do at least admit that โcriminologists actually know relatively little about the workings of white-collar and corporate crimeโ. Ending with a peek into the future, the authors stress public interest in crime, and that โlaw and orderโ is highly political. We want to prevent crime (and terrorism), the authors say, but what controls are politically and practically possible? A useful and necessary book to understand the background to any number of things, from illegal drugs to the psychology behind crime (fears of becoming a victim, the excitement of doing crime).
Part 1: The Criminological Imagination 1. Introduction 2. Histories of Crime 3. Researching Crime Part 2: Thinking About Crime 4. Enlightenment and Early Traditions 5. Early Sociologies of Crime 6. Radicalizing Traditions: Marxism, feminism and Foucault 7. Crime, Social Theory and Social Change 8. Crime, Place and Space Part 3: Doing Crime 9. Victims and Victimization 10. Crime and Property 11. Crime, Sexuality and Gender 12. Crime, Emotion and Social Psychology 13. Organizational and Professional Forms of Crime Part 4: Controlling Crime 14. Drugs, Alcohol, Health and Crime 15. Thinking About Punishment 16. The Criminal Justice Process 17. Police and Policing 18. Prisons and Imprisonment Part 5: Globalizing Crime 19. Green Criminology 20. Crime and Media 21. Terrorism, State Crime and Human Rights 22. Futures of Crime, Control and Criminology.
