Wednesday 25 February 2009

Keele Criminologists in print




Two recently published books have been authored by Criminologists at Keele. One is an edited collection featuring the research of many current and former Keele Criminologists, while the other is aimed at students studying Criminology.

‘Existentialist Criminology’ (edited by Ronnie Lippens and Don Crewe) captures an emerging interest in the value of existentialist thought and concepts for criminological work on crime, deviance, crime control, and criminal justice. This emerging interest chimes with recent social and cultural developments - as well as shifts in their theoretical consideration - that are oriented around contingency and unpredictability. But whilst these conditions have largely been described and analysed through the lens of complexity theory, post-structuralist theory and postmodernism, there exploration by critical criminologists in existentialist terms offers a richer and more productive approach to the social and cultural dimensions of crime, deviance, crime control and, more broadly, of regulation and governance. Covering a range of topics that lend themselves quite naturally to existentialist analysis - crime and deviance as becoming and will, the existential openness of symbolic exchange, the internal conversations that take place within criminal justice practices, and the contingent and finite character of resistance - the contributions to this volume set out to explore a largely untapped reservoir of critical potential.
Highlights include:

‘White-Collar Offenders After the Fall from Grace. Stigma, Blocked Paths and Resettlement’, Ben Hunter (PhD student, and now Teaching Fellow at Keele)

‘Towards Existential Hybridization? A Contemplation on the Being and Nothingness of Critical Criminology’, R. Lippens (Professor of Criminology, Keele)

‘The Seductions of Conformity. The Criminological Importance of a Phenomenology of Exchange’, S. Mackenzie (formerly lecturer in Criminology at Keele),

‘‘We Just Live Day-to-Day’. A Case Study of Life after Release Following Wrongful Conviction’, S. Farrall (formerly Senior Research Fellow, Keele) and

‘Will to Self Consummation and Will to Crime: A Study in Criminal Motivation’ by D. Crewe (PhD, Keele),

Existentialist Criminology is published by Routledge-Cavendish.

Also recently published is ‘A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Criminology’ (published by Sage). Written in a lively and conversational style, it introduces and familiarizes students with a set of basic notions which are essential to the study of crime and its control. The book explains the background to the ideas that underpin current debates about crime. It explores the interplay between philosophical and criminological theories to provide a stimulating and insightful overview of the subject. It offers students a fresh way of thinking about crime, giving them an opportunity to develop their understanding and to hone their critical skills.

Both texts are available from all good bookstores!

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