Criminological Theory in Context

Dr John Martyn Chamberlain is a Medical Criminologist at Southampton University. His academic background covers criminology, law, bioethics and medical sociology. His primary research interests include the study of medical malpractice, negligence and criminality, as well as the role played by specialist forms of medical and health-care expertise in the identification and governance of ′troublesome′ social groups, including the unwell, the deviant, and the criminally insane. Drawing on this background, he has written widely on medical-legal developments in the regulation and discipline of doctors, as well as contemporary developments in criminological theory and research, publishing two well-received introductory textbooks Understanding Criminological Research (Sage 2012) and Criminological Theory in Context (Sage 2015).

This book makes the task of studying criminological theory a little less daunting…it would be a great companion for your degree

• Chapter 1: Studying Criminal LifeCrime and society: an introductionResearching criminal life: the place of theories of crimeChapter 2: Classical Criminology and Contemporary Rational Choice TheoryIntroduction: the reasoning criminal and the social contractSociety, crime and punishmentClassical criminology and crime deterrenceNeoclassical criminologyCritiquing Classical/Neoclassical criminology: does deterrence work?Contemporary rational choice theorySituational crime prevention, opportunity theory and routine activityChapter 3: Biological CriminologyIntroduction: Classicism, positivism and the development of Biological forms of criminologyPhysiognomy and phrenologyLombroso and atavismLombroso’s heritage: in search of the criminal typeGenes and crimeBrain development, injuries and mappingBiochemistry, hormones, diet and crimeChapter 4: Psychological CriminologyIntroduction: the Classical school and Psychological and Biological theories of crimeFreud and personality developmentEysenck, dimensions of personality and criminal behaviourSutherland, differential association theory and social learningPsychological criminology and mentally disordered offendersChapter 5: Strain Theory, Social Disorganisation Theory and Labelling TheoryIntroducing the sociological study of criminal lifeDurkheim: social facts, social solidarity and anomieMerton and Agnew: anomie and Strain TheoryPark and Burgess: Social Disorganisation Theory and the Broken Windows hypothesisMead and Blumer: symbolic interactionism and Labelling TheoryLemert, Becker and Erikson: towards the sociology of devianceRestorative justice and Braithwaite’s Reintegrative Shaming TheoryChapter 6: Critical Criminology, Part 1: Marxist, Peacemaking and Realist Theories of CrimeDeterminism and free will in sociological forms of criminologyCritical criminology: a conflict theory of societyCritical criminology and the duality of structureKarl Marx and Willem Bonger: towards a Marxist theory of crimeMarxist criminology: crime as a rational response to the conditions of capitalismPeacemaking criminologyLeft and Right Realist criminologyChapter 7: Critical Criminology, Part 2: Feminist and Cultural CriminologyCritical criminology and Feminist and Cultural theories of crimeThe feminist critique of ‘malestream’ criminologyMarxism and Feminist criminologyThe growth of female offending: power/control theory, the liberation opportunity thesis and the economic marginalisation thesisFeminism, masculinity studies and contemporary Critical criminology: highlighting the importance of gender, race and classCultural criminologyChapter 8: Postmodern Critical Standpoints and the Criminal Life CourseIntroduction: Critical criminology revisitedPositivism and realism, postmodernism and anti-realismLife Course criminologyChapter 9: Reflecting on Theories of Crime, Theories of Human Nature: Crime in the Age of the Enterprising Risky Citizen-subjectFrom modernity to high modernityThe neoliberal enterprise form and the criminal justice systemConclusion: reflecting on theories of crime and theories of human nature