Social Dynamics of Crime and Control

This book assembles essays by leading scholars in their fields of criminology and socio-legal studies. John Braithwaite, John Hagan, Jack Katz, Nicola Lacey, Michael Levi, Joan McCord, Dario Melossi, Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld explore new directions in contemporary theorising about the impact of social and cultural dynamics on crime and social control. These essays have in common that they transcend disciplinary boundaries by combining criminological and socio-legal perspectives; in so doing they bring fresh perspectives to the analysis of crime in market societies and in the global market place. The authors do not share the apocalyptic and dramatic predictions of rising crime rates, but are aware of the "double movement" of social change and the counteracting forces that emerge in its course. These essays promote an integrative perspective that bridges the gap between etiological criminology and a constructionist approach as well as between explanatory and normative theory.