DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Criminal Crowd and Other Writings on Mass Society

Scipio Sighele author Andrew Robbins translator Nicoletta Pireddu editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:University of Toronto Press

Published:8th Nov '18

Should be back in stock very soon

The Criminal Crowd and Other Writings on Mass Society cover

The Criminal Crowd and Other Writings on Mass Society is the first collection in English of writings by Italian jurist, sociologist, and cultural and literary critic Scipio Sighele (1868-1913). In post-unification Italy and internationally Sighele was an important figure in contemporary debates on such issues as popular unrest, the problematic borders between individual and collective accountability, the role of urbanization in the development of criminality, and the emancipation of women.

This volume draws an intricate portrait of a provocative thinker and public intellectual caught between tradition and modernity in fin de siècle Europe. It features new English translations of Sighele's seminal work, The Criminal Crowd, along with a selection of his later studies on criminality and on individual and group behaviour. Nicoletta Pireddu's introduction and annotation provide valuable context and insights on Sighele's contribution to the emerging field of collective psychology, on his relationships with his predecessors Cesare Lombroso and Enrico Ferri and with his French rivals Gustave Le Bon and Gabriel Tarde, and on the significant scientific, literary, and cultural developments of his time.

ISBN: 9781487503185

Dimensions: 234mm x 157mm x 41mm

Weight: 940g

496 pages