Cultural Criminology Unleashed

'Once in a while, a new book is published which signals a new departure in criminology. This is such a book. Just at the point when criminology is becoming increasingly swamped by texts which either seem to be dedicated to turning this interesting and exciting subject into something pedantic and tedious, on the one hand, apolitical and decontextualized, on the other, this book offers something different and refreshing. Cultural Criminology Unleashed is designed according to the editors to be 'provocative, irreverent, even confrontational'. The development of cultural criminology is seen as both a product and a response to changing late-modern conditions and sensibilities. The shift to late or 'liquid' modernity is seen as involving the erosion of traditional boundaries in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the world with fixed and rigid categories. As familiar division and demarcations in social life begin to 'melt into air', notions of crime and criminology as objectively given and unproblematic become more difficult to sustain. Consequently, the boundaries between criminology and other subject areas, such as sociology, politics, media studies and the like, are blurring... In a seminal article, Jock Young leads the assault on positivist criminology and, in particular, the fetish of the 'number game'. He takes issue with 'voodoo criminology', which neither takes account of the ways in which the far-reaching changes of late modernity impact upon the construction of 'crime' and simultaneously fails to appreciate how changing meaning and identities influences modes of representation. The assault against positivism is developed from a slightly different vantage point by Wayne Morrison. Morrison argues that positivist criminology itself should be read as a cultural production. Instead of seeing positivism as a rigorous science committed to objective measurement, it is more appropriate, he argues, to see the ascendancy of positivism as being dependant in part on the mobilization of a range of creative and interpretative practices, which claimed that 'the abnormal and dangerous could be recognised and mapped in physical space and evolutionary time... In reviewing this text, I have focused on a limited selection of the 24 chapters that make up this international collection. The significance of this book, however, is greater than the sum of its parts. It represents a new challenge and a new departure within criminology. It raises the critical issues about the nature of theory and method, as wee the role of the intellectual. Most of all, it reminds us of why we got involved in the study of crime and deviance in the first place.' British Journal of Criminology, Vol. 45: No. 3 (May 2005), Roger Matthews, London South Bank University 'To shake off the indolence of our first study habits and seminal means of analysis and integration of information is the audacious (if not cheeky) and compelling challenge of the Editors of this elegant and superbly written text...My study of the text leads me to conclude that the editors may well be correct that the unleashing of cultural criminology is not only welcomed, it is to be fostered with all available resources... In addition, we can benefit immensely from a closely reasoned and well-written requistoire of current criminological theory that has the signal advantage of reflecting the "peculiarities and particularities of the late modern socio-cultural milieu" as made plain at page 2. Although the link to sentencing is not always direct or obvious, it is never very far and this quality results in my recommending this book in emphatic terms for the readers of this journal.' Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Justice Gilles Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice, Vol 1, No 1, July 2005. Cultural Criminology Unleashed appears as a space for engagement: a space where criminologists from diverse backgrounds have been drawn together as a social movement in a collective enterprise. The task has been to review the significance of, to elaborate on, and to demonstrate further, the crucial importance of culture to the criminological imagination...A useful introduction by the editors and chapters by Wender, Pressdee, Ferrell and Young provide an invaluable guide to these theoretical currents, while chapters by Jacobs on fighting and Vaaranen on street-racing provide attempts to apply phenomenological insights to practice...This is an important text that deserves to be widely read. Cultural Criminology is certainly coming of age and the contributions in this book constitute an excellent testimony to what is can achieve.' Criminology & Criminal Justice, Vol 6 (1): 147-157, December 2005. Reviewed by Simon Hallsworth, London Metropolitan University, UK.