This course deconstructs the development of criminology as a discipline by examining a series of key theoretical debates that have structured this field of research. Students will critically discuss the contemporary impact of the historical development of the field, and consider the socio-political strengths and limitations of the discipline in its current form. By thinking critically about the politics underpinning criminology and the problem of crime, and the relationship between crime, criminal justice, and power, students will learn to engage critically with conventional understandings about what crime is and how it might be controlled. A particular focus in later weeks will be asking how criminological knowledge is impacted by considering insights from a variety of marginalized perspectives, raising the question of how crime control itself relates to social marginalization and practices of inclusion and exclusion.
- Module Supervisor: Isabel Crowhurst
- Module Supervisor: Timothy Head
- Module Supervisor: Samuel Singler