Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Sveinung Sandberg is a Norwegian criminologist and professor at the University of Oslo. His research focuses on narrative criminology, drug cultures, street life, gangs, and qualitative research methods. Sandberg has conducted extensive ethnographic studies on marginalized groups, including drug users, gang members, and radicalized individuals. Together with Lois Presser, he played a leading role in
Lois Presser is an American criminologist and professor at the University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on narrative criminology, qualitative criminological methods, punishment, mass harm, and social justice. Presser is best known for developing Narrative Criminology together with Sveinung Sandberg. Her work examines how stories shape criminal behavior, justify violence, and structure moral understandings of
Fritz Sack is a German sociologist and criminologist best known for introducing the labeling approach (Etikettierungsansatz) to the German-speaking world and for his critical engagement with power, law, and social control. He held professorships at several German universities, most notably at the University of Hamburg, where he significantly shaped critical criminology in Germany. Sack played
Stephen Lyng is an American sociologist best known for his development of the concept of edgework, which explores voluntary risk-taking and the emotional thrills associated with transgressive behavior. He has held academic positions at multiple universities and has contributed significantly to the fields of cultural criminology, deviance, and the sociology of risk. Lyng’s work draws
Jack Katz is an American sociologist and criminologist best known for his phenomenological approach to crime and deviance. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he taught sociology and criminology for several decades. Katz’s work stands out for its emphasis on the emotional, moral, and sensual dynamics of criminal
Howard S. Becker (1928–2023) was an American sociologist whose work fundamentally shaped the sociology of deviance and qualitative research methods. A leading figure in the development of labeling theory, Becker emphasized the role of societal reactions in defining deviance. His seminal book Outsiders (1963) examined how deviant identities are socially constructed, challenging essentialist views of