Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
James W. Messerschmidt is an American sociologist and criminologist known for his influential work on the intersections of gender, power, and crime. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Southern Maine. Messerschmidt’s research critically examines how masculinity is constructed, maintained, and enacted in relation to criminal behavior, and how social structures shape
Angela Y. Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author whose work has profoundly influenced critical criminology, prison abolitionism, and Black feminist thought. She first gained international attention in the early 1970s as a member of the Communist Party USA and an associate of the Black Panther Party. Davis has taught at several universities,
Alessandro De Giorgi is an Italian-born criminologist and critical social theorist whose work focuses on the intersections of punishment, migration, and neoliberal governance. Currently based in the United States, De Giorgi’s research examines how economic restructuring, global inequality, and intensified border regimes shape the contemporary penal landscape. He is known for combining empirical research with
Thomas Mathiesen (1933–2021) was a Norwegian sociologist and one of the most influential figures in the field of critical criminology and penal abolitionism. Deeply engaged in the critique of modern penal systems, Mathiesen developed a unique theoretical framework that questioned the legitimacy and function of prisons in democratic societies. His seminal work The Politics of
Stuart Hall (1932–2014) was a Jamaican-born British cultural theorist and sociologist who played a key role in the development of cultural studies and critical criminology. As a founding member of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), Hall profoundly influenced the study of ideology, race, media, and power in modern societies. His work bridged
Richard Quinney (b. 1934) is an American criminologist, sociologist, and philosopher whose work has profoundly shaped the development of critical criminology. He became widely known through his thesis of the social reality of crime (1970), in which he argued that crime is not an objective phenomenon but socially constructed through processes of labeling, political interests, and