Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Otto Kirchheimer was a German-American legal scholar and political theorist whose work bridged the disciplines of law, political science, and sociology. Closely associated with the Frankfurt School, he analyzed the transformation of legal systems under modern capitalism and the rise of authoritarianism. His concept of the “plebiscitary party state” and his analysis of political justice
W. E. B. Du Bois was a pioneering African American sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist whose work fundamentally reshaped the understanding of race and inequality in modern society. As one of the first scholars to apply empirical sociological methods to the study of African American life—especially in The Philadelphia Negro (1899)—Du Bois exposed the
Loïc Wacquant is a prominent French-American sociologist known for his critical analysis of urban marginality, neoliberal penality, and the carceral state. A close collaborator of Pierre Bourdieu, Wacquant integrates theoretical insights on habitus, field, and symbolic power with ethnographic research in urban ghettos and prisons. His influential works—such as Urban Outcasts and Punishing the Poor—examine
Bauman was one of the most influential sociologists of the late 20th and early 21st century. Best known for his concept of liquid modernity, he described contemporary society as marked by constant change, uncertainty, and the dissolution of stable social structures. His work critically examined globalization, consumerism, individualization, and the erosion of communal bonds. A
Beck was a pioneering figure in the study of risk, modernization, and social transformation. His seminal concept of the risk society captured how contemporary societies are increasingly preoccupied with managing manufactured uncertainties—ranging from environmental disasters to technological failures and global financial crises. Beck argued that the processes of modernization had reached a reflexive stage, where
Jürgen Habermas is considered one of the most influential social theorists of the 20th and early 21st centuries. His intellectual work spans critical theory, sociology, political philosophy, and public discourse theory. As a member of the second generation of the Frankfurt School, Habermas reinterpreted and extended the tradition of critical theory by integrating concepts from