Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Predict and Surveil is one of the first ethnographic studies of data-driven policing in the United States. In this landmark work, American sociologist Sarah Brayne focuses on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), a pioneer in predictive policing—and a department widely criticized for its surveillance practices. Brayne analyzes how big data, algorithmic predictions, and digital
The Viewer Society, written by the Norwegian sociologist and criminologist Thomas Mathiesen, presents one of the most influential extensions of Michel Foucault’s panopticism. In an age of accelerating video surveillance, mass media, and digital communication, Mathiesen proposes a shift in perspective: instead of focusing solely on the few who watch the many, we must also
Enforcing Order, written by French anthropologist and sociologist Didier Fassin, is a dense ethnographic study of everyday policing in the French banlieues. Based on several years of participant observation within an anti-crime brigade (BAC), Fassin reveals how police act as instruments of control and social exclusion in marginalized urban areas. The study is not only
The Politics of the Police (first published in 1985, fourth edition in 2010) is arguably the most influential work by British criminologist Robert Reiner. As the standard English-language reference on policing, the book offers a comprehensive analysis of the British police system—its historical development, political governance, and social function. Reiner’s work exemplifies a critical approach
The Police Power: Patriarchy and the Foundations of American Government (2005) is a foundational work by German-American legal scholar Markus D. Dubber. Following the tradition of critical legal philosophy, Dubber uncovers the genealogical and ideological roots of the state monopoly on violence—particularly executive power that operates not through criminal law, but through mechanisms of social
Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear (2007) is an influential work by American legal sociologist Jonathan Simon. Simon demonstrates how the fight against crime has become a comprehensive governmental paradigm in the United States since the 1970s—with far-reaching consequences for democratic institutions, social relations,