Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
White Collar Crime, first published in 1949, is considered a groundbreaking work in criminology. In this study, Edwin H. Sutherland not only coined the term “white collar crime” but also expanded the definition of crime to include offenses committed by upper-class individuals in the context of their professional roles. He criticized the prevailing criminological focus
Punishment and Social Structure by Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer is considered a groundbreaking work of critical criminology. First published in 1939, it argues that penal systems do not merely follow moral or legal principles but are shaped primarily by economic structures and power relations. The authors analyze the historical development of punishment in relation
The Philadelphia Negro (1899) by W. E. B. Du Bois is a landmark in urban sociology and critical criminology. This pioneering study analyzes the social and economic conditions of African Americans in Philadelphia, revealing how segregation, institutional discrimination, and poverty contribute to crime and inequality. Combining empirical research with sharp theoretical insight, Du Bois challenges
Punishing the Poor by French-American sociologist Loïc Wacquant offers a sharp analysis of the relationship between poverty, criminal justice, and the neoliberal state. The central thesis: in times of neoliberal redistribution and social insecurity, the penal apparatus takes the place of the welfare state—not to solve social problems, but to manage the consequences of growing
The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society (2001) is one of the central works of contemporary critical criminology. The British sociologist David Garland analyzes the fundamental transformation of Western penal and security policies since the 1970s. His central thesis: we live in a “culture of control” characterized by insecurity, punitiveness (from
With his work Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), Stanley Cohen created a classic of critical criminology and media analysis. Building on the Labelling Approach, he examines how societies, in times of perceived threat, symbolically charge, demonize in the media, and politically combat certain groups. Cohen describes these processes as “moral panics” – collective reactions