Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Serial murder fascinates, terrifies—and has dominated pop culture for years: Netflix documentaries like Monster: The Ed Gein Story or Dahmer break viewership records, while podcasts and true-crime formats attract millions. But beyond media sensationalism, what lies behind the phenomenon of serial killing? This article offers a criminological-sociological approach to one of the most extreme forms
The Exclusive Society: Social Exclusion, Crime and Difference in Late Modernity (1999) is a foundational work of late modern criminology by British sociologist and criminologist Jock Young. In this influential book, Young links rising crime rates and moral panics to processes of social exclusion, insecurity, and inequality in advanced capitalist societies. Challenging both leftist optimism
Behind the Gates is an ethnographic key work in the field of critical security and urban studies. In this book, American anthropologist Setha M. Low examines the social, political, and cultural dynamics of so-called gated communities—residential areas with restricted access. Based on extensive fieldwork in the New York metropolitan area, Low analyzes how fear of
Cultural Criminology: An Invitation Cultural Criminology: An Invitation, first published in 2008 by Jeff Ferrell, Keith J. Hayward, and Jock Young, represents the first comprehensive foundational work on cultural criminology. The book functions as a programmatic introduction, a theoretical systematization, and an academic manifesto of a perspective that views crime not merely as a rule
With City Limits, British cultural criminologist Keith J. Hayward published an innovative work at the intersection of crime, consumer culture, and urban space. Building on the theoretical foundations of Cultural Criminology, Hayward analyzes how neoliberal notions of order, media imagery, and deviant appropriation converge in the late modern city. He calls for an expanded understanding
With his work Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime (2000), Mike Presdee established a radical perspective within Cultural Criminology. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s carnival theory, Presdee interprets crime not just as a rule violation but as a cultural expression—a subversive ritual, symbolic protest, and form of resistance against social control. Having worked as both