Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
In Surveillance Studies: An Overview, Canadian sociologist David Lyon presents a comprehensive introduction to the field of surveillance studies. The book is both a synthesis and a call to take surveillance seriously as a social phenomenon. Lyon argues that surveillance is no longer merely a specialized instrument of intelligence services or criminal justice but has
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,
Visions of Social Control: Crime, Punishment and Classification (1985) by Stanley Cohen provides a profound analysis of the transformations in social control in the late 20th century. While his earlier work, Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1972), focused on media discourses and moral reactions to deviance, Visions of Social Control turns to institutional, political, and