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 Politics of Abolition (1974) by Thomas Mathiesen is one of the most influential works in penal abolitionism and critical criminology. In a radical departure from traditional theories of punishment, Mathiesen advocates not for alternative forms of punishment, but for the abolition of the prison system altogether—calling into question the legitimacy of the entire penal
Social and Academic Context Emerging during a period of massive societal upheaval—including civil rights movements, anti-colonial struggles, and student protests—The New Criminology reflects the desire for a sociology that not only explains but also transforms the world. The authors take a clear stance against the dominant American sociology of the 1960s and advocate for a
The Social Organization of Juvenile Justice (1968) by Aaron V. Cicourel is a groundbreaking study that reveals how juvenile delinquency is socially constructed within the everyday practices of legal and welfare institutions. Rooted in the traditions of ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism, Cicourel demonstrates that youth crime is not an objective reality but the product of
With his work Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method (1969), Herbert Blumer laid the theoretical and methodological foundation of symbolic interactionism. As a student of George Herbert Mead, he not only coined the term for this school of thought but also shaped one of the most influential microsociological theories of the 20th century. Blumer’s approach places