Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Frank Tannenbaum’s concept of “tagging”, developed in his 1938 work Crime and the Community, is widely regarded as a foundational contribution to labelling theory. Long before Howard Becker or Edwin Lemert formalized the labelling approach, Tannenbaum argued that crime is not simply a quality of the act itself but emerges through social reactions and the
Critical criminology is not a single, unified theory but an approach that analyses crime, law, and criminal justice as deeply embedded in social power relations. It challenges conventional criminology’s focus on individual offenders by examining how inequality, state power, and ideological control shape definitions of crime and practices of punishment. At its core, critical criminology
Interactionist and labelling approaches constitute a paradigm shift in criminological theory. Rather than explaining crime as the outcome of static individual pathologies or deterministic social factors, these perspectives emphasise the social construction of deviance through processes of interaction, attribution, and power. Crime, in this view, is not a self-evident act but an outcome of societal
Crime, Shame and Reintegration (1989) by John Braithwaite is a foundational text in criminology that builds on labelling theory, control theories, and social disorganization theory. Braithwaite’s concept of shaming analyzes the social processes that invoke shame as a form of social control. He distinguishes between two types: disintegrative shaming, which stigmatizes and excludes offenders, and
Seductions of Crime (1988) by Jack Katz is a landmark study that challenges conventional criminological theories by focusing on the subjective experiences, emotions, and immediate gratifications that accompany criminal acts. Rather than viewing crime solely through structural or rational-choice lenses, Katz analyzes the sensual and moral attractions that seduce offenders into transgressive behavior. His work
Feminist criminology emerged in the 1970s as a critical response to the male-dominated theories and practices of mainstream criminology. It challenged the neglect of women’s experiences both as offenders and as victims, criticizing criminological theories for treating male behavior as the norm and simply assuming that it applies to women. Feminist criminology also exposes the