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  • © 2017

Social Censure and Critical Criminology

After Sumner

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Discusses Colin Sumner's work on social censure in terms of its own original significance, and how it relates to today's issues

  • Addresses contemporary criminological problems relating to: race, gender, youth and violence

  • Contains chapters from a wide range of respected scholars working on the theme of censure

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
  2. Thinking Through Critical Criminology

    • Paul Roberts
    Pages 1-45
  3. Censure: Moral and Sociological

    • Lindsay Farmer
    Pages 47-65
  4. Two Accounts of Censure

    • Anthony Amatrudo
    Pages 93-114
  5. Anti-racist Criminology?

    • Rod Earle
    Pages 115-138
  6. The Social Censure of Hidden Youth in Hong Kong

    • Gloria Hongyee Chan, T. Wing Lo
    Pages 139-189
  7. Sex Work, Censure and Transgression

    • Maggie O’Neill
    Pages 191-215
  8. Idealism, Violence and Censure

    • James Hardie-Bick
    Pages 247-273
  9. Normativity and the Ontology of Being

    • Glyn Williams, Gruffudd Williams
    Pages 351-377

About this book

This edited collection focuses on the sociology of 'social censure' – the sociological term advocated by Colin Sumner in his seminal writing of the 1980s and 1990s. Social censure has become increasingly important in contemporary criminological writing. This can especially be seen in recent writing on gender and race and also in terms of the way that the state's relationship to crime is now understood. This collection addresses a deficit in the published literature and both revisits themes from an earlier era and looks forward to the development of new writing that develops Sumner’s seminal work on social censure. The contributors are drawn from leading scholars from across the Social Sciences and Law and they address a wide range of issues such as: race, youth justice, policing, welfare, and violence. The resulting volume is an interdisciplinary text which will be of special interest to scholars and students of Critical Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies, as well as those interested in the operation of the criminal justice system and criminological theory. 

Reviews

“Through the last four decades Colin Sumner has offered some of the most inspiring and sophisticated contributions to critical theories of crime. His major concepts such as censure and the death of deviance have remained both seminal and controversial. This book provides an excellent collection of discussions of his work by some outstanding scholars, and shows that even in these reactionary times radical perspectives are alive and flourishing.” (Professor Robert Reiner, Emeritus Professor of Criminology, London School of Economics & Political Science, UK)

“It sometimes appears that labelling theory, the sociology of deviance and critical criminology have only nostalgic value today, but this lively and accessible collection demonstrates, by way of a focus on Colin Sumner’s theory of 'censure', how hugely relevant this radical tradition remains today.” (Professor Robert Fine, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom

    Anthony Amatrudo

About the editor

Dr Anthony Amatrudo is Associate Professor of Criminology at Middlesex University School of Law, UK.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access