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Criminological Theory
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Criminological Theory
Context and Consequences

Seventh Edition


November 2018 | 592 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
“The best organized and most comprehensive theory textbook to use for both graduate and undergraduate students. It provides historical context to the theories, and the authors make it easier for students to relate theory to reality.”
                                                                                               —Mirlinda Ndrecka, Ph.D., University of New Haven

Updated Edition of a Best-Seller! 

Offering a rich introduction to how scholars analyze crime, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences moves readers beyond a commonsense knowledge of crime to a deeper understanding of the importance of theory in shaping crime control policies. The Seventh Edition of the authors’ clear, accessible, and thoroughly revised text covers traditional and contemporary theory within a larger sociological and historical context. It includes new sources that assess the empirical status of the major theories, as well as updated coverage of crime control policies and their connection to criminological theory. 

Save 20% when you bundle!
Your students save when you bundle the new edition of Criminological Theory with Crime and Everyday Life: A Brief Introduction, 6e. Order using bundle ISBN 978-1-5443-5345-6

Instructors! Sign in to the password-protected Instructor Teaching Site at study.sagepub.com/lilly7e for complete and protected access to all text-specific resources.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
CHAPTER 1. The Context and Consequences of Theory
Theory in Social Context

 
Theory and Policy: Ideas Have Consequences

 
Context, Theory, and Policy: Plan of the Book

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 2. The Search for the “Criminal Man”
Spiritualism

 
The Classical School: Criminal as Calculator

 
The Positivist School: Criminal as Determined

 
The Consequence of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 3. Rejecting Individualism: The Chicago School
The Chicago School of Criminology: Theory in Context

 
Shaw and McKay’s Theory of Juvenile Delinquency

 
Sutherland’s Theory of Differential Association

 
The Chicago School’s Criminological Legacy

 
Control and Culture in the Community

 
Akers’s Social Learning Theory

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 4. Crime in American Society: Anomie and Strain Theories
Merton’s Strain Theory

 
Status Discontent and Delinquency

 
The Criminological Legacy of “Classic” Strain Theory

 
Agnew’s General Strain Theory

 
A Theory of African American Offending

 
Crime and the American Dream: Institutional-Anomie Theory

 
The Market Economy and Crime

 
The Future of Strain Theory

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 5. Society as Insulation: The Origins of Control Theory
Forerunners of Control Theory

 
Early Control Theories

 
Reckless’s Containment Theory

 
Sykes and Matza: Neutralization and Drift Theory

 
Control Theory in Context

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 6. The Complexity of Control: Hirschi’s Two Theories and Beyond
Hirschi’s First Theory: Social Bonds and Delinquency

 
Hirschi’s Second Theory: Self-Control and Crime

 
The Complexity of Control

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 7. The Irony of State Intervention: Labeling Theory
The Social Construction of Crime

 
Labeling as Criminogenic: Creating Career Criminals

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Extending Labeling Theory

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 8. Social Power and the Construction of Crime: Conflict Theory
Forerunners of Conflict Theory

 
Theory in Context: The Turmoil of the 1960s

 
Advancing Conflict Theory: Turk, Chambliss, and Quinney

 
Conflict Theory and the Causes of Crime

 
Consequences of Conflict Theory

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 9. The Variety of Critical Theory
Looking Back at Early British and European Influences

 
Early Left Realism

 
The New Criminology Revisited: A Shift in Context

 
Left Realism Today

 
Changing Social Context: 2015–2018

 
Early Cultural Criminology

 
Cultural Criminology Today

 
Green/Cultural Criminology

 
Convict/Cultural Criminology

 
New Directions in Criminological Theory: Death and the Birth of New Ideas

 
European Criminology

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 10. The Gendering of Criminology: Feminist Theory
Background

 
Prefeminist Pioneers and Themes

 
The Emergence of New Questions: Bringing Women In

 
The Second Wave: From Women’s Emancipation to Patriarchy

 
Varieties of Feminist Thought

 
The Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender

 
Masculinities and Crime

 
Gendering Criminology

 
Postmodernist Feminism and the Third Wave Revisited

 
Consequences of Feminist Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 11. Crimes of the Powerful: Theories of White-Collar Crime
The Discovery of White-Collar Crime: Edwin H. Sutherland

 
Organizational Culture

 
Organizational Strain and Opportunity

 
Deciding to Offend

 
State-Corporate Crime

 
Consequences of White-Collar Crime Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 12. Bringing Punishment Back In: Conservative Criminology
Context: The United States of the 1980s and Early 1990s

 
A New Context in Four Parts: 2008 to 2019

 
Other Recent Changes in Context

 
Varieties of Conservative Theory

 
Crime and Human Nature: Wilson and Herrnstein

 
Crime and The Bell Curve: Herrnstein and Murray

 
The Criminal Mind

 
Choosing to Be Criminal: Crime Pays

 
Crime and Moral Poverty

 
Broken Windows: The Tolerance of Public Disorganization

 
Consequences of Conservative Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 13. Choosing Crime in Everyday Life: Routine Activity and Rational Choice Theories
Routine Activity Theory: Opportunities and Crime

 
Rational Choice Theory

 
Perceptual Deterrence Theory

 
Situational Action Theory

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 14. The Search for the “Criminal Man” Revisited: Biosocial Theories
Evolutionary Psychology: Darwin Revisited

 
Social Concern Theory: Evolutionary Psychology Revisited

 
Neuroscience: Neurological and Biochemical Theories

 
Genetics

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 15. New Directions in Biosocial Theory: Perspectives and Policies
Biosocial Risk and Protective Factors

 
Environmental Toxins

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
CHAPTER 16. The Development of Criminals: Life-Course Theories
Integrated Theories of Crime

 
Life-Course Criminology: Continuity and Change

 
Criminology in Crisis: Gottfredson and Hirschi Revisited

 
Patterson’s Social-Interactional Developmental Model

 
Moffitt’s Life-Course-Persistent/Adolescence-Limited Theory

 
Sampson and Laub: Social Bond Theory Revisited

 
Rethinking Crime: Cognitive Theories of Desistance

 
The Consequences of Theory: Policy Implications

 
Conclusion

 
Further Readings

 
 
References
 
Author Index
 
Subject Index
 
About the Authors

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site

Calling all instructors! It’s easy to log on to SAGE’s password-protected Instructor Teaching Site at study.sagepub.com/lilly7e for complete and protected access to all text-specific Instructor Resources for Criminological Theory, Seventh Edition. Simply provide your institutional information for verification, and within 72 hours you’ll be able to use your login information for any SAGE title!   

The password-protected Instructor Resource Site includes the following: 

  • Test banks provide a diverse range of prewritten options, as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert your own personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding.
  • Sample course syllabi for semester and quarter courses provide suggested models for structuring your courses.
  • Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for your course.
  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter is included.
  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE encyclopedia articles that have been recommended by the authors for further reading. 
  • Chapter-specific discussion questions help launch classroom interaction by prompting students to engage with the material and by reinforcing important content.
Student Study Site

Use the Student Study Site to get the most out of your course! Our Student Study Site at study.sagepub.com/lilly7e is completely open-access and offers a wide range of additional features.  

The open-access Student Study Site includes the following:  

  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter is included. 
  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE encyclopedia articles that have been recommended by the authors for further reading.

“The best organized and most comprehensive theory textbook to use for both graduate and undergraduate students. It provides the historical context to the theories and the authors [and] makes it easier for students to relate theory to reality.”

Mirlinda Ndrecka, Ph.D.
University of New Haven

“This book is comprehensive, well-organized, and insightful.”

John A. Humphrey
Saint Anselm College

“This text is a comprehensive discussion of criminological theories from the beginning of criminology to the present.”

Scott A. Pray
Muskingum University
Key features

KEY FEATURES:

  • Diverse coverage of major criminological theories includes perspectives ranging from biosocial theories to critical criminology, providing students with a well-rounded understanding of multiple perspectives. 
  • The development of each theory covered within the broader sociological and historical context offers students insight into the wider social world from which criminology has evolved.
  • The authors explore policy implications and applications to help students see how theories are applied to real-world situations. 
  • A unique chapter on white-collar crime is indicative of the comprehensive theory coverage students receive from this book.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • Discussions of new theoretical developments now include subterranean values and delinquency, low self-control and victimization, procedural justice theory, place management, the social development model, and the feared self-theory of desistance.
  • More than 400 new sources assess developments within, and the empirical status of, the major theories—ensuring the most up-to-date research is included.  
  • Important changes in the contemporary social context in the United States and Europe are examined to demonstrate the context out of which theory and policy emerge, including declining crime rates, the Great Recession, and the rise of the Trump administration.  
  • Updated coverage of crime control policies and their connection to criminological theory are presented throughout the text.
 

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