SC242: Introduction to the Course

The course is divided into two parts:

Part 1: Criminological Imaginations: Theories of crime and control
Part 2: Global and local crime

Overall, this course aims to help you to:

• Grasp some of the key ways of thinking about crime through an analysis of various discourses and narratives which have developed as 'explanations'.
• Link these discourses to the several key sociological and criminological areas of theoretical development - notably: Classicism and Positivism; 'Chicago' theories; Anomie theory; Labelling; Marxist perspectives; Feminist perspectives; debates around Foucault; critical criminologies; New Right Conservatives and Left Realism; and Post-modernist stances
  develop a broad historical sense of how ideas about criminology, social control, crime, and criminal justice agencies, have shifted over time in the West, from the 18th century onwards.
• Become aware of some of the key contemporary debates and theoretical perspectives surrounding the politics and images of crime and control
• Understand the social processes involved in 'making sense' of social phenomena such as 'crime', 'social problems' and 'deviance', and in the construction of 'knowledges' about crime and criminality
• Think comparatively about crime and control.

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

1. Understand key social ways of thinking critically about crime, deviance and control
2. Demonstrate a good understanding of at least six major criminological studies
3. Scrutinise broader criminological 'texts' (such as film, TV, press, internet) and make sense of them through the theories discussed on the course
4. Be a confident and critical user of academic research tools such as specialist journals and the Internet