Summary
Contents
“The four authors of this concise volume provide an authoritative introduction to diverse key concepts about crime and its relationship to society. Each chapter starts with a definition (e.g., deviance, social control, normalization), providing readers with the vocabulary and conceptual framework for fully understanding chapter contents... a very good way to expose students and the public (and scholars from outside fields) to definitions, ideas, and theories of crime and society.” - K. Evans, Indiana State University, Choice Key Concepts in Crime and Society offers an authoritative introduction to key issues in the area of crime as it connects to society. By providing critical insight into the key issues within each concept as well as highlighted cross-references to other key concepts, students will be helped to grasp a clear understanding of each of the topics covered and how they relate to broader areas of crime and criminality. The book is divided into three parts: • Understanding Crime and Criminality: introduces topics such as the social construction of crime and deviance, social control, the fear of crime, poverty and exclusion, white collar crime, victims of crime, race/gender and crime. • Types of Crime and Criminality: explores examples including human trafficking, sex work, drug crime, environmental crime, cyber crime, war crime, terrorism, and interpersonal violence. • Responses to Crime: looks at areas such as crime and the media, policing, moral panics, deterrence, prisons and rehabilitation. The book provides an up-to-date, critical understanding on a wide range of crime related topics covering the major concepts students are likely to encounter within the fields of sociology, criminology and across the social sciences.
Moral Panics
Moral Panics
Definition : The concept of moral panic has been used to describe how certain phenomena (e.g. riots, new drugs or types of drug use, immigration, hooliganism) and specific ‘outsider’ groups (often youth subcultures and/or immigrant populations) are presented as an exaggerated threat to society and how this ‘panic’ is instrumental in their repression. Exaggeration, misconception and distortion of the perceived threat amplified by the media are seen as producing a hostile and disproportionate reaction and as resulting in calls for new (often punitive) policy measures to resolve the threat. Despite remaining an important casual lay concept, it has nonetheless been subject to a range of criticisms in recent years that suggest its utility is more limited than once thought and that ...
