This comprehensive text introduces the basic aspects of modern criminology, emphasizing the importance of historical, feminist, and comparative perspectives on crime and offering a critical sociological perspective on the relationship between crime and structured social inequality. The authors explore what crime is and why it occurs by examining the four major forms of social inequality in the U.S.--class, gender, race, and age--and their influence on patterns of crime and victimization.

Criminology

Politics & Social Sciences

Bierne, Piers

Messerschmidt, James W.

Social Sciences

Wadsworth Publishing

The Fourth Edition of Criminology is Piers Beirne and James W. Messerschmidt's well-respected and comprehensive introduction to the study of crime and criminological theory. The authors take a critical sociological approach that emphasizes the relationship between four different sociological variables (gender, class, race, age) and crime. Thoroughly revised and updated, the new edition features numerous additions, both empirical and theoretical, including globalization, cyberstalking, computer crime, animal abuse, the latest corporate scandals (Enron, Worldcom, etc.), violence by college athletes, election fraud, and terrorism. One of the main strengths of this text is the way in which the authors trace the historical development of criminological theory and place the development of each theory in a historically specific set of social, economic, and political circumstances. Definitions of crime and the measurement of crime are subjected to a critical analysis that focuses on the social construction of crime and crime rates. The authors explore a wide range of research on property crimes and interpersonal violence as well as syndicated, white-collar, and political crimes. The chapter on the study of crime and victimization in a cross-national context helps students understand the importance of viewing crime through a culturally relative lens, as well as the problems associated with making cross-national generalizations regarding crime. Throughout the text, Beirne and Messerschmidt address historical, feminist, and comparative perspectives highlighting the major types of crime and victimization patterns. Their introduction addresses two key questions: "What is crime?" and "How is it measured?" The authors then debunk the major crime myths that are recreated daily and the notion that the most serious crimes are committed by the urban underclass. Written in student-oriented, accessible language, Criminology increases understanding through the abundant use of relevant illustrations, examples, and case studies. End-of-chapter key terms, discussion questions, additional readings, a glossary, and suggested websites further support student learning.

Beirne, Piers

Oxford University Press

Ideal for undergraduate courses in criminology--especially those taught from a critical perspective--Criminology: A Sociological Approach, Fifth Edition, is a comprehensive yet highly accessible introduction to the study of crime and criminological theory. Authors Piers Beirne and James W. Messerschmidt present the topic from a sociological standpoint, emphasizing the social construction of crime and showing how crime relates to gender, class, race, and age. Providing students with a strong theoretical foundation, the book also addresses historical, feminist, and comparative perspectives and highlights the major types of crime and victimization patterns. The text is divided into three Parts: * Part I focuses on three questions: "What is crime?" "How can we measure how much crime there is in the United States?" and finally, "How can we compare rates of crime in different societies?" * Part II is a systematic guide to modern criminological theory and its historical development. * Part III examines specific types of crime, including property crime, interpersonal violence, white-collar crime, and political crime. Written in student-friendly language, Criminology uses abundant illustrations, examples, and case studies to elucidate key points. The text also offers many helpful learning aids, including chapter previews, lists of key terms, chapter reviews, questions for class discussion, and suggestions for further study. NEW TO THE FIFTH EDITION * Moves the theory chapters to earlier in the book, helping to better connect them with one another * Reorganizes the chapters on theory to showcase the self-contained, internally coherent nature of criminology--rather than criminology's place in the historical record * Adds examples throughout * Presents new and up-to-date empirical data in all sections * Discusses many new topics, including cultural criminology and green criminology * Covers numerous types of crime that were not discussed in previous editions (e.g., whiteness and crime, the rape-war connection, Ponzi schemes, domestic right-wing terrorism, and state- sanctioned torture)

Criminology: A Sociological Approach

Ideal for undergraduate courses in criminology--especially those taught from a critical perspective--Criminology: A Sociological Approach, Sixth Edition, is a comprehensive yet highly accessible introduction to the study of crime and criminological theory. Authors Piers Beirne and James W. Messerschmidt present the topic from a sociological standpoint, emphasizing the social construction of crime and showing how crime relates to gender, class, race, and age. Providing students with a strong theoretical foundation, the book also addresses historical, feminist, and comparative perspectives and highlights the major types of crime and victimization patterns. THE TEXT IS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS: * Part I focuses on four questions: "What is crime?" "How are perceptions of it influenced by the mass media and by fear of crime?" "How can we measure how much crime there is in the United States?" and finally, "How often does crime occur and with what degrees of seriousness?" * Part II is a systematic guide to modern criminological theory and its historical development * Part III examines specific types of crime, including property crime, interpersonal violence, white-collar crime, and political crime, and it concludes with a chapter on comparative criminology and globalization The sixth edition features new and up-to-date empirical data and also covers areas not included in many criminology texts, like cultural criminology, green criminology, whiteness and crime, the rape-war connection, Ponzi schemes, domestic right-wing terrorism, and state-sanctioned torture.

Flesh and Blood: Adolescent Gender Diversity And Violence

Sociologists and criminologists have long known that there is a relationship between masculinity and crime. Indeed, gender has been advanced consistently as the strongest predictor of criminal involvement. Flesh and Blood provides a fascinating account of the connection among adolescent gender diversity, the body, and assaultive violence. The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, the author explores the history of criminology as a discipline, paying particular attention to the misgivings about the body, gender, and crime. Messerschmidt shows that criminology historically has maintained, in various ways, the mind-body, sex-gender, and gender difference binaries. In Part II, Messerschmidt presents a theoretical framework―structured action theory―for overcoming these binaries. This perspective allows conceptualization of: embodiment as a lived aspect of gender, both gender differences and gender similarities in the commission of crime, how embodied social action is embedded in specific structural gender relations in particular settings, and how embodied social actions may be related to violence and nonviolence. The methodology for the study is also presented in Part II, which seeks to understand, through life-history interviews, certain boys' and girls' use of assaultive violence as a gendered practice. Part III presents in depth life histories of four white working-class boys and girls involved in assaultive violence. The two chief questions addressed in these life stories are: Why is it that some boys and some girls engage in assaultive violence and how are these violent boys and girls similar and different? How are gender relations in specific settings-such as the family, the school, and the street-related to motivation for embodied violence and nonviolence by the same boys and girls? Part IV puts structured action theory to work by analyzing the three major sites (home, school, and street) of the boys' and girls' life histories and how these are related to assaultive violence and nonviolence.

Flesh and Blood: Adolescent Gender Diversity and Violence

Reference

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

'An outstanding contribution both to socialist feminist theory and to criminology....it will be regarded as a touchstone for such research for many years to come.'-Eleanor M. Miller, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Crime: Toward a Socialist Feminist Criminology

Challenging the common masculinist character of criminological research, James W. Messerschmidt develops an elaborate scrutiny of the gender roles that, along with class and race, influence the occurrence and types of crimes in our society.

Masculinities and Crime: Critique and Reconceptualization of Theory

Challenging the masculinist character of criminological research, the author offers a scrutiny of the gender roles that, along with class and race, influence the occurrence and types of crimes in society. He also reviews the feminist theory and suggests masculine social acts are often criminal.

Gender, Heterosexuality, and Youth Violence: The Struggle for Recognition

In Gender, Heterosexuality, and Youth Violence, James W. Messerschmidt unravels some of the mysteries of teenage violence. Written by one of the most respected scholars on the subject of gendered crime, this book provides a fascinating account of the connections among adolescent masculinities and femininities, bullying in schools, the body, heterosexuality, and violence and nonviolence. After an introduction that lays out key concepts, including a revised structured action theory, Messerschmidt shares six compelling life-histories of white working-class boys and girls who have all been victims of severe forms of bullying at school. The book is unique in its comparative approach between violent and nonviolent youth, between boys and girls as offenders and non-offenders, between assaultive and sexual violence, and among a variety of masculinities and femininities. It also addresses how heterosexuality is related to sex, gender, and certain forms of violence or non-violence. The penetrating life histories are partially drawn from Messerschmid’s previous books Nine Lives and Flesh and Blood, as well as several completely new life-history interviews. The book’s cutting-edge conceptualization of these life histories provides novel insight into the vexing question of youth violence.

Teen & Young Adult

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Messerschmidt, James W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Messerschmidt, James W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Messerschmidt, James W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Criminology

Criminology

Criminology: A Sociological Approach

Criminology: A Sociological Approach

Flesh and Blood: Adolescent Gender Diversity and Violence

Capitalism, Patriarchy, and Crime: Toward a Socialist Feminist Criminology

Masculinities and Crime: Critique and Reconceptualization of Theory

Masculinities and Crime: Critique and Reconceptualization of Theory

Gender, Heterosexuality, and Youth Violence: The Struggle for Recognition

Gender, Heterosexuality, and Youth Violence: The Struggle for Recognition