Governance and Regulation in Social Life

Essays in Honour of W.G. Carson

Augustine Brannigan, George Pavlich

• Publisher: Routledge-Cavendish
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781135389987
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

Comprising fourteen articles by leading international contributors, including some of the most prominent socio-legal and criminological scholars working in the field, this volume is currently the only work available that critically examines W.G. Carson and his crucial influence in the turn towards sociological approaches to criminology and a criminological interest in governance and social control.

The 1970s witnessed an epiphany in the sociological understanding of crime in Britain. The correctional perspective, which assumed crimes had inherent or essential qualities that distinguished them from other acts, was superseded by the analysis of how social events came to be defined as so harmful and repugnant as to require criminalization. This shift in perspectives was exemplified in W.G. Carson's work, which combines a Marxist acknowledgement of the imperative for profit with a symbolic interactionist attention to the restraining effect of prestige and status among producers and regulators.

This key work is an essential read for postgraduates and researchers studying and researching in the areas of criminology and law.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 The shift from crime control to governance in the sociology of law
• Part I Are occupational health and safety ‘crimes’ really criminal?
• Part II Modalities of governance, social control and resistance
• Part III Crime, community and social justice
• References