Controlling Crime, Controlling Society: Thinking about Crime in Europe and America

How did anxieties about crime and deviance emerge in the modern world, first in Europe and then in America? How did they come to occupy centre-stage in the ongoing drama played out in public discourse? And how have theories of crime and deviance related to the actual practices of social control and punishment, and to the main currents of social conflict?

In this illuminating new book, Dario Melossi addresses these crucial questions, and at the same time offers an engaging survey of the theo...