Risk has become a key concept in social theory and has had a significant impact across academic disciplines including criminology. On the one hand, several criminologists argue that the rise of risk has fundamentally reconfigured the operations of courts, corrections, and policing. Many claim that, over the last few decades, crime control has moved away from the old rehabilitative and retributive approaches of the past and towards more actuarial approaches based on risk management – crime has become a risk to be managed in aggregate terms rather than a moral transgression in need of rectification. On the other hand, while risk-based approaches to governing crime have grown significantly, cultural criminologists and sociologists of sport have noted a heightened emphasis on risk-taking by urban graffiti writers, illegal street racers, extreme sports enthusiasts, and illicit drug users. For these people, the risk-averse logic of actuarial governance – risk as potential harm to be avoided – is inverted such that risk is positively embraced for the excitement it affords. What is particularly characteristic about the present, then, is that a politics of risk management is colliding with a culture of risk-taking. In attempts to make sense of this puzzling paradox, in this thesis I offer a primarily theoretical investigation of the dominant approaches used in the study of risk management (chp. I) and risk taking (chp. II & III) in sociology and criminology. After exploring how the rise of risk has reconfigured crime control over the last quarter century in Chapter one, in Chapter two I develop the argument that orthodox criminology provides two dominant images of criminal risk-taking. While dispositional theories explain criminal risk-taking as the pathological behaviour of individuals with particular body types, low-self control, or of lower-class origin, situational theories conceive of criminal risk-taking as the (ir)rational decisions of necessarily risk-averse actors. Despite differences between dispositional and situational theories, both leave no room for risk-taking that is controlled and intentional. In Chapter three I enlist the work of Jack Katz on the seductions of crime and of Stephen Lyng on the sociology of risk-taking to develop a third, cultural approach to risk-taking that is voluntary and cross-class. I illustrate how, for Katz’s and Lyng’s actors, risk is approached as a challenge rather than seen as a deterrent. Lastly, I add to the historicity of the cultural approach to risk-taking by tracing its roots in a romantic worldview that arose out of 19th century disenchantment with the bureaucratic rationalism and alienation of capitalist modernity. In conclusion, I summarize the main argument of the thesis and outline some potential avenues for future research.

Risk has become a key concept in social theory and has had a significant impact across academic disciplines including criminology. On the one hand, several criminologists argue that the rise of risk has fundamentally reconfigured the operations of courts, corrections, and policing. Many claim that, over the last few decades, crime control has moved away from the old rehabilitative and retributive approaches of the past and towards more actuarial approaches based on risk management – crime has become a risk to be managed in aggregate terms rather than a moral transgression in need of rectification. On the other hand, while risk-based approaches to governing crime have grown significantly, cultural criminologists and sociologists of sport have noted a heightened emphasis on risk-taking by urban graffiti writers, illegal street racers, extreme sports enthusiasts, and illicit drug users. For these people, the risk-averse logic of actuarial governance – risk as potential harm to be avoided – is inverted such that risk is positively embraced for the excitement it affords. What is particularly characteristic about the present, then, is that a politics of risk management is colliding with a culture of risk-taking. In attempts to make sense of this puzzling paradox, in this thesis I offer a primarily theoretical investigation of the dominant approaches used in the study of risk management (chp. I) and risk taking (chp. II & III) in sociology and criminology. After exploring how the rise of risk has reconfigured crime control over the last quarter century in Chapter one, in Chapter two I develop the argument that orthodox criminology provides two dominant images of criminal risk-taking. While dispositional theories explain criminal risk-taking as the pathological behaviour of individuals with particular body types, low-self control, or of lower-class origin, situational theories conceive of criminal risk-taking as the (ir)rational decisions of necessarily risk-averse actors. Despite differences between dispositional and situational theories, both leave no room for risk-taking that is controlled and intentional. In Chapter three I enlist the work of Jack Katz on the seductions of crime and of Stephen Lyng on the sociology of risk-taking to develop a third, cultural approach to risk-taking that is voluntary and cross-class. I illustrate how, for Katz’s and Lyng’s actors, risk is approached as a challenge rather than seen as a deterrent. Lastly, I add to the historicity of the cultural approach to risk-taking by tracing its roots in a romantic worldview that arose out of 19th century disenchantment with the bureaucratic rationalism and alienation of capitalist modernity. In conclusion, I summarize the main argument of the thesis and outline some potential avenues for future research.

No description available.

Risk has become a key concept in social theory and has had a significant impact across academic disciplines including criminology. On the one hand, several criminologists argue that the rise of risk has fundamentally reconfigured the operations of courts, corrections, and policing. Many claim that, over the last few decades, crime control has moved away from the old rehabilitative and retributive approaches of the past and towards more actuarial approaches based on risk management – crime has become a risk to be managed in aggregate terms rather than a moral transgression in need of rectification. On the other hand, while risk-based approaches to governing crime have grown significantly, cultural criminologists and sociologists of sport have noted a heightened emphasis on risk-taking by urban graffiti writers, illegal street racers, extreme sports enthusiasts, and illicit drug users. For these people, the risk-averse logic of actuarial governance – risk as potential harm to be avoided – is inverted such that risk is positively embraced for the excitement it affords. What is particularly characteristic about the present, then, is that a politics of risk management is colliding with a culture of risk-taking. In attempts to make sense of this puzzling paradox, in this thesis I offer a primarily theoretical investigation of the dominant approaches used in the study of risk management (chp. I) and risk taking (chp. II & III) in sociology and criminology. After exploring how the rise of risk has reconfigured crime control over the last quarter century in Chapter one, in Chapter two I develop the argument that orthodox criminology provides two dominant images of criminal risk-taking. While dispositional theories explain criminal risk-taking as the pathological behaviour of individuals with particular body types, low-self control, or of lower-class origin, situational theories conceive of criminal risk-taking as the (ir)rational decisions of necessarily risk-averse actors. Despite differences between dispositional and situational theories, both leave no room for risk-taking that is controlled and intentional. In Chapter three I enlist the work of Jack Katz on the seductions of crime and of Stephen Lyng on the sociology of risk-taking to develop a third, cultural approach to risk-taking that is voluntary and cross-class. I illustrate how, for Katz’s and Lyng’s actors, risk is approached as a challenge rather than seen as a deterrent. Lastly, I add to the historicity of the cultural approach to risk-taking by tracing its roots in a romantic worldview that arose out of 19th century disenchantment with the bureaucratic rationalism and alienation of capitalist modernity. In conclusion, I summarize the main argument of the thesis and outline some potential avenues for future research.

No description available.

ABSTRACT Titel: Teorin som omgärdar den fula kriminologin - Cultural criminology, en introduktion. Författare: Johanna Sundquist Nyckelord: Cultural criminology, world risk society, risksamhälle.   Dagens medialandskap är grundad i det skriftbaserade samhället och har därför stora möjligheter till samhällskritik. Vi som mediakonsumenter har också idag större möjlighet att kritisera media men också att kritisera via media än tidigare. Dagens samhälle genomsyras också av en mediekonsumtion av aldrig tidigare sedda mått (Christie, 2004:69). Vi pumpas med information i TV, i radio, på Internet - via bloggar, twittrar, communities och forum. Aldrig förr har heller kriminalitet getts sådan uppmärksamhet i media (Jewkes, 2004:141). Inte bara information kring kriminalitet erbjuds via de olika mediekanalerna utan även ett nöjeskapande kring brottsligheten. Trots att människan alltid varit fascinerad av det normbrytande så har intresset för kriminalitet alternativt brottsbekämpning aldrig varit så populärt. Vår kultur absorberar kriminaliteten som underhållning. Samtidigt har vi heller aldrig varit så rädda för att utsättas för brottslighet. Cultural criminology utforskar de sätt som dagens kultur har kommit att internalisera kriminalitet och brottspreventiva medel. Cultural criminology pekar på den centrala roll som ugly criminology har i porträtteringen av brottslighet och det budskap som medföljer den porträtteringen. Den allmänna synen, som konstruerad av populärkulturen, på kriminalitet och brottsprevention, den gemensamma oron inför den konstruerade bilden av kriminalitet i samhället, uppfattningen av risken att bli utsatt för brott samt civila brottspreventiva åtgärder blir fokus i modern kultur.    Uppsatsens är utförd i form av en litteraturstudie inom vilken en av författaren utförd mindre mediastudie också ges plats. Uppsatsens syfte är att avhandla vad som i de anglosaxiska länderna benämnts "cultural criminology". En ansats görs även att introducera begreppet cultural criminology i en svensk kontext. Ett övergripande syftet är även att driva den tes som talar för hur så kallade "ugly criminology" och ett vad jag väljer att kalla kulturgörande av kriminologi bidrar till framfarten för vad Beck benämner "risksamhället".    Uppsatsen finner att kulturaliserandet av kriminalitet genom starkt ökad medial uppmärksamhet har gjort att vår vardag påverkas av ugly criminology; avhandlade av kriminalitet, i någon form. Även om vi inte aktivt söker den i form av information eller förströelse så når den oss via analog eller digital media. Den finner att kulturaliserande i form av ökad medieexponering också påverkar vår uppfattning av hot och risk i samhället. Vi ger mening till vår rädsla genom att läsa tidningen i vilken vi ser att rädslan är befogad. Det är genom den mediebefogade rädslan som vårt riskkalkylerande befästs och vår tro på det otrygga samhället lever vidare. Författaren hävdar att cultural criminology likt bland annat det mediala planet i samhället efterliknar den anglosaxiska modellen också är på stark frammarsch.

The goal of this study is to see how risk assessment is executed on the social media platform Facebook. The aim is to see how risk assessment in contrast of Ulrich Becks (2012) theory about risk society and reflexive modernization can help understand how users on Facebook minimize the possible risk of their actions on Facebook. The study is of a qualitative variety and is based on interviews with ten different Facebook users and processed by being thematised by criminalty, risks of health, politic risks, economical risks and risks about integrity. It is also summarized by different strategies to minimize risks that the participants discussed in the interviews. The most important results in this study was connected to risks about source criticism and actions that could have an impact on work-related questions. It was possible to see in the study that if a user had knowledge about potential risks they were mostly more likely to protect themselves against it. Also it concludes that in some cases experience that users learns from does not have to be related to their own experiences.

Socially produced risks – ranging from financial crises to climate change – are of fundamental importance to contemporary economic, political, and social life. Given the central importance of these risks, the development of frameworks that analyze the relation between risk, power, and inequality is a key task for sociology. Ulrich Beck’s theory of risk society is a leading and powerful framework for analyzing the growing social production and distribution of risk, but it has fundamental problems in its understanding of the relation between risk and class. Beck has argued that class relations will be dissolved due to the increasingly equal and catastrophic nature of risks, while, in response, his critics have shown that increasing risk does not undermine class. This thesis explores the important, but as yet unasked, question: if class does continue to be a central factor, will it become even more important due to the changes associated with risk society? In pursuing this question, this study shows how the theory of risk society has conceptual resources and explanatory implications that both Beck and his critics have misapprehended. Firstly, it is argued that the processes associated with risk society tend to exacerbate class inequalities rather than simply dissolving or reproducing them. Secondly, it its argued that the theory of risk society is not antithetical to class analysis, but can actually make an important contribution to theorizing the dynamics of existing class relations. By analyzing how the distribution of environmental bads and the social production and distribution of financial risk tend to intensify class inequalities, this thesis substantiates this re-theorization of risk society and class. It thereby makes a fundamental intervention into contemporary understandings of the relation between risk, inequality, and power in the twenty-first century. / Thesis (Ph.D, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-26 11:44:32.979

<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Titel: <em>Teorin som omgärdar den fula kriminologin - Cultural criminology, en introduktion.</em></p><p>Författare: Johanna Sundquist</p><p>Nyckelord: Cultural criminology, world risk society, risksamhälle.</p><p> </p><p>Dagens medialandskap är grundad i det skriftbaserade samhället och har därför stora möjligheter till samhällskritik. Vi som mediakonsumenter har också idag större möjlighet att kritisera media men också att kritisera via media än tidigare. Dagens samhälle genomsyras också av en mediekonsumtion av aldrig tidigare sedda mått (Christie, 2004:69). Vi pumpas med information i TV, i radio, på Internet - via bloggar, twittrar, communities och forum. Aldrig förr har heller kriminalitet getts sådan uppmärksamhet i media (Jewkes, 2004:141). Inte bara information kring kriminalitet erbjuds via de olika mediekanalerna utan även ett nöjeskapande kring brottsligheten. Trots att människan alltid varit fascinerad av det normbrytande så har intresset för kriminalitet alternativt brottsbekämpning aldrig varit så populärt. Vår kultur absorberar kriminaliteten som underhållning. Samtidigt har vi heller aldrig varit så rädda för att utsättas för brottslighet. Cultural criminology utforskar de sätt som dagens kultur har kommit att internalisera kriminalitet och brottspreventiva medel. Cultural criminology pekar på den centrala roll som ugly criminology har i porträtteringen av brottslighet och det budskap som medföljer den porträtteringen. Den allmänna synen, som konstruerad av populärkulturen, på kriminalitet och brottsprevention, den gemensamma oron inför den konstruerade bilden av kriminalitet i samhället, uppfattningen av risken att bli utsatt för brott samt civila brottspreventiva åtgärder blir fokus i modern kultur. </p><p> </p><p>Uppsatsens är utförd i form av en litteraturstudie inom vilken en av författaren utförd mindre mediastudie också ges plats. Uppsatsens syfte är att avhandla vad som i de anglosaxiska länderna benämnts "cultural criminology". En ansats görs även att introducera begreppet cultural criminology i en svensk kontext. Ett övergripande syftet är även att driva den tes som talar för hur så kallade "ugly criminology" och ett vad jag väljer att kalla kulturgörande av kriminologi bidrar till framfarten för vad Beck benämner "risksamhället". </p><p> </p><p>Uppsatsen finner att kulturaliserandet av kriminalitet genom starkt ökad medial uppmärksamhet har gjort att vår vardag påverkas av ugly criminology; avhandlade av kriminalitet, i någon form. Även om vi inte aktivt söker den i form av information eller förströelse så når den oss via analog eller digital media. Den finner att kulturaliserande i form av ökad medieexponering också påverkar vår uppfattning av hot och risk i samhället. Vi ger mening till vår rädsla genom att läsa tidningen i vilken vi ser att rädslan är befogad. Det är genom den mediebefogade rädslan som vårt riskkalkylerande befästs och vår tro på det otrygga samhället lever vidare. Författaren hävdar att cultural criminology likt bland annat det mediala planet i samhället efterliknar den anglosaxiska modellen också är på stark frammarsch.  </p>

There has been a rising concern surrounding risk within society. This increasing concern has dominated almost all aspects of human life and more specifically the way in which citizens are governed. How risk is addressed in general has shifted significantly; given this, the criminal justice system has also seen an escalation in concerns surrounding risk. Subsequently, there has been a push towards evaluating said risks through the use of actuarial assessment tools. Research has shown that with the rising reliance on actuarial assessment tools came the decrease in practitioner’s ability to rely on their professional judgement when conducting their work. However, there has been a gap identified in the literature. This gap pertains to how practitioners, particularly, probation officers perceive the impact of these actuarial tools on their work. This study aims to analyse how probation officers, within the province of Ontario, view the impact of actuarial assessment tools on their work. This study is guided by the theory of governmentality, as coined by Michel Foucault. In order to explore the impact of actuarial assessment tools on the practice of probation, seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with former probation officers. The perceptions varied and participants did not provide a unique and monolithic response; rather, the voices of all participants were shared to create a larger picture of how actuarial assessment tools impact the work of practitioners in the practice of probation.