What is Criminology About? Philosophical Reflections

Since its inception criminology has had trouble answering the question of what it is about. But although many consider the answer to this question to be self-evident, this book pursues the provocative possibility that criminology does not know what the object of its study is; it merely knows what it is called. Aiming to foster dissent among those who claim to know what criminology is about – and those who don’t – this collection contains the responses of 12 writers, from different schools of thought, to the question "what is criminology about?" Building on a resurgence of interest in the nature of the object of criminology, their responses aim to deepen, and to expand, the current debate. They will, then, be of considerable interest to contemporary proponents and students of criminology.