ABSTRACT
Large class sizes and heavy teaching loads in criminal justice and criminology departments are normally sufficient to curb any impulse an instructor may have toward encouraging students to think for themselves. In addition to practices that directly discourage creativity, a century-old problem for virtually all disciplines has caught up with criminology and criminal justice: increasing specialization. The main focus of contemporary mainstream criminology is embodied in the chase to explain the criminal act and criminal behavior from an objective perspective that is outside of the framework of those who experience that act. Researchers need to begin to think in terms of multi-disciplinary variables that interact in various non-linear formulations. A form of subjectivity that combines both researcher and researched is probably necessary in order for social scientists to understand social reality. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
