ABSTRACT

In spite of its widespread use within criminology, the term ’criminological imagination’, as derived from C. Wright Mills’ classic The Sociological Imagination, has yet to be fully developed and clarified as an analytic concept capable of guiding theorizing or empirical enquiry. This volume, with a preface by Elliot Currie, engages with and reflects on this concept, exploring C. Wright Mills’ work for criminological enquiry. Bringing together the latest work of leading scholars in the fields of criminology and sociology from around the world, C. Wright Mills and the Criminological Imagination investigates the emergence and lineage of a criminological concept indebted to Mills’ thought, adapting and applying it to a specifically criminological context. With attention to theoretical concerns and, as well as the application of the criminological imagination in concrete empirical research, this volume sheds new light on the methodological and analytical aspects of the criminological imagination as a multifaceted concept and explores the possibilities that it offers for the emergence of an imaginative criminological practice. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in sociology and social theory, criminology, criminal justice studies, law and research methods.

chapter |18 pages

C. Wright Mills and the Criminological Imagination

Introductory Remarks

part I|114 pages

C. Wright Mills, the Criminological Imagination and the Criminological Field

chapter 1|38 pages

For a Refractive Criminology

Against Science Machines and Cheerful Robots

chapter 2|14 pages

The Demise of the Criminological Imagination

Thirty Years Later

part II|50 pages

The Criminological Imagination, Theoretical Insights, Empirical Implications

part III|90 pages

The Criminological Imagination, Empirical Insights, Theoretical Implications

chapter 8|16 pages

Critical Research Values and C. Wright Mills' Sociological Imagination

Learning Lessons from Researching Prison Officers

chapter 9|18 pages

Neo-liberalism, Higher Education and Anti-politics

The Assault on the Criminological Imagination

chapter 10|22 pages

Imagining the Unthinkable

Climate Change, Ecocide and Children