Is committing crime a means for men to attain ‘hegemonic masculinity’ or do socio-economic factors provide a better explanation for why men commit crime?
Background reading:
Buying one or two of the following will provide you with texts that are useful sources for most theories covered on the module. As well as providing summaries of the different perspectives, most of them also contain suggestions for further reading. In particular, the books by Tierney and Lilly et al are recommended:
Burke, R H (2005) An Introduction to Criminological Theory, Cullompton:Willan.
Carrabine, E et al (2008) Criminology: A Sociological Introduction, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.
Lilly, J R, Cullen, F T and Ball, R A (2011) Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences, London: Sage.
Maguire, M, Morgan, R and Reiner, R (2007) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Melossi, D (2008) Controlling Crime, Controlling Society
Newburn, T. (2007) Criminology, Cullompton: Willan. (Part 2. Chapters 5-16)
Tierney, J (2009) Key Perspectives in Criminology, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
O’Brien, M and Yar, M (2008) Criminology: The Key Concepts, London: Routledge.
Tierney, J (2010) Criminology: Theory and Context, Harlow: Pearson.
Valier, C (2002) Theories of Crime and Punishment, Harlow: Pearson.
Walklate, S (2001) Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice, Cullompton: Willan.
Walklate, S (2007) Understanding Criminology: Current Theoretical Debates, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Relevant journals:
Journals allow you to access articles that have a higher degree of specialism and complexity than you will get from textbook overviews of theories (useful as these can be). Journal articles also count as far more impressive references in your assignments and demonstrate your ability to do your own literature searches. Textbooks will generally inform you of the main authors and publications in particular areas, but it helps to enhance your assignments if you demonstrate you can go beyond this. The following are particularly useful for this module and can all be accessed electronically. However, there is no need to restrict your searches to these journals:
British Journal of Criminology
Criminology
Feminist Criminology
Journal of Criminal Justice
Justice Quarterly
Punishment and Society
Theoretical Criminology