About the Book
Frank Pearce was the first scholar to use the term 'crimes of the powerful.' His ground-breaking book of the same name provided insightful critiques of liberal orthodox criminology, particularly in relation to labelling theory and symbolic interactionism, while making important contributions to Marxist understandings of the complex relations between crime, law and the state in the reproduction of the capitalist social order. Historically, crimes of the powerful were largely neglected in crime and deviance studies, but there is now an important and growing body of work addressing this gap. This book brings together leading international scholars to discuss the legacy of Frank Pearce’s book and his work in this area, demonstrating the invaluable contributions a critical Marxist framework brings to studies of corporate and state crimes, nationally, internationally and on a global scale.
This book is neither a hagiography, nor a review of random areas of social scientific interest. Instead, it draws together a collection of scholarly and original articles which draw upon and critically interrogate the continued significance of the approach pioneered in Crimes of the Powerful. The book traces the evolution of crimes of the powerful empirically and theoretically since 1976, shows how critical scholars have integrated new theoretical insights derived from post-structuralism, feminism and critical race studies and offers perspectives on how the crimes of the powerful - and the enormous, ongoing destruction they cause - can be addressed and resisted.
Table of Contents:
Foreword: Autobiographical Context for Crimes of the Powerful, Frank Pearce, Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful: An Introduction, Steven Bittle, Laureen Snider, Steve Tombs and David Whyte, Section I: Theoretical and conceptual excursions. 1. Conceptualisation, Theoretical Practice and Crimes of the Powerful, Jon Frauley, 2. Law: Ideological Whitewashing and Positive Enabling of Coercion, Harry Glasbeek, 3. Underworld as Servant and Smokescreen: Crimes of the Powerful and the Evolution of Organized Crime Control, Michael Woodiwiss, 4. Shadow Boxing against the Crimes of the Powerful, Margaret Beare, 5. Between Force and Consensus, Vincenzo Ruggiero, 6. Developing Pearce’s New Materialism, Nick Hardy, 7. ‘Expropriative’ Sacrifice and Zombie Capitalism: A Radical Durkheimian Approach, Ronjon Paul Datta, 8. Power, Crime and Enclosure: Capital Accumulation in the Twilight of the Neoliberal SSA, Raymond Michalowski, Section II: Crimes of the Powerful Research: Empirical Dimensions. 9. Marx Reloaded for the 21st Century: Capitalism, Agency and the Crimes of the Powerful, Kristian Lasslett, 10. The Imaginary Social Order of Corporate Criminal Liability, Liisa Lähteenmäki and Anne Alvesalo-Kuusi, 11. Global Capital, the Rigging of Interbank Interest Rates, and the Capitalist State, Gregg Barak, 12. Pipelines, Presidents and People Power: Resisting State-Corporate Environmental Crime, Elizabeth A. Bradshaw, 13. Pesticeland: Brazil’s Poison Market, Stéfanie Khoury, 14. No Criminology of Wage Theft: Revisiting ‘Workplace Theft’ to Expose Capitalist Exploitation, Paul Leighton, 15. Prying into the Pockets of Public Figures, Scott Poynting, 16. Crimes of the Powerful and the Spanish Crisis, Ignasi Bernat, 17. Crimes of Globalization and Asian Dam Projects: Powerful Institutions and Slow Violence, David O. Friedrichs, Section III: New Developments in Crimes of the Powerful Research. 18. An Extension of Frank Pearce’s Work on Crimes of the Powerful: ‘Demystification’ and the Role of Our Consent, Dawn L. Rothe and Victoria E. Collins, 19. Debtfarism, Predatory Lending and Imaginary Social Orders: The Case of the US Payday Lending Industry, Susanne Soederberg, 20. Failure to Protect: State Obligations to Victims and State Crime, Laura Finley, 21. ‘Punitive Reformation’: State-Sanctioned Labour Through Criminal Justice and Welfare, Jon Burnett, 22. Imperialism: The General Theory of Crimes of the Powerful, Biko Agozino, 23. Frank Pearce and Colonial State Crimes: Contributions to a research agenda, Jose Atiles, 24. Organized Irresponsibility, Corporations, and the Contradictions of Collective Agency and Individual Culpability, Dean Curran
