Introduction: Social Democracy – the Utopia that Worked 1.Social Democracy: Political History of a Moral Crusade 2.Social Democratic Criminology: The Political and Moral Economy of Crime and Criminal Justice 3.The Strange Death of Social Democratic Criminology 4.Born Again Social Democratic Criminology
Robert Reiner is Emeritus Professor of Criminology in the Law Department at the London School of Economics. He was President of the British Society of Criminology from 1993–6; Director of the LSE Mannheim Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice from 1995–8; and convener of the Law Department from 2001–4. He is author of: The Blue-Coated Worker, Chief Constables, Law and Order, Policing, Popular Culture and Political Economy, Crime: The Mystery of the Common-Sense Concept, and The Politics of the Police, Fifth Edition (with Ben Bowling and James Sheptycki), and Editor (with Mike Maguire and Rod Morgan) of the first five editions of The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. He has also written numerous journal articles and book chapters. He received the British Society of Criminology Outstanding Achievement Award in 2011.
Robert Reiner is one of Britain's most esteemed criminologists. In
Social Democratic Criminology, he offers a detailed analysis of the
progress made during the social democratic era and the great harms
associated with the neoliberal era. Reiner's goals are to persuade
a new generation of criminologists of the benefits of social
democracy and construct a plan for how we might revive it.
Accessible, erudite and always insightful, Reiner's book is sure to
become a classic. Simon Winlow, Professor of Criminology,
Northumbria University, UK.The definitive account of what the
author calls the ‘strange death of social democratic criminology’
and its implications for justice and liberty, this book ranges from
the roots of social democracy to prospects for a ‘green new deal’.
It is challenging, rigorous – and in the current political context
– much needed. Nigel South, Professor of Sociology, University of
Essex.With trademark clarity and moral urgency, Reiner describes
the intersecting existential threats facing us and makes the case
for reviving social democratic criminology, encompassing both
political economy and ethical critique. This important book offers
a hopeful vision of criminology’s future. A compelling read for
confusing and disquieting times.Elizabeth Turner, Lecturer in
Sociology and Criminology, University of Liverpool.This book speaks
directly to the current moment: the neoliberal era is in crisis,
the alternative has yet to be born. Social democracy - adapted and
reinvented - can form the base for a broader social and justice
movement. Mary Corcoran, Keele University, UK.
Robert Reiner is one of Britain's most esteemed criminologists. In
Social Democratic Criminology, he offers a detailed analysis of the
progress made during the social democratic era and the great harms
associated with the neoliberal era. Reiner's goals are to persuade
a new generation of criminologists of the benefits of social
democracy and construct a plan for how we might revive it.
Accessible, erudite and always insightful, Reiner's book is sure to
become a classic. Simon Winlow, Professor of Criminology,
Northumbria University, UK.The definitive account of what the
author calls the ‘strange death of social democratic criminology’
and its implications for justice and liberty, this book ranges from
the roots of social democracy to prospects for a ‘green new deal’.
It is challenging, rigorous – and in the current political context
– much needed. Nigel South, Professor of Sociology, University of
Essex, UKWith trademark clarity and moral urgency, Reiner describes
the intersecting existential threats facing us and makes the case
for reviving social democratic criminology, encompassing both
political economy and ethical critique. This important book offers
a hopeful vision of criminology’s future. A compelling read for
confusing and disquieting times.Elizabeth Turner, Lecturer in
Sociology and Criminology, University of Liverpool, UKThis book
speaks directly to the current moment: the neoliberal era is in
crisis, the alternative has yet to be born. Social democracy -
adapted and reinvented - can form the base for a broader social and
justice movement. Mary Corcoran, Keele University, UK. To say that
Robert Reiner is one of the most admired scholars in criminology is
to state the more than obvious… What we gain from this book is both
a much clearer understanding of a major tradition—one that
continues to inform the thinking of many scholars and practitioners
around the world, however implicitly—and a sharp sense of the need
to rethink and revitalize that current of thought. It is a bold and
poignant statement by an extraordinary scholar.
Richard Sparks, University of Edinburgh, UK, Theoretical
CriminologyThe title and content are courageous, as they evoke
philosophies and socio-political arrangements that have long been
banned from public debate. Reiner’s Social Democracy claims not
only the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg but also the political right to
expose the dysfunctions of contemporary democratic systems. Think
of the incessant centralization of power, the expansion of
plutocracies and the failure to build an emancipated, egalitarian
and sustainable future. Think of how contemporary democracies keep
denying their own principles in order to allegedly defend
themselves; how, in brief, their resources for self-correction are
extremely poor. It seems to me that Social Democracy, in the way
Reiner proposes it, contains a set of values that may stop current
democracies from de-democratizing. Vincenzo Ruggiero, Middlesex
University, UK, The British Journal of Criminology
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