Criminology, Deviance, and the Silver Screen The Fictional Reality and the Criminological Imagination

by Frauley, Jon

• ISBN13: 9780230615168
• ISBN10: 0230615163
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-12-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Works of fiction offer complex and layered social realities that can be deconstructed and creatively theorized through the analytic frameworks provided by criminology and sociology. This text argues for the usefulness of fictional realities for criminological theorizing and analysis. It illustrates that a creative and critical social scientific practice requires craft norms rather than the commercial norms that threaten to completely colonize higher education. It also illustrates that pedagogical enquiry is relevant and important for criminology. Frauley highlights major concepts of prominent and influential theoretical frameworks and explicates through their systematic application to the fictional social realities provided by a selection of films. In addition to exploring theoretical analysis and clarifying concepts, he offers several original interpretations, descriptions, and explanations of cinematic narratives. He bridges theory and application and provides an innovative and interesting context in which to engage readers in the exploration of criminological theory and theorizing.

Author Biography

Jon Frauley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at York University in Toronto.

Table of Contents

Introductory Remarks – Films, Themes, and Premises * Theory, Theorizing, and Fictional Realities * The Criminological Imagination * Pathology, Power, and Medicalization in K-PAX and Happiness * Moral Transcendence and Symbolic Interaction in Falling Down * Subculture, Control, and American History X * Power Crime and the Culture of Enterprise in American Psycho and Thank You for Smoking * Bio-politics and Stigma Management in GATTACA