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Criminology: A Sociological Understanding, 8th edition

Published by Pearson (September 28, 2022) © 2023

  • Steven E. Barkan

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For introductory courses in criminal justice, criminology, and crime and society.

Award-winning coverage of the sociology of criminology

Criminology: A Sociological Understanding weighs the impact of race, ethnicity, gender and social class on crime and the treatment of criminals. Moving beyond simple “get tough” approaches, Author Steven Barkan asserts that understanding the social causes of criminal behavior is the first step to addressing it. He urges readers to take a critical eye to our reliance on the criminal justice system as a means of reducing crime.

The thoroughly revised 8th Edition includes the latest statistics and research on crime and criminal justice available as the text went to production. Dozens of new references have been added and older ones deleted.

Criminology: A Sociological Understanding is the 2006 winner of the Textbook Excellence Award for Humanities/Social Sciences, from the Textbook and Academic Authors Association.

Hallmark features of this title

Themes in the study of crime

  • Theories and underlying causes of crime are explored. Theory and Policy sections examine how these theories can be applied to crime reduction.
  • Topics of interest are discussed in dedicated chapters, including violent crime (Ch. 10), violence against women (Ch. 11), white collar and organized crime (Ch. 13) and political crime (Ch. 14).
  • A capstone chapter on reducing crime (Ch. 18) outlines primary, secondary and tertiary approaches.

Engaging pedagogy

  • What Would You Do? exercises at the end of each chapter present hypothetical scenarios based on real-world situations faced by criminal justice professionals and average citizens.
  • Study tools include Crime Online exercises, chapter outlines, conclusions, chapter summaries and key terms.

New and updated features of this title

Expansion of popular features

  • UPDATED: Crime in the News vignettes at the start of each chapter are taken from 2021 and 2022 headlines. They demonstrate the relevance of chapter content to real events and issues.
  • EXPANDED: Crime and Controversy boxes and International Focus boxes, several of them new or revised for this edition, highlight crime and justice issues in the US and abroad.

Views on crime and crime control

  • REVISED: An examination of crime control includes new analysis of race and police use of force, plus ethnicity and arrest. Added content considers the effects of skin tone and Afrocentric features on sentencing.
  • EXPANDED: Coverage of public opinion of crime in a dedicated chapter (Ch. 2) includes new discussion of the news media's portrayal of immigrants and criminality. It also looks at violence in the popular media, as well as public perceptions of injustice after the murder of George Floyd.

New content on current issues

  • EXPANDED: New topics concerning victims and victimization (Ch. 3) include heightened victimization of Asian Americans, LGBTQ populations, people with disabilities and college students.
  • NEW: Discussion of changes during or post-2020 covers possible reasons for the rise of homicide and shootings, as well as the increased violence against women after the start of the pandemic.

Features of Revel for the 8th Edition

  • In author explanatory videos, the text's author clarifies and expands upon critical topics. The videos are integrated into the narrative of each chapter.
  • Point/counterpoint videos present 2 opposing evidence-based arguments to help students analyze criminal justice issues such as the 4th amendment, prisoner rights and the death penalty.
  • Social Explorer maps integrated into the narrative correlate crime and corrections data with socioeconomic and other criminal justice data across the US.
  • Student survey questions address controversial topics and important concepts. Students can review a bar chart comparing their responses to those of their classmates.

PART 1: UNDERSTANDING CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION

  1. Criminology and the Sociological Perspective
  2. Public Opinion, the News Media, and the Crime Problem
  3. The Measurement and Patterning of Criminal Behavior
  4. Victims and Victimization

PART 2: EXPLAINING CRIME

  1. Classical and Neoclassical Perspectives
  2. Biological and Psychological Explanations
  3. Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Structure
  4. Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Process
  5. Sociological Theories: Critical Perspectives

PART 3: CRIMINAL BEHAVIORS

  1. Violent Crime: Homicide, Assault, and Robbery
  2. Violence Against Women
  3. Property Crime and Fraud
  4. White-Collar and Organized Crime
  5. Political Crime

PART 4: CONTROLLING AND PREVENTING CRIME

  1. Consensual Crime
  2. Policing: Dilemmas of Crime Control in a Democratic Society
  3. Prosecution and Punishment
  4. Conclusion: How Can We Reduce Crime?

About our author

Steven E. Barkan is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Maine. His teaching and research interests include criminology, sociology of law and social movements. He is a past president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and had previously served as a member of the SSSP Board of Directors, as chair of its Law and Society Division and Editorial and Publications Committee, and as an advisory editor of its journal, Social Problems. He also previously served as a member of the council of the Sociology of Law Section of the American Sociological Association and served on its student paper award committee as well as that of the ASA Crime, Law, and Deviance Section. He also served on the council of Alpha Kappa Delta, the sociology honor society, and is a past president of the Text and Academic Authors Association. An earlier edition of this book was awarded the Textbook Excellence Award for Humanities/Social Sciences from this association.

Professor Barkan has written many journal articles dealing with topics such as racial prejudice and death penalty attitudes, racism and socioeconomic status as fundamental causes of street criminality, views on police brutality, political trials, and feminist and anti-hunger activism. These articles have appeared in the American Sociological Review, Critical Criminology, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Journal of Crime and Justice, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Justice Quarterly, Social Forces, Social Problems, Sociological Forum, Sociological Inquiry, Sociological Perspectives and other journals.

Professor Barkan welcomes comments from students and faculty about this book. He can be reached by email.

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