The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour

The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour by Stuart Waiton

Antisocial behaviour is becoming a universally accepted problem and one that dominates the political and popular imagination. By providing a new criminological framework for understanding the fear of crime, this book reposes the increasingly important debate around antisocial behaviour and the internationally understood idea of moral panics. Through a critical engagement with theories of risk, the book develops Furedi's understanding of a Culture of Fear to illustrate how firstly, society today is best understood to be in a permanent state of anxiety, and secondly, how this state of affairs has arisen due to the collapse of traditional politics and morality, and equally, of radical alternatives to it. Central to Waiton's thesis is an explanation of the changing therapeutic relationship between the individual and society based on an understanding of diminished subjectivity and the newly emerged vulnerable public.

"Waiton’s book warns us about what can happen when policy makers panicThis agenda setting text provides great insight into the politics of fear."

–Professor Frank Furedi

"In Amoral Panics, Stuart Waiton offers an insightful interpretation of why contemporary fears focus on issues of safety and victimization. His analysis of British concerns with antisocial behavior can help us understand all manner of modern anxieties."

– Joel Best, author of Damned Lies and Statistics and Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads

"This book by a leading figure in US/UK sociology, drawing on recent research, gives a fascinating account."

- Francis Bennion, Your Voice

"Waiton has produced a thought-provoking and challenging book; that takes recent criminological debates (such as those around social control, actuarial justice, risk and fear of crime) and resituates them within a wider sociological thesis about the decline of coherent political culture."

- Majid Yar, University of Hull, Crime, Media, Culture

"This is a book packed with sharp and original insights that marks out a significant new line of enquiry for theories of criminal law and criminal justice."

- Peter Ramsay, London School of Economics, Criminology and Criminal Justice

"This work should be widely read. It is an acute analysis that effectively challenges common explanations for what are assumed to be social problems."

- Harris Chaiklin, University of Maryland, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

Stuart Waiton lectures at the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland, is a Director of the youth research group Generation Youth Issues, and is a contributor to the Times Education Supplement. He is author of Scared of the Kids? Curfews, crime and the regulation of young people.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780415872720
ISBN 10	0415872723
Title	The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour
Author	Stuart Waiton
Series	Routledge Advances In Criminology
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Taylor & Francis Ltd
Year published	2009-06-09
Number of pages	194
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.