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CRIMINAL IDENTITIES AND CONSUMER CULTURE: CRIME, EXCLUSION AND THE NEW CULTURE OF NARCISSISM Hall, S., Winlow, S. and Ancrum, C. (2008). Cullompton: Willan. ISBN 978-I-84392-2SS-I
This pioneering book is a major contribution to criminological scholarship. It possesses many strengths, not least of which is its trenchant theoretical insight into the motivations (conscious and unconscious) underpinning offending behaviour within the context of late capitalist consumer society.
Every criminology student knows that the British Crime Survey and recorded crime figures indicate that crime, overall, is consistently falling. That, however, may not be the whole story of crime in contemporary Britain. Any serious attempt to intervene with offenders who flourish under socially marginalised conditions must address not just the culture of liberal capitalism and the post-political neo-liberal state, but also the egoism and narcissism which suffuses advanced capitalist culture. Current fears of economic recession mean that this book, which outlines the brutality of existence and daily lived realities for those in economically dispossessed communities, is timely.
The data informing this work is rooted in a broad ethnographic study of criminal identities in the north-east of England. What renders this book particularly impressive is the quality of its ethnography, which is reflected in the intensity, persuasiveness and frankness of its interviews. No-one who reads this book will be surprised that Steve Hall lauds his co-authors Simon Winlow and Craig Ancrum as 'two of the best criminal ethnographers in the business'. In documenting 'life on the precipice' and providing a voice to the voiceless, they have performed an inestimable service not just to criminologists but to every criminal and community justice practitioner who seeks to understand their clients.
Those clients...