TY - JOUR
T1 - Towards a criminology of structurally conditioned emotions
T2 - combining Bourdieu's field theory and cultural criminology
AU - Prieur, Annick Ingrid
PY - 2018/5/15
Y1 - 2018/5/15
N2 - When trying to explain why some people commit crimes while most do not, criminological theory has had a problem with linking agency and structure. A promising solution came in Jock Young’s version of cultural criminology, which integrated Merton’s strain theory with Katz’s account of the emotional rewards from criminal acts. Young claimed the core emotion behind different crimes would be a structurally caused experience of humiliation. Linking individual agency and structural conditions through emotions certainly advances understanding, but Young did not show how this linking was effectuated. Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory may contribute with a better grasp on how structural conditions influence the social agent’s perception of the world and emotional orientation towards it. After exploring how this argument may be supported with regard to empirical cases – studies of graffiti, thefts and violence – the concluding discussion deals with the limits of an approach that combines fields and emotions.
AB - When trying to explain why some people commit crimes while most do not, criminological theory has had a problem with linking agency and structure. A promising solution came in Jock Young’s version of cultural criminology, which integrated Merton’s strain theory with Katz’s account of the emotional rewards from criminal acts. Young claimed the core emotion behind different crimes would be a structurally caused experience of humiliation. Linking individual agency and structural conditions through emotions certainly advances understanding, but Young did not show how this linking was effectuated. Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory may contribute with a better grasp on how structural conditions influence the social agent’s perception of the world and emotional orientation towards it. After exploring how this argument may be supported with regard to empirical cases – studies of graffiti, thefts and violence – the concluding discussion deals with the limits of an approach that combines fields and emotions.
KW - Agency
KW - Bourdieu
KW - cultural criminology
KW - emotions
KW - structure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046886513&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1477370817737242
DO - 10.1177/1477370817737242
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1477-3708
VL - 15
SP - 344
EP - 363
JO - European Journal of Criminology
JF - European Journal of Criminology
IS - 3
ER -