Actor-Network Theory and Crime Studies

Developed by Bruno Latour and his collaborators actor-network theory (ANT) offers crimes studies a worthy intellectual challenge. It requires us to take the performativity turn consider the role of objects in our analysis and conceptualize all actants (human and non-human) as relational beings. Thus power is not the property of one party but rather it is an effect of the relationships among actants. This innovative collection provides a series of empirical and theoretical contributions that shows: [ The importance of conceptualizing and analyzing technologies as crucial actants in crime and crime control. [ The many facets of ANT: its various uses its theoretical blending with other approaches its methodological implications for the field. [ The fruitfulness of ANT for studying technologies and crime studies: its potential and limitations for understanding the world and revamping crime studies research goals. Students academics and policy-makers will benefit from reading this collection in order to explore criminology-related topics in a different way.