HARMFUL SOCIETIES: UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL HARM - STUDIES IN SOCIAL HARM

While the notion of social harm has long interested critical criminologists it is now being explored as an alternative field of study, which provides more accurate analyses of the vicissitudes of life.

However, important aspects of this notion remain undeveloped, in particular the definition of social harm, the question of responsibility and the methodologies for studying harm. This book, the first to theorise and define the social harm concept beyond criminology, seeks to address these omissions and questions why some capitalist societies appear to be more harmful than others. In doing so it provides a platform for future debates, in this series and beyond.

It will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers across criminology, sociology, social policy, socio-legal studies and geography.

Dr Simon Pemberton is a Birmingham Fellow jointly appointed to the Schools of Law and Social Policy at the University of Birmingham. Simon completed his PhD in 2004 at the University of Bristol. In 2005, he was awarded an ESRC Post Doctoral Fellowship to develop his doctoral work on social harm. He has published a widely on the notion of social harm and is currently researching aspects of social harm caused by social structures.