The case for studying social harm
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2021
Department/School
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology
Publication Title
The Palgrave Handbook of Social Harm
Abstract
This opening chapter of the Handbook of Social Harm outlines a range of harmful behaviours that sit outside of the criminal justice system. By highlighting the suffering and injury from such things as the pandemic, the chapter sets the stage for why the conceptualisations of crime and some approaches of the discipline of criminology are limited. Harm-based research, however, as proposed by Hillyard and Tombs in 2004 has the potential to challenge a status quo that contributes to suffering and injury. Zemiology, or the study of harm, can go further in uncovering and thus, preventing, harm and crime. This includes harms against people (especially marginalized populations), non-human animals and the environment. These harms sometimes require new methodologies and can come from a variety of sources like the industrial food system, leisure activities and even attempts to provide security. These harms and ones from other areas of society are often overlooked, but which this chapter introduces by laying out the contents of the Handbook.
Recommended Citation
Leighton, P., & Wyatt, T. (2021). The case for studying social harm. In P. Davies, P. Leighton, & T. Wyatt (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of social harm (pp. 1–8). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72408-5_1
Comments
P. Leighton is a faculty member in EMU's Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology.