Are you a criminologist or a sociologist? Anon Responds

What am I?

Am I a criminologist or a sociologist? At first I thought this was a trick question since, sometimes I wonder whether I am either. Perhaps this a symptom  of “imposter syndrome”, perhaps as an inter-disciplinary scholar in a sociology department it is the consequence of never quite fitting in to any particular discipline. Perhaps it is both.

However, as I mulled the question over in my head, I came to the conclusion that I am a sociological criminologist. I draw on grand sociological theories emanating from Durkheim, Marx, Weber, Bordieu, Lukes, Garland, Foucault and others (you get the picture). I try to make sense of specific empirical problems connected with crime and punishment. 

Do not take  “crime” as an always already constructed “problem”  is my mantra. Place the problem of “crime” and punishment in its social, political, and theoretical context. Hey presto:  I know what I am not. I am not the type of criminologist who seeks practical solutions to solve the apolitical “problem of crime”.  Although I have a normative agenda (one which takes into account the rampant inequality that plays out in the sphere of penality) I do not place policy at the forefront of my theoretical endeavours. I am no longer a practitioner, although I used to be. 

So, am I a sociologist or a criminologist? At the end of the day I am neither but I lean more towards the sociological camp than the purely criminological one.  I am far more turned on by classical or modern sociological theory than I am by Hirschi’s Control Theory. It just so happens that, at the same time, my passion lies in punishment and crime. In this sense then, I am a sociological criminologist.