The meaning of crime

2.4 Summary

  • While social scientists think about crime analytically, most of the time individuals think about crime in terms of narratives or stories. Narratives which describe and explain their lives.

  • Societies also construct narratives about themselves. The dominant common-sense story about the crime problem in the contemporary UK is that a long wave of rising crime has created a society that is frightened, that feels both individual safety and the wider social order are under threat.

  • Our society is also fascinated and attracted by stories and representations of crimes and criminals.