Course Summary
This course will focus on a range of critical theoretical perspectives relating to crime, law and social justice. You will explore a range of topics including: the current condition of critical theory in criminology and socio-legal studies; where critical theories fit ontologically and epistemologically; the differences between structural, constructionist and postmodern/poststructural approaches; and the role of critical theory in contemporary research, policy and practice. You will learn how to distinguish the assumptions and concepts underpinning a range of approaches including labelling and moral panic theories, different feminisms, queer theory, critical race and postcolonial perspectives, and you will examine the role that intersectionality is increasingly playing in critical justice studies. You will see how different concepts have been applied by researchers to change the way we think about, and respond to, a range of contemporary issues which might include: graffiti, policing, prisons, Aboriginal justice, gender and sexual equality, gender and sexuality based violence, sex work and drugs.