CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM is the seminal work in a major segment of criminological theory by Steven Messner
and Richard Rosenfeld, both highly respected scholars and researchers. This is a theory book that students will
actually understand, with a very clear and accessible writing style. The foundation of the book is institutional
anomie theory (an offshoot of Mertonian anomie theory), which the authors posit helps explain why America's over-emphasis
on the pursuit of materialistic gain contributes to the country's high rate of violent crime.
New to the Edition
The authors have updated statistics and data to reflect the most current information available. Among other
things, the book features updated coverage of U.S. crime rates in comparison to other nations, subgroup differences
in crime rates within the U.S., and pertinent statistics on social institutions.
Other important content additions include new illustrations spotlighting the Enron scandal and the response
to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Chapter 2 now includes extended information about on-the-job injuries and deaths in the section on white-collar
crime. Chapter 2 also features a reformulated discussion of "American Exceptionalism," which now stresses
that a full appreciation of the crime in the U. S. requires attention to 1) the levels of serious offending, and
2) the societal response to crime in the form of mass incarceration.
The authors have reworked the discussion in Chapter 5 on the social response to crime in the U.S. by updating
and expanding the section on sentencing reforms and adding new material on "prisoner re-entry," the critical
transition from prison back to the streets. This is a topic of keen interest at present given the large growth
in the incarcerated population over recent decades.
Table of Contents
PREFACE.
1. A Society Organized for Crime.
2. By Any Means Necessary Serious Crime in America.
3. Ships in the Night Theoretical Perspectives in Contemporary Criminology.
4. Culture, Institutional Structure, and Social Control A Sociological Explanation of Crime.
5. Strengthening Social Institutions and Rethinking the American Dream.
