David O. Friedrichs - Edwin H. Sutherland

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Edwin H. Sutherland

Edwin H. Sutherland is widely identified as the single most important and influential criminologist of the twentieth century. He is especially well-known for his path-breaking criminology textbook (first published in 1924), his promotion of a sociological (and scientific) approach to the understanding of crime and its control, his theory of differential association, and his work over his final ten years on white-collar crime; a term he is credited with having introduced.

This book explores the contemporary meaning of Edwin H. Sutherland and considers why criminologists today should continue to engage with his work. What can, and should, Sutherland mean to future twenty-first century criminologists, those working in the field say between 2021 and 2050, or some one hundred years after the 1921 to 1950 period that encompassed Sutherlands criminological career? Which dimensions of Sutherlands work have best survived the march of time and which are most likelyand deserveto survive going forward?

Making the case that Sutherland is important to both mainstream and critical criminologists, to positivistic criminologists and those who study crimes of the powerful, this book is essential reading for both students and scholars interested in exploring the enduring legacy of this key thinker in criminology.

David Friedrichs is Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Criminal Justice & Criminology at the University of Scranton, USA.

Isabel Schoultz is a researcher at the Sociology of Law Department, Lund University, Sweden.

Aleksandra Jordanoska is Lecturer at the School of Law, the University of Manchester, UK.

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Routledge key thinkers in criminology
Edited by Tom Daems, University of Leuven
Kelly Hannah-Moffat, University of Toronto Mississauga
Shadd Maruna, University of Manchester
Tim Newburn, London School of Economics and Political Science

The more a discipline matures and develops the more interesting it becomes to document and reflect upon its historyincluding its key figures. The history of criminology includes a set of key thinkers who have defined the subject, renewed its theory and refined its methodology.

The volumes in this series are stand-alone introductions and critical examinations of the life and work of key thinkers in criminology. These volumes collectively contribute to writing and rewriting criminologys history by adding a distinctive line of inquiry: the focus is on the ideas of some of the most inspiring figures from its past.

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Edwin H. Sutherland

David Friedrichs, Isabel
Schoultz and Aleksandra
Jordanoska

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For Zadieand in memory of Zenin
David Friedrichs

For Hilda and Marta
Isabel Schoultz

For Vojdan
Aleksandra Jordanoska

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When David Friedrichs, the senior author of this book, first received an invitation from Commissioning Editor, Tom Sutton, to contribute a volume on Edwin H. Sutherland to Routledges new Key Thinkers in Criminology series, his initial reaction was one of skepticism on whether this was something he would want to take on. First, there were his various other professional and scholarly project commitments to consider. And secondly, there was the thought that quite a bit had been written about Sutherland, his life and legacy, and could one really add something worthwhile to this existing literature? For parallel reasons, an invitation to produce an encyclopedia entry on Sutherland, some years earlier, had been declined. But on further consideration it seemed, contingent on certain conditions, that this might be a worthwhile and fulfilling project. Former colleagues and students of Sutherlands published an anthologyin two versionsof his principal articles and papers: Albert Cohen, Alfred Lindesmith, and Karl Schuessler, editors, The Sutherland Papers (Indiana University Press, 1956) and Karl Schuessler, editor, Edwin H. Sutherland: On Analyzing Crime (University of Chicago Press, 1973). The only book since then devoted to Sutherlands life and legacyMark Gaylord and John Gallihers The Criminology of Edwin Sutherland (Transaction Publishers, 1988)was published almost thirty years ago. This book remains a valuable source on Sutherlands life, work and legacy. But in terms of that work and legacy it focuses principally upon the development of the theory of differential association. It has almost nothing to say about Sutherlands hugely influential work on white-collar crime, among other slighted parts of his body of work. The late Gil Geis incorporates much of value on Sutherlands work in his book White-Collar and Corporate Crime (2015), drawing upon decades of engagement with the life and career of Sutherland; but Geiss book is not a book about Sutherland per se. So, a broadly focused book-length consideration of Sutherland seemed worth producing at this time. Also, if an exploration of Sutherlands life and legacy could provide a basic point of departure for considering various issues that are still very much alive in criminology today, this would be appealing. And if one or more co-authors with a fundamentally different vantage point from that of the senior author could be brought into the project, this would not only make the workload involved more manageable, but would enhance the intrinsic value of the project as well.