Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Book Cover
Bestseller
BestsellerE-Book
Author Cooney, Mark, 1955-

Title Is killing wrong? : a study in pure sociology / Mark Cooney.

Publication Info. Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2009.

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Rocky Hill - Downloadable Materials  EBSCO Ebook    Downloadable
Rocky Hill cardholders click here to access this title from EBSCO
Description 1 online resource (xii, 254 pages).
Series Studies in pure sociology
Studies in pure sociology.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents Preface -- 1: Morality of homicide -- 2: Pure sociology -- 3: Vertical dimension -- 4: Organizational dimension -- 5: Radial dimension -- 6: Normative dimension -- 7: Cultural dimension -- 8: Relational dimension -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index.
Summary From the Publisher: "Thou shalt not kill" is arguably the most basic moral and legal principle in any society. Yet while some killers are pilloried and punished, others are absolved and acquitted, and still others are lauded and lionized. Why? The traditional answer is that how killers are treated depends on the nature of their killing, whether it was aggressive or defensive, intentional or accidental. But those factors cannot explain the enormous variation in legal officials' and citizens' responses to real-life homicides. Cooney argues that a radically new style of thought-pure sociology-can. Conceived by the sociologist Donald Black, pure sociology makes no reference to psychology, to any single person's intent, or even to individuals as such. Instead, pure sociology explains behavior in terms of its social geometry-its location and direction in a multidimensional social space. Is Killing Wrong? Provides the most comprehensive assessment of pure sociology yet attempted. Drawing on data from well over one hundred societies, including the modern day United States, it represents the most thorough account yet of case-level social control, or the response to conduct defined as wrong. In doing so, it demonstrates that the law and morality of homicide are neither universal nor relative but geometrical, as predicted by Black's theory.
Note Print version record.
Subject Murder.
Homicide.
Criminal psychology.
Criminal justice, Administration of.
TRUE CRIME -- Murder -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- General.
Criminal justice, Administration of. (OCoLC)fst00883246
Criminal psychology. (OCoLC)fst00883467
Homicide. (OCoLC)fst00959660
Murder. (OCoLC)fst01029781
Tötung.
Kriminalsoziologie.
Relativismus.
Rechtssoziologie.
Other Form: Print version: Cooney, Mark, 1955- Is killing wrong? Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2009 9780813928265 (DLC) 2009001837 (OCoLC)300030425
ISBN 9780813928357 (electronic bk.)
0813928354 (electronic bk.)
-->
Add a Review