The security field: Forming and expanding a Bourdieusian criminology

Abstract

Recent scholarly contributions have sought to integrate Bourdieusian sociology with criminology, centring for example, on the 'street' field as a symbolic and narrative space occupied by players within criminal justice. This article complements this broad objective by focusing on the changes in contemporary police and security governance that are pointing towards an emerging security field. Such a change can be read from the literature on plural policing and crime control, and involves the morphology of policing into nodes or assemblages of security producers. While there has been some attention to the formation of security networks, further empirical work is required to map the field dynamics using a Bourdieusian toolkit. This article explores the concept of the security field, presents some observations from current field research, and identifies some remaining questions and challenges for further conceptualisation and empirical research.

"Crime-Talk", Security and Fear in the Countryside: A Preliminary Study of a Rural Irish Town and Its Hinterland

“…In the case of rural crime in Ireland which we have shown, this process was driven by political and media definitions of the situation: moreover, senior police officers and their representative organizations took positions as an attempt at legitimate naming (Loader & Mulcahy, 2001). Similarly, Bowden (2019) has shown how such position taking is a critical process in what he has defined as the security field, the space which opened up by the pluralization of policing typical of the late modern, neo-liberal policy landscape on crime control. Hence an interesting development of the crime-talk approach might be to delve into discourses and local nodal forms of security Dupont (2004) based upon security talk and security action.…”

The Search of the Influence of Bourdieu Sociology to Criminology

“…security). M. Bowdenas šiems pokyčiams analizuoti pasitelkia P. Bourdieu sociologiją, todėl analizuoja saugumo arba apsaugos lauką (Bowden 2021). Beje, M. Bowdenas savo straipsnį traktuoja kaip besiplečiančios P. Bourdieu įtakos kriminologijai faktą (Bowden 2021, p. 170-174).…”

Children and crime: A study on child perpetrators in South Sumatera, Indonesia

“…The field becomes a place of struggle to maintain and fight for position, power, and legitimacy, ultimately changing the structure of domination. Here, the actors fight with all the resources (capital) and strategies they have, in defending and claiming their position in the hierarchy (Bowden, 2021). This battle also seeks to compete for influence and defend resources.…”