Skip Navigation



British Journal of Criminology Advance Access published online on June 23, 2008
British Journal of Criminology, doi:10.1093/bjc/azn031
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
48/5/641    most recent
azn031v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Carrington, K.
Right arrow Articles by Scott, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The British Journal of Criminology 0:azn031 (2008)
© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Masculinity, Rurality And Violence

Kerry Carrington and John Scott*

* School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia; jscott6{at}une.edu.au.


  Abstract

The assumption that the size, anonymity and weakened social controls of urban living generates social conflict, disorganization and higher rates of crime and violence has been an article of faith in much criminological and social scientific inquiry since the nineteenth century (i.e. Tönnies 1897; Shaw and McKay 1931; Levin and Lindesmith 1937; Nisbet 1970; Baldwin and Bottoms 1976; Felson 1994). The paper challenges this article of criminological faith and questions the utility of urban centric criminological theorizing about the causes of violence in rural settings. Drawing on descriptive data that show that rural men present a relatively high risk of inflicting harm upon themselves and others, this paper explores the larger socio-criminological question as to why this might be. The question is examined in relation to the processes of community formation that shape the everyday architecture of rural life. We explore how that architecture has historically valorized violent expressions of masculinity grounded in a relationship between men’s bodies and the rural landscapes they inhabit—but how the legitimacy of these violent expressions are being challenged by sweeping social, economic and political changes. One psycho-social response to these sweeping social changes to rural life, we conclude, is a resort to violence as a largely strategic practice deployed to recreate an imagined rural gender order.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.