Security Field

Matt Bowden is the Academic Lead at the Culture and Society Research Hub and Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Technological University Dublin, Ireland.

• 1.The Security Field? An Introduction 2.From Plural Policing to the Security Field 3.The Theoretical and Empirical Challenge: Towards a Relational Approach 4.The Case in Context: Introduction to Crime, Policing and Security Governance in Ireland 5.'Everything’s built on knowing each other' – The Construction of Safety in the Consumer City: Policing, Business and the Politics of Urban Marginality 6.Conversation as Security Capital: Community Safety and Local Security 7.Policy Networks and Security Networks: The Case of the Private Security Industry and the National Crime Prevention Office 8.The Security Field: Crime Control, Power, and Symbolic Capital

'Studies on the governance of security and safety in society is a growing area of importance to criminologists. Matt Bowden provides us with not only a deep empirical dive into how security actors collaborate and form networks and assemblages but also a thorough exposition and application of Bourdieu's concepts and tools. This excellent book on complex relations between the actors in the security field, is an exemplary model of theory-building while remaining relevant for policymakers and practitioners. It is also invaluable study material for graduate students.'Gorazd Meško, Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Slovenia'Analysis of how crime prevention and security operate in society are always enhanced by delving into how this is a contentious and deeply fought-for territory. This book goes further by proposing a conceptual framework for thinking about the security field using ideas from Bourdieu that many criminologists have heard of, but rarely use – and does this in a remarkably accessible way. This truly is essential reading for anyone interested in security and crime prevention.'Amanda Kramer, Senior Lecturer, School of Law, Queen's University Belfast'After a long slow drip, Bourdieusian criminology has gathered into a steady stream and Matt Bowden’s new book might just flood the gates. This is a work of serious scholarship that combines flinty analysis of plural policing practices with a forceful case for a comprehensive sociology of securitisation in the twenty-first century. You may never feel secure again.'Alistair Fraser, Professor of Criminology and Sociology, University of Glasgow