Crime and the American Dream

Using the basic ideas, insights, and conceptual tools of sociology, Messner and Rosenfeld present a provocative introduction to alternative ways of thinking about crime. They provide both an insightful and comprehensive analysis of the Anomie tradition as well as other existing theories while offering a distinctive theoretical perspective to explain the exceptionally high levels of serious crime in the United States. They integrate empirical and quantitative data with ethnographic and qualitative data to provide a clear, succinct and unique discussion of crime and the American dream which is both accessible and interesting to students.