William J. Chambliss

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William J. Chambliss

William J. Chambliss (born December 12, 1933 in Buffalo , † February 22, 2014 in Washington, DC ) was an American sociologist and criminologist . He is counted among the leading representatives of the Marxist crime theories. He has taught as a professor at George Washington University since 1986 .

Chambliss was first a student with Donald R. Cressey at the University of California at Santa Barbara and later with Alfred Ray Lindesmith at Indiana University , where he received his Ph.D. received his doctorate . After stints at the University of Washington , the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Delaware , he joined George Washington University in 1986, where he became co-director of the Institute on Crime, Justice, and Corrections .

In 1987/88 Chambliss was President of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and in 1992/93 President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems . He held various visiting professorships, including in London, Oslo, Stockholm, Vienna, Cardiff and at various African universities. In 2003 he was awarded the "Edwin H. Sutherland Award" of the American Society of Criminology . In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Guelph, Canada .

Criminological Positions

Chambliss was already well known in his first published article in 1964, an investigation into vagrancy. He had analyzed the relevant English legislation of 1394 against its historical-economic background and recognized a connection to the plague epidemic of 1348, in which almost half of the population died, which drastically reduced the number of workers. The vagabond laws were therefore aimed at forcing workers (whether free or unfree) to accept low wages in order to give landowners the opportunity to cultivate their land. It was only in later centuries that the protection of trade routes through the control of criminals and undesirable persons was in the foreground of the relevant legislation.

With this essay, Chambliss opened up an analytical perspective that Karl Marx had already opened up in the “Debates on theft of wood” and thus became a prominent proponent of a conflict theory according to which society can be understood structurally through the conflicts between different social classes and groups . This has concrete effects on the respective criminal law. The driving force behind criminal law conditions are economic interests and political power. This leads to a statistical overrepresentation of the lower class in the recording of crime, but this actually does not show any higher crime rates. Rather, it applies that everyone commits crime (“Everyone commits crime”). Laws are a political weapon and are not independent of political and economic conditions.

Fonts (selection)

  • Power, politics, and crime . Westview Press, Boulder 1999, ISBN 0-8133-3486-1 .
  • with Richard P. Appelbaum: Sociology , 2nd edition, Longman, New York 1997, ISBN 0-673-98140-1 .
  • Exploring criminology . Macmillan, New York 1988, ISBN 0-02-320730-2 .
  • On the take. From petty crooks to Presidents . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1978, ISBN 0-253-34244-9 .
    • In German translation: A criminal organization. About politics and crime in the USA . From the American by Ilona Schmitthenner, with an introduction by Henner Hess , Iva-Verlag Polke, Tübingen 1978, ISBN 3-88266-001-5 .
  • Box man. A professional thief's journey. By Harry King. As told to and edited by Bill Chambliss. With commentary by Bill Chambliss . Harper & Row, New York 1972, ISBN 0-06-131667-9 .
  • with Robert B. Seidman: Law, order, and power . Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Reading 1971.
  • Crime and the legal process . McGraw-Hill, New York 1968.

Obituaries

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SozTheo: Marxist theories of criminality
  2. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, biographical information is based on: Kitty Calavita, William J. Chambliss (1933-2014) , Law and Society Association (LSA), Amherst .
  3. ↑ George Washington University, Department of Sociology: William J. Chambliss .
  4. ^ ASC Award Winners, Edwin H. Sutherland Award.
  5. ↑ Aldo Legnaro , Chambliss, William J. / Seidman, Robert B. (1982/1971): Law, Order an Power. Reading, Mass .: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. In: Christina Schlepper / Jan Wehrheim (Ed.), Key Works of Critical Criminology , Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7799-3484-4 , pp. 248-257, here. P. 248
  6. ↑ Aldo Legnaro, Chambliss, William J. / Seidman, Robert B. (1982/1971): Law, Order an Power. Reading, Mass .: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. In: Christina Schlepper / Jan Wehrheim (eds.), Key Works of Critical Criminology , Weinheim: Beltz Juventa, 2017, pp. 248-257, here pp. 248 f.
personal data
SURNAME Chambliss, William J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chambliss, William Joseph; Chambliss, William; Chambliss, Bill
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American sociologist and criminologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Buffalo
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 2014
Place of death Washington, DC