While the notion of social harm has long interested critical criminologists it is now being explored as an alternative field of study, which provides more accurate analyses of the vicissitudes of life. However, important aspects of this notion remain undeveloped, in particular the definition of social harm, the question of responsibility and the methodologies for studying harm. This book, the first to theorise and define the social harm concept beyond criminology, seeks to address these omissions and questions why some capitalist societies appear to be more harmful than others Using a social h ... More

While the notion of social harm has long interested critical criminologists it is now being explored as an alternative field of study, which provides more accurate analyses of the vicissitudes of life. However, important aspects of this notion remain undeveloped, in particular the definition of social harm, the question of responsibility and the methodologies for studying harm. This book, the first to theorise and define the social harm concept beyond criminology, seeks to address these omissions and questions why some capitalist societies appear to be more harmful than others Using a social harm lens Harmful Societies compares rates of harms across 31 OECD countries. Drawing on a range of social harm measures such as suicide, road traffic injuries, obesity, poverty, long working hours, unemployment and social isolation, these analyses demonstrate that similarly-placed capitalist societies vary greatly in their ability to protect populations from these harms. Through a typology of harm reduction regimes it identifies the features of societies that serve to either reduce or generate harms. The book concludes that harm is not inevitable, but rather a product of the way we choose to organise the societies in which we live.