RT Article
T1 On wake-up calls and metaphors: comment on Braithwaite “crime as a cascade phenomenon”
JF International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice
VO 44
IS 3
SP 171
OP 178
A1 Karstedt, Susanne 1949-
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1787390292
AB Braithwaite’s provocation to see crime (and its prevention) through a “cascade lens” is certainly a wake-up call for macrocriminologists. As a metaphor it has the capability to motivate new directions in criminological research, however this also limits its potential as organising structure for testing important propositions. I argue that two strategies are required to move the cascade concept from a metaphor to an analytical tool. First, it needs to be made operational and testable, and in order to do so it has to be dissected and taken apart. Second, rather than losing sight of exogenous factors aka macro-level structural conditions (like poverty and concentrated disadvantage) we have to identify the relation between deeply rooted structures and micro-level decision making, and separate dynamic processes from their exogenous conditions. The comment starts with a number of questions for a fierce critic of our trade.
K1 Cascades
K1 Contagion
K1 Herd behaviour
K1 Macrocriminology
K1 Micro-level decision making
K1 Spill-over effect
DO 10.1080/01924036.2020.1737955