George Bryan Vold was a criminologist who taught at the University of Minnesota from 1937 until his retirement in 1964, and whose 1958 book Theoretical Criminology introduced group conflict theory, the first sustained application of conflict theory to the study of crime. He argued that society is fundamentally an aggregate of interacting groups whose competing interests, rather than any single dimension such as economic class alone, generate the conflicts from which criminalization emerges. Theoretical Criminology went on to be regarded as one of the most influential surveys and critical assessments of criminological theory, continued in later editions after his death by Thomas J. Bernard and Jeffrey B. Snipes.
Facts
Defining ContributionIntroduced group conflict theory of crime in Theoretical Criminology (1958) 2 Notable WorkTheoretical Criminology (1958) 2 Connections
Informed
George Vold's 1958 group conflict theory, explaining crime and lawmaking through competing interest groups rather than individual pathology, is widely cited as a direct precursor of conflict and critical criminology.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: George B. Vold
2. Conflict criminology - Wikipedia
Group conflict theory section, sentence on Vold's 1958 theory
Vold introduced the theory in 1958, in Theoretical Criminology, approaching an understanding of the social nature of crime as a product of the conflict between groups within the same culture.
Group conflict theory section, book title mention
Vold introduced the theory in 1958, in Theoretical Criminology, approaching an understanding of the social nature of crime as a product of the conflict between groups within the same culture.
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