This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Tzanelli, R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Capitalizing on Value: Towards a Sociological Understanding of Kidnapping

University of Kent

Kidnapping is a crime that has not received due attention in sociological literature. Policy and risk assessment milieux discursively construct it as a ‘threat to society’, and administrative studies have focused on classifications that describe the phenomenon. The most widespread typology of kidnapping incidents takes as a starting point criminal motivation, producing a bipolar analysis of the crime as economic or political. This article re-examines classificatory and discursive approaches, placing emphasis on the social logic of kidnapping. It is argued that kidnapping presents all the characteristics of a rationalized system of exchange, based on rules and regulations reminiscent of legitimate business. The way that these regulations are described by state authorities or private agents alike allows us an in-depth analysis of the crime itself.

Key Words: exchange • kidnapping • organized crime • symbolic capital • terrorism • violence

Sociology, Vol. 40, No. 5, 929-947 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0038038506067516


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?