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The Fascination with Violence in Contemporary Society

When Crime is Sublime

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  • © 2020

Overview

Authors:
  1. Oriana Binik

    1. University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

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  • Explores a rich variety of cases studies that cluster around the guiding theme of the sublime
  • Fills a gap in the cultural criminology literature
  • Crosses over into psychoanalysis and trauma studies

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 1-4

  3. When Crime Is Sublime

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 5-50

  4. Effervescent and Ready for Use: The Sublime and Other Emotions in the Carnival of Crime

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 51-97

  5. In the Cultural Criminology Hall of Mirrors

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 99-115

  6. From Sublime to Resentment: Emotional Trajectories When Watching Crime on TV

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 117-163

  7. In the Wild Land in Search of a Story: Dark Tourism

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 165-218

  8. This Is a Taboo Business: The Murderabilia Market from Sacred to Profane

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 219-248

  9. Attacks or Fireworks? The Spectacularisation of the Anders Breivik Massacre

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 249-284

  10. Conclusion

    • Oriana Binik
    Pages 285-292

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 293-295
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Keywords

About this book

This book directly explores the question of why contemporary society is so fascinated with violence and crime. The Fascination with Violence in Contemporary Society posits that the phenomenon is, in part, because we have all become consumers of the sublime: an intense and strongly ambiguous emotion which is increasingly commodified. Through the experience of violence and the sense of disorientation that accompanies it, we obsessively seek out moments of intensified existence. Equally, crime continues to speak to the depths of the collective unconscious, questioning us about our transience and the model of society we wish to live in. Binik proposes that this is why the reaction to violence has become a tool with which to express and take ownership of a desire for social cohesion. 


This book uses interviews with viewers, dark tourists, collectors and others to further interrogate this social trend. Many of these are participants inthe four key case studies explored within the study: emotional pathways while watching a true-crime TV series, the trend of dark tourism, murderabilia collecting and the fanaticism of (and for) Anders Breivik. This book seeks to answer one of the most pressing cultural trends of the modern age and fill in a gap in the criminological literature on the subject. 




Reviews

“Let me tell you how much admiration this book arouses in me. It deals with one of the most recurrent and fundamental questions of human existence. It conducts a full-scale investigation into this question. The logic developed and the documentation provided are equally brilliant. Each sentence resonates, and this reading provides me with a formidable intellectual stimulation.This book is already taking place among the really important works I have come across. I cannot thank you enough for it” (Bernard Rimé, Professor at the University of Louvain at Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

    Oriana Binik

About the author

Oriana Binik is a research fellow at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Fascination with Violence in Contemporary Society

  • Book Subtitle: When Crime is Sublime

  • Authors: Oriana Binik

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26744-5

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26743-8Published: 06 November 2019

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-26746-9Published: 06 November 2020

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-26744-5Published: 22 October 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XI, 295

  • Number of Illustrations: 7 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Crime and the Media, Violence and Crime, Media Sociology, Popular Culture , Cultural Studies, Psychoanalysis

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