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Capitalising on Value: Towards a Sociological Understanding of Kidnapping

Tzanelli, Rodanthi (2006) Capitalising on Value: Towards a Sociological Understanding of Kidnapping. Sociology, 40 (5). pp. 929-947. ISSN 0038-0385. (doi:10.1177/0038038506067516) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:268)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038506067516

Abstract

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.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1177/0038038506067516
Uncontrolled keywords: Exchange; Kidnapping; Organized crime; Symbolic capital; Terrorism; Violence
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Samantha Osborne
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2007 18:08 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:39 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/268 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Tzanelli, Rodanthi.

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