This edited collection provides an important and valuable contribution to our understanding of the cultural politics of ‘victimhood’ and our responses to victimization. Victim suffering is explored across a diverse array of political, social, economic and cultural contexts using a range of theoretical and empirical tools that bring us new concepts to work with and guide future research. In doing so, this book puts forward a policy agenda that challenges narrow positivist frames and promotes a critical approach with significant implications for practice and justice.

Tracey Booth, University of Technology Sydney

This edited volume expands the existing critique of the blind spots and limitations of positivist approaches to studying victimization by challenging taken-for-granted assumptions, presenting alternative paradigms, exploring new models, and proposing innovative policies. In order to familiarize readers with the breadth and depth of a critical perspective within victimology, the authors of each chapter analyze plenty of concrete examples: actual cases that unfolded during various historical periods in a number of countries; as well as the actions and reactions of government agencies, political and social movements, and economic forces to the people and groups who suffered physically, emotionally, and financially.

Andrew Karmen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice