Ian Taylor (11 March 1944 – 19 January 2001) was a British
sociologist. He was born in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
.
Taylor completed his undergraduate degree at
Durham University, where he was an active socialist and involved in the
Anti-Apartheid Movement
The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-White population who were persecuted by the policie ...
. He continued his studies at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
before returning to Durham for his doctorate.
National Deviancy Symposium and Critical Criminology
Taylor was one of the founding members of the
National Deviancy Symposium and was one of the co-authors of ''The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance'' in 1973 along with
Jock Young and Paul Walton, as well as later editing ''
Critical Criminology
Critical criminology is a theoretical perspective in criminology which focuses on challenging traditional understandings and uncovering false beliefs about crime and criminal justice, often but not exclusively by taking a conflict perspective, ...
'' with both of them.
In 1981, whilst lecturing at
Sheffield University
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
he wrote ''Law and Order: Arguments for Socialism'', which
Jock Young states:
:"
tforcefully argued the need for parties of the left to take seriously the problems of crime"
Moving to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
shortly after, he lectured at
Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...
before returning to become chair of
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...
at the
University of Salford
, caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford
, mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things"
, established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...
. On leaving Salford, he became the Principal of
Van Mildert College, Durham until he retired due to illness.
Left Realism and Beyond
In 1999 he published his final book, ''Crime in Context'' after becoming Principal of
Van Mildert College at
Durham University, a role he stepped down from a year prior to his death due to his ill health.
In ''Crime in Context'', he sets out his relationship to the
left realism
Left realism emerged in criminology from critical criminology as a reaction against what was perceived to be the left's failure to take a practical interest in everyday crime, allowing right realism to monopolize the political agenda on law and ...
project, saying that his involvement was 'more tangential' than with ''
Critical Criminology
Critical criminology is a theoretical perspective in criminology which focuses on challenging traditional understandings and uncovering false beliefs about crime and criminal justice, often but not exclusively by taking a conflict perspective, ...
'', and that
:"The continuing legacy of that realist influence in this text are evident in two important respects. I have been concerned, first, 'to take crime seriously'... Secondly, I share with left realism a commitment to a 'realist' (as distinct from idealist) strategy with respect to the actual analysis of 'crime' (as both behaviour and mass-media representation)'
[Taylor, I. (1999) ''Crime in Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies'', pg 225]
Publications and articles
1960s
*Taylor, I. (1968) ''Football Mad: A Speculative Sociology of Football Hooliganism", NDC 1st Symposium (November)
Taylor, Ian and Laurie Taylor. 'We are All Deviants Now', ''International Socialism'' 34 (1968) 1st series
1970s
*Taylor, I. & Walton, P. (1970) "Values in deviancy theory and society", ''The British Journal of Sociology'', XXI (4): 362 - 74
*Taylor, I. (1971) "Theories of action in juvenile correction facilities", Unpulished paper given to the First Anglo-Scandinavian Seminar in Criminology, Norway, September 1971
*Taylor, I. (1971) "The new criminology in an age of doubt", ''New Edinburgh Review'', 15 (November): 14-17
*Taylor, L. & Taylor, I. (eds) (1972) ''Politics and Deviance'', Harmondsworth: Penguin
*Taylor, I., Walton, P. & Young, J. (1973) ''The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance'' (International Library of Sociology), Routledge.
*Taylor I., Walton P. Young J. (eds) (1975) ''Critical Criminology'', London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
*Bianchi, H., Simondi, M. & Taylor, I. (1975) ''Deviance and Control in Europe'', London: John Wiley
1980s
*Taylor, I. (1982) ''Law and Order: Arguments for Socialism'', London: Macmillan
*Taylor, I. (1987) "Law and Order, Moral Order: The Changing Rhetorics of the Thatcher Government" In: Miliband, R., Pantich, L. & Saville, J. (eds) ''The Socialist Register'', London: The Merlin Press
1990s
*Taylor, I. (1992) "The International Drug Trade and Money Laundering: Border Control and Other Issues", ''European Sociological Review'', 8 (1): 181-193
*Taylor, I. (1993) "Driving the Vermin off the Streets", ''New Statesman and Society'', (8 October): 16-18
*Taylor, I. (1994) "The Political Economy of Crime" In: Maguire, M., Morgan, R. & Reiner, R. (eds.) ''The Oxford Handbook of Criminology'', Oxford: Oxford University Press
*Taylor, I. (1997) "Free Markets and the Costs of Crime: An Audit of England and Wales" In: Walton, P. & Young, J. (eds) ''The New Criminology Revisited'', Basingstoke: Macmillan
*Taylor, I. (1997) "Crime and Social Insecurity in Europe", ''Criminal Justice Matters'', 27 (Spring): 3-5
*Ruggerio, V., South, N. & Taylor, I. (eds) (1998)''The New European Criminology: Crime and social order in Europe'', London: Routledge
:::-Taylor, I. (1998) "Crime, market-liberalism and the European idea"
*Taylor, I. (1999) "Respectable, Rural and English: the Lobby Against the Regulation of Firearms in Great Britain" In: Carlen, P. & Morgan, R. (eds) ''Crime Unlimited: Questions for the 21st Century'', Basingstoke: Macmillan
*Taylor, I. (1999). ''Crime in Context: A Critical Criminology of Market Societies'', Oxford: Polity Press
References
External links
Jock Young's Obituary for Ian Taylor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Ian
1944 births
2001 deaths
Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
Academics of the University of Sheffield
Academics of the University of Salford
British criminologists
British sociologists
Principals of Van Mildert College, Durham