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Informationen zum Autor Dick Hobbs is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Criminology Centre at the University of Essex, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Sydney. He previously held Chairs at the University of Durham and the London School of Economics. An ethnographer by trade, he is sceptical of the rise of criminology and has published widely on the sociologies of deviance, of East London, organized and professional crime, the night-time economy and the 2012 Olympics. His previous publications include Doing the Business (Oxford, 1988), Bad Business (Oxford, 1995), and Bouncers (Oxford, 2003 with Philip Hadfield, Stuart Lister and Simon Winlow). He is currently working on a number of publications based upon the 2012 London Olympics. Klappentext An in depth sociological, historical and personal analysis of the concept and reality of organised crime in the UK. With interviews from thieves, dealers and criminal entrepreneurs, the book explores the flexible nature of the criminal market, the constructed nature of the notion of organised crime, and the normalisation of criminality. Within the literature of organised crime this is undoubtedly an important book. It reminds us that while we may think we know plenty about organised crime, we actually know very little of a world that is all around us and to which we are all, in some way, connected. And finally, the joke that opens the book is almost worth the cover price alone. Tim Hall, Times Higher Education Professor Dick Hobbs' new book is a most interesting read and I read it from cover to cover in one sitting. This bookwill be popular, not only with criminal lawyers and criminologists, but with the general public who have had a longstanding fascination with sensational crimes and the criminals who commit these crimesincludes important appendices of the case studies from which the author's conclusions were extracted, which together with an impressive bibliography, makes this an important addition to the criminal law library. Sally Ramage, The Criminal Lawyer Acutely observed, lucid, funny and always pointed, Dick Hobbs has unpicked the category of organised crime and re-written it as a demystified history of working class life. Lush Life is a classic. Paul Gilroy, Professor of American and English Literature, Department of English Language and Literature, King's College London Giving us the central concept cosmopolitan criminal I read Dick Hobbs book in the same breath as a thriller. Lush Life combines in-depth knowledge, thorough analysis, great storytelling and inspiring vision. In short: social science at its cosmopolitan best. Ulrich Beck, Professor of Sociology, University of Munich Anyone familiar with Hobbs' works is aware of the wit and artistry of his writing style. In his usual fashion he offers a charming account of a diverse set of entrepreneurs, their zenith and nadir, the fluidity and mutative character of their associations, and the complexity of their actions, criminal career trajectories and motivations. The author is at his best when balancing wonderful narrative mechanics, humorous anecdotes, interesting specifics, punctilious descriptions and the voices of many from the pantheon of his researchs protagonists. Georgios A. Antonopoulos, Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice The importance of this book as a contemporaneous ethnographic study of the construction of organized crime should not be underestimated, it ranks among the classical 'top-drawer' empirical studies of criminality. Rob Hornsby, Trends in Organized Crime This is a detailed chronicle of the evolution of working-class entrepreneurial crime in Britain, and it is by turn illuminating, amusing, irreverent and full of pathos. It is a realist analysis that addresses the forms of criminality that are enmeshed in the everyday practice of some of our most marginalized, forgotten and vilified neighbourhoods. I strongly recommend that yo...