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Zemiology is the study of social harms. Zemiology gets its name from the Greek word ζημία ''zēmía'', meaning "harm".〔Hillyard, P. (with C. Pantazis, S. Tombs and D. Gordon) (2004) ''Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously'', London: Pluto Press〕 It originated as a critique of criminology and the notion of crime. In contrast with 'individual-based harms' such as theft, the notion of social harm or social injury incorporates harms caused by nation states and corporations.〔Schwendinger, H. and Schwendinger, J. (1970) "Defenders of order or guardians of human rights" ''Issues in Criminology''〕 These ideas have received increased attention from critical academics such as neo-marxists and feminists who have sought to create an independent field of study, separate from criminology, that studies the harms that affect individuals' lives that are not considered to be criminal or are rarely criminalised such as mortgage misselling, poverty and unemployment.〔〔Special Issue of Crime, Law and Social Change (2007, vol 48: 1-2)〕 ==Zemiological critique of criminology and crime== Hillyard and Tombs outline a number of criticisms of criminology and crime:〔see chap 2 (2004) ''Beyond Criminology: Taking Harm Seriously'', Pluto Press〕 * 'Crime has no ontological reality' – Crime is a construct and is based on social judgements. However, there are no central properties that pertain to the notion of crime, therefore, what is a crime will vary across time and space. * 'Criminology perpetuates the myth of crime' – Criminology is based upon the notion of crime, which fails to adequately address the social construction of the concept. Therefore, criminology’s continued use of the notion within its frame of analysis perpetuates the myth that crimes are distinct acts that may be understood as separate social phenomena. * 'Crime consists of many petty events' – In a large proportion of reported crimes, the harms endured by victims, if there are any, are minimal. Hence Hillyard and Tombs argue, “the definitions of crime in the criminal law do not reflect the only or the most dangerous of antisocial behaviours.” * 'Crime excludes many serious harms' – Many events and incidents which cause serious harm are either not part of the criminal law or, if they could be dealt with by it, are either ignored or handled without resort to it. The undue attention given to events which are defined as crimes distracts attention from more serious harm (pollution, poverty, etc.). * '‘Crime control’ is ineffective' – Hillyard and Tombs have argued that the methods and approach to crime control have patently failed. They believe the criminal justice system is unsuccessful in fulfilling its aims and in reforming criminal offenders. It appears that the criminal justice system sees there is only one solution to crime control, and that is a prison sentence; however it is questionable whether this actually resolves certain crimes in society. * '‘Crime’ gives legitimacy to the expansion of crime control' – Since the early 1990s, governments have emphasised crime control as a key concern, and crime control has increased faster than any other area of public expenditure. Consequently, security firms have increasingly sought to provide services to the burgeoning penal state. It is argued that these private interests have played a key part in the expansion of prison, as means to deal with social problems. * 'Contrasting ‘crimes’' – The criminal law uses different tests to determine whether a crime has been committed. The principal test is the concept of ''mens rea'' – the guilty mind – which applies to the individual but not exclusively. However, these tests are not objective and often rely on subjective judgements about an individual’s actions. Mens rea has to be judged by proxy, examining both a person’s words and deeds. This becomes an even more complex task when applying the test an organisation, particularly as the harms caused by organisations result from the actions or inactions of a number of individuals and omission rather than intent. Therefore, harms caused by organisations are rarely criminalised. * 'Criminalisation and punishment inflict pain' – The criminal justice system has many stages which inflict pain in a discrete manner: defining, classifying, broadcasting, disposing and punishing the offender. Furthermore, these processes create wider social problems which bear no or little relationship to the initial crime and the original pain that was caused. For example, they may lead to loss of jobs, family problems or ostracism. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Zemiology」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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