Exploring Cyberpunk: Criminological, Sociological and Cultural Perspectives (Emerald Studies in Culture, Crime, Criminal Justice and the Arts)

As humanity is compelled to confront the moral, environmental, and psychological cost of unchecked technological and capitalist expansion, cyberpunk continues to resonate as a critical perspective through which such tendencies can be interrogated. This cross-disciplinary anthology addresses the cyberpunk genre sociologically, criminologically, and culturally, taking into account its relevance to contemporary concerns like surveillance, corporate control, ecology, resistance, mental health, and identity in a technologized, dystopian society.

Drawing on a range of cyberpunk materials across video games, fiction, film, television, manga, and comics, chapters offer complex readings of issues which have resonated with contemporary social, political, and technological challenges. Structured in four parts, Exploring Cyberpunk moves from critical examinations of dystopia and resistance to cybercrime and corporate violence, to mental illness and cultural identity. Each chapter adopts a different disciplinary position, from critical criminology to discourse analysis and cultural studies, highlighting the flexibility and relevance of cyberpunk as both subject and method of social research.

Following on the heels of current developments that are increasingly mimicking the dystopian futures outlined in cyberpunk literature, this collection offers not only a timely intervention but a long-term scholarly resource, enlarging our understanding of how fiction can reveal, critique, and even help reconfigure social realities. It is suitable for student and scholars in criminology, media studies, and sociology.