Profile

I studied at the University of York, UK, where I obtained a BA in sociology and an MA in the Sociology of Contemporary Culture. I went on to complete a PhD at Lancaster University, in the area of critical social theory. I was employed at Lancaster, first as a Research Associate, and then as Lecturer in Criminology. I subsequently researched and taught at the Universities of Kent and Keele. I joined Hull as Professor of Sociology in September of 2008.

Research

My research interests and activities span disciplines, with published work in the areas of crime and deviance studies, social and political theory, popular culture and new media.

My current on-going work is oriented around:

1. The Internet and new media, focusing on issues of crime, deviance, and regulation;

2. Intellectual property and the cultural commons;

3. Popular culture, including the cultural construction criminality and marginality;

4. Social, political and cultural theory

I am currently researching and writing on topics including criminological theory, new social media, digital ‘piracy’, and representations of crime and justice in popular culture.

External Activities and Memberships

I serve on the editorial boards of The British Journal of Criminology, Crime Media Culture: An International Journal, International Journal of Cyber Criminology, The Internet Journal of Criminology, and Res Publica: A Journal of Moral Legal and Social Philosophy

I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2009, I was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales Newport, my hometown university in South Wales.

I'm also a member of the Society for Applied European Thought, an inter-disciplinary group of scholars interested in critical research and reflection on matters of political and social importance in a European context (see website)

I am an external examiner at Birkbeck, University of London (BSc Social Sciences), having previously served as an external examiner at the Universities of Chester (BA Criminology; MA Criminology and Criminal Justice) and Durham (BA Combined Social Sciences)

Research Supervision

I’m happy to hear from potential students interested in undertaking postgraduate research in any of my areas of interest. I’m particularly keen to supervise topics related to the Internet and new media, popular culture, criminological theory, cultural criminology, and critical theory.

Selected Publications

Books

The Politics of Misrecognition (co-edited with Simon Thompson) (Ashgate, 2011)

Community & Recognition: Ethics, Inter-Subjectivity and the Foundations of Political Life (VDM Verlag: 2009)

The Handbook on Internet Crime (co-edited with Yvonne Jewkes) (Willan, 2009)

Criminology: The Key Concepts (co-authored with Martin O'Brien) (Routledge, 2008)

Cybercrime and Society (Sage, 2006)

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Yar, M. (2012) ‘Crime, Media and the Will-to-Representation: Reconsidering Relationships in the New Media Age’, Crime Media Culture: An International Journal, 8(3)

Yar. M. (2012) 'Virtual Utopias and Dystopias: The Cultural Imaginary of the Internet', in K. Tester & M. Hviid-Jacobsen (eds) Utopia and Social Theory. Aldershot: Ashgate

Yar, M. (2012) 'Internet Sex Offending: Patterns, Problems and Policy', in J. Brayford et al (eds) Sex Offending: Punish, Help, Change or Control. London: Routledge

Yar, M. (2012) ‘Recognition as the Grounds of a General Theory of Crime as Social Harm?’, in S. O’Neill & N. Smith (eds) Recognition as Social Science. Palgrave.

Yar, M. (2012) ‘Critical Criminology, Critical Theory, and Social Harm’, in S. Hall & S. Winlow (eds) New Directions in Criminological Theory. Routledge

Prenzler, T. & Yar, M. (2012) ‘International and Internet Crimes’, in H. Hayes & T. Prezler (eds) An Introduction to Crime,2^nd edition. Perth: Pearson.

Yar. M. (2012) 'Sociological and Criminological Theories of the Information Society', in W. Stol & R. Leukfeldt (eds) Cyber-Safety: An Introduction

Yar, M. (2011) 'From the 'Governance of Security' to 'Governance Failure': Refining the Criminological Agenda', Internet Journal of Criminology, March, online at: http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/

Harper, S. & Yar, M. (2011) ‘Representations of BDSM in Media Culture’ for A. Karatzogianni (ed) Media Representations of War and Violence. London: Routledge

Yar, M. (2011) ‘"And Every Cruelty Will Cloud It": On Love, Damaged Selfhood and Criminal Harm’, in S. Thompson & M.Yar (eds) The Politics of Misrecognition. Aldershot: Ashgate

Yar, M. & Rafter, N. (2011) ‘Justice for the Disabled? Representations of Persons With Learning Disabilities in Crime Films’, in R. Sherwin et al (eds) Treatise on Law, Culture & Visual Studies. New York : Springer

Tzanelli, R and Yar, M. (2009) ‘Paradoxes of Belonging: Migration, Exclusion and Transnational Rights in the Mediterranean’, Development, 54(4).

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Screening Crime: Cultural Criminology Goes to the Movies', in K.J. Hayward & M. Presdee (eds) Framing Crime: Cultural Criminology and the Image. London: Routledge

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Cesare Beccaria', in K.J. Hayward, S. Maruna & J. Mooney (eds) Criminology: Fifty Key Thinkers. London: Routledge

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Cybercrimes and Cyberliberties: Surveillance, privacy and crime control’, in Y.Jewkes (ed) Crime and Media, 3 vols. London: Sage

Yar, M. (2009) ‘The Novelty of Cybercrime: An Assessment in Light of Routine Activity Theory’, anthologised in D.S. Wall (ed) Crime and Deviance in Cyberspace. London: Ashgate

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Cyber-Sex Offences: Patterns, Prevention and Protection’, in K. Harrison (ed) Dealing With High-Risk Sex Offenders in the Community: Risk Management, Treatment and Social Responsibilities. Cullompton: Willan

Wall, D.S. & Yar, M. (2009) ‘Intellectual Property Crime and the Internet: Cyber-Piracy and ‘Stealing’ Informational Intangibles’, in Y. Jewkes & M. Yar (eds) The Handbook of Internet Crime and Criminal Justice. Cullompton: Willan

Yar, M. (2009) ‘The Internet, Cybercrime and Public Opinion', in Y. Jewkes & M. Yar (eds) The Handbook on Internet Crime. Cullompton: Willan

Yar, M. (2009) ‘The Private Policing of Cybercrime', in Y. Jewkes & M. Yar (eds) The Handbook on Internet Crime. Cullompton: Willan

Edwards, L., Rauhofer, J. andYar, M. (2009) ‘Recent developments in UK cybercrime law’, in Y. Jewkes & M. Yar (eds) The Handbook on Internet Crime. Cullompton: Willan

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Neither Scylla nor Charybdis: Overcoming the Dualism Between Reason and the Emotions in Criminology’, Internet Journal of Criminology, January (downloadable here)

Yar, M. (2009) ‘Bloody Students! Facts, Fantasies and Fallacies in the Construction of Students as a Deviant Subculture', in C. Jones et al (eds) Subcultures: Deviants or Illuminators? Chester: Chester Academic Press

Jewkes, Y. and Yar, M. (2008) ‘Policing Cybercrime', in T. Newburn (ed) Handbook on Policing, 2nd edition. Cullompton: Willan

Yar, M. (2008) ‘The Computer Crime Control Industry: The Emerging Market in Information Security', in K. Franko-Aas, et al (eds) Technologies of Insecurity: Surveillance and Securitization of Everyday Life. London: Routledge

Prenzler, T. and Yar, M. (2008) ‘International and Internet Crimes', in H. Hayes & T. Prezler (eds) An Introduction to Crime. Perth: Pearson

Yar, M. (2008) "The Internet and Human Security" in R. Munck & G. Honor-Fagan eds, Globalisation and Human Security: An Encyclopaedia, 2 Volumes. Praeger Press

Yar, M. (2008) "The Rhetorics and Myths of 'Anti-Piracy' Campaigns: Criminalisation, Moral Pedagogy and Capitalist Property Relations in the Classroom", New Media & Society, 10, 4

Yar, M. (2007) "The Other Global Drugs Crisis: Assessing the Scope, Impacts and Drivers of the Global Trade in Dangerous Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals", International Journal of Social Inquiry, 1(1)

Yar, M. (2006)‘Teenage Kicks or Virtual Villainy? Internet Piracy, Moral Entrepreneurship, and the Social Construction of a Crime Problem', in Y. Jewkes (ed) Crime Online. Collumpton: Willan

Hayward, K.J. and Yar, M. (2006) ‘The ‘Chav' Phenomenon: Consumption, Media and the Construction of a New Underclass' (with Keith Hayward), Crime Media Culture, 2 (1): 9-28

Yar, M. (2006) ‘A Deadly Faith in Fakes: Trademark Theft and the Global Trade in Counterfeit Automotive Components', The Internet Journal of Criminology, 2006 (downloadable here)

Yar, M. (2005) 'The Novelty of Cybercrime: An Assessment in Light of Routine Activity Theory', The European Journal of Criminology, 2(4): 407-28

Yar, M. (2005) Computer Hacking: Just Another Case of Juvenile Delinquency?', in The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 44(4): 387-99

Yar, M. (2005) 'The Global "Epidemic" of Movie "Piracy": Crime-Wave or Social Construction?', in Media, Culture & Society, 27(5): 677-96

Kill-n-tell (& all that jazz): The seductions of crime in Chicago (with Martin O'Brien and Rodanthi Tzanelli), Crime Media Culture, 2005, 1 (3): 243-261

'The Spectacle of Fearsome Acts: Crime in the Melting P(l)ot of Gangs of New York', (co-authored with Rodanthi Tzanelli, Martin O'Brien & Sue Penna), in Critical Criminology, 2005, 13: 17-25

'"Con Me If You Can": Exploring Crime in the American Cinematic Imagination', (co-authored with Rodanthi Tzanelli & Martin O'Brien), in Theoretical Criminology, 9, 1, 2005: 96-117

'Between Positivism and Post-modernity? Critical Reflections on Jock Young's The Exclusive Society' (co-authored with Sue Penna), in The British Journal of Criminology, 44, 4, 2004: 533-49.

Yar, M. (2004) 'The Quest for Objectivity in the Social Sciences', in Kimberly Kemf-Leonard (ed), Encyclopedia of Social Measurement (San Diego: Academic Press, 2004).

Yar, M. (2004) '"Community": Past, Present, and Future', editor's introduction in the Electronic Journal of Social Issues, 2, 1, special issue on 'The Futures of Community', January 2004 (downloadable here)

Yar, M. (2003) 'Panoptic Power and the Pathologisation of Vision: Critical Reflections on the Foucauldian Thesis', in Surveillance & Society, 1, 3, 2003: 254-71 (downloadable here)

'From Modern to Post-Modern Penality?' (co-authored with Sue Penna), in Theoretical Criminology, 7, 4, 2003: 469-82.

Yar, M. (2003) 'Honneth and the Communitarians: Towards a Recognitive Critical Theory of Community', in Res Publica, 9, 3, 2003: 101-25.

Yar, M. (2002) 'Community in absentia?' - review article of Zygmunt Bauman, Community: Seeking Safety in an Insecure World, in Res Publica, 8, 2, 2002: 179-189.

Yar, M. (2002) 'Recognition and the Politics of Human(e) Desire', in Mike Featherstone & Scott Lash (eds), Recognition & Difference: Politics, Identity, Multiculture London: Sage

Yar, M. (2002) 'From Nature to History, and Back Again: Blumenberg, Strauss and the Hobbesian Community', in History of the Human Sciences, 15 (3): 53-73.

Yar, M. (2001) 'Beyond Nancy Fraser's "Perspectival Dualism"', Economy & Society, 30 (3): 288-303.

Yar, M. (2001) 'Recognition and the Politics of Human(e) Desire', Theory, Culture and Society, 18, 2/3: 57-76.

'Hannah Arendt': article entry for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, website.

'Alexandre Kojève': article entry for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, website.

Yar, M. (2000) 'Hannah Arendt's Two Theories of Political Judgment', Philosophy & Social Criticism, 26 (2): 1-27.

Yar, M. (2000) 'Arendt's Heideggerianism: Contours of a "Post-Metaphysical" Political Theory?', Cultural Values, 4 (1) 2000: 18-39.

Yar, M. (2000) ' Liberal State and Polity in the Era of Globalisation: Social Injustice, Governance and Resistance in the Global-Local Nexus', in Gideon Calder, Edward Garrett & Jess Shannon (eds), Liberalism and Social Justice: International Perspectives. London: Ashgate.

Engagement

I have undertaken research, consultancy and advisory work with a range of external partners over the course of my career. My recently, I have worked with the Internet security company PCTools to investigate and raise public awareness of risks presented by computer hacking.

In the past year I have given interviews for a range of media outlets, around issues related to Internet crime and security (including BBC Radio, Holyrood magazine, Ars Technica magazine, Cheshire FM, Sunrise Radio, The Bay FM, and Natwest Sense magazine).

Teaching/Supervision

In 2012-13, I will be teaching the following modules:

• Social Institutions in Everyday Life (Year One Core Module, with Dr Lucy Michael)

• Sociology of Popular Culture (Year Two Option Module)

• Crime, Deviance and Social Control (Masters)

I also contribute to the following team-taught modules:

• Sociological Analysis

• Introduction to Social Research

• Explorations in Qualitative Research

Administration

Departmental Director of Postgraduate Studies

Graduate Research Director for the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS)

Associate Director of the Centre for Criminology & Criminal Justice (CCCJ)