The criminology of hybrids

This article develops insights from cybercultures theory, post/feminisms, information theory and the social theories of science and technologies in a criminological context. The hierarchical relationship between ‘people’ and ‘things’ is questioned, suggesting directions beyond science, constructivism and deconstruction in criminology. Criminology has frequently been overly preoccupied with theoretical binary oppositions and this has resulted in a commitment to boundary maintenance strategies within criminological knowledge. The complexities of contemporary technological culture, however, demand precisely the dissolution of binary oppositions and, more particularly, human/technical splitting in the apprehension of the phenomenon of crime. The possibilities of actor-network theory are considered in relation to crime and law, and the article concludes by suggesting the need for a criminology of hybrids that is concerned with the mapping of technosocial networks, their actants and assemblages.