Dr Francis Dodsworth
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Criminology and Social Sciences
- School of Law, Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Penrhyn Road
Senior Lecturer in Criminology
- Email:
- f.dodsworth@kingston.ac.uk
About
I joined Kingston in September 2014 after 10 years working at the Open University in the ERSC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC), with a particular focus on urban studies and governmentality. Before that I studied the cultural history of crime and policing at the University of Manchester in the late 1990s during the era of the 'cultural turn', and this perspective continues to inform my research.
I have published in a range of fields from the material culture of religion and commerce, to urban exploration and improvement, but the bulk of my work focuses on the historical sociology of crime and policing.
My most recent book focuses on the history of security in modern Britain, particularly the gender dynamics of the politics of protection, from public policing to self-defence.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Manchester
- MA, University of Manchester
- BA (Hons) University of Wales, Lampeter
Domains
My principal teaching in the Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology, is on the following modules:
- CM4005 Social Order and Social Control
- CM5006 Policing and Punishment
- CM5011 Crime Prevention and Community Safety
- CM6019 Risk and Crime
I also make occasional contributions to other modules and regularly supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.
Courses taught
My research background is in historical criminology and criminal justice history. My research focuses on crime, policing and security in modern Britain with a particular focus on spatial justice and the ideology of protection.
Most recently I have explored the politics of protection within policing and security, focusing particularly on the gendered dimension of protection as a form of power. I relate this work to recent criminological work on 'security' and the 'new police science', as well as Foucauldian work on governmentality and Elias's concept of the 'civilising process', but the primary focus is on the ways in which vulnerability and the power to protect have been configured in gendered terms. Methodologically this work is also informed by the linguistic approach of the cultural turn and cultural materialism. This work was recently published by Palgrave Macmillan as The Security Society: History, Patriarchy, Protection.
I am currently extending this into an exploration of emotion and identity in the fields of policing and security, particularly with regards to the agents and institutions of security. A particular point of engagement is the question of whether the late twentieth century saw a 'de-civilising process'.
I am currently co-supervisor of a number of PhD theses:
- Aslam, Muhammad, ‘Exploring enhanced Understandings of Police Criminal Investigation on Cold Case Homicides in Pakistan Using Intelligence and Forensic Science' (2018, first supervisor, anticipated completion: imminent, early 2023)
- Choudhury, Sharmi, ‘How school teachers in the UK conceptualise the Prevent duty and how they identify pupils who may be vulnerable to radicalisation'
- Contreras Dordelly, Daniel, ‘Alternative currencies in comparative context: distinctive dynamics and the impact of mainstreaming on schemes in the UK, Mexico and Kenya'
- Murfin, Russell, 'The impact and effectiveness of Manchester City's housing policy, 1945-79
- Whitehead, Arthur, I. ‘Organised Crime in UK Sport
I am interested in supervising further students in the fields of policing and security studies, cultural criminology and histories of crime and policing.
Specialisms
- Policing
- Security
- Historical criminology
- Cultural criminology
- Governmentality
Scholarly affiliations
- British Society of Criminology
I am currently course leader for our BSc in Criminology and our BSc in Criminology & Forensic Psychology. I also contribute to our BSc Sociology programme and our BSc in Criminology & Sociology. Do get in touch with me about any of these programmes.
University responsibilities
- Course leader for BSc Criminology
- Course leader for BSc Criminology and Forensic Psychology
Publications
The security society : history, patriarchy, protection
Dodsworth, Francis (2019). London, U.K.: (Palgrave Macmillan)
A world laid waste? Responding to the social, cultural and political consequences of globalisation
(2018). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge)
Habit, the criminal body and the body politic in England, c. 1700-1800
Dodsworth, Francis, 2013, (19), 2-3, pp 83-106
Shifting religions and cultures in London’s East End
Dodsworth, Francis, Vacchelli, Elena and Watson, Sophie, 2013, Material Religion (9), 1, pp 86-112
Into unorthodox London: the religious ethnography of Charles Maurice Davies
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie, 2012, Victorian Literature and Culture (40), 2, pp 487-508
Constituting religious publics: the tale of two non-conformist churches in London
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie, 2011, Culture and Religion (12), 1, pp 1-19
Fabricating the market: the promotion of life assurance in the long nineteenth-century
McFall, Liz and Dodsworth, Francis, 2009, Journal Of Historical Sociology (22), 1, pp 30-54
The idea of police in Eighteenth-Century England: discipline, reformation, superintendence, c. 1780-1800
Dodsworth, Francis, 2008, Journal of the History of Ideas (69), 4, pp 583-604
Police and the prevention of crime: commerce, temptation and the corruption of the body politic, from Fielding to Colquhoun
Dodsworth, Francis, 2007, The British Journal of Criminology (47), 3, pp 439-454
Virtus on Whitehall: the politics of Palladianism in William Kent’s Treasury Building, 1733-6
Dodsworth, Francis, 2005, Journal Of Historical Sociology (18), 4, pp 282-317
'Civic' police and the condition of liberty: the rationality of governance in eighteenth-century England
Dodsworth, Francis, 2004, Social History (29), 2, pp 199-216
From the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ : corruption and the police, c. 1750–1910
Dodsworth, Francis (2022). In: Cawood, Ian, (eds.) and Crook, Tom, (eds.), The many lives of corruption : the reform of public life in modern Britain c.1750-1950. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, pp 54-74
Security : history, genealogy, ideology
Dodsworth, Francis (2022). In: Gill, Martin, (ed.), Handbook of security. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 19-38
Fighting for the right to the streets : the politics and poetics of women's self-defence
Dodsworth, Francis (2020). In: Watson, Sophie, (ed.), Spatial justice in the city. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 118-135
Protection : selling self-defence in twentieth-century Britain and the United States
Dodsworth, Francis (2020). In: Churchill, David, (eds.), Janiewski, Dolores, (eds.) and Leloup, Pieter, (eds.), Private security and the modern state : historical and comparative perspectives. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 154-171
Coping with change : community, environment and engagement in a London Buddhist community
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie (2018). In: Dodsworth, Francis, (eds.) and Walford, Antonia, (eds.), A world laid waste? Responding to the social, cultural and political consequences of globalisation. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge, pp 88-108
Risk, prevention and policing, c. 1750-1850
Dodsworth, Francis (2016). In: Crook, Tom, (eds.) and Esbester, Mike, (eds.), Governing risks in modern Britain : danger, safety and accidents, c. 1800-2000. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 29-53
Epochalism and the society of security : continuity and change in self-defence culture
Dodsworth, Francis (2015). In: Lytje, Maren, (eds.), Nielsen, Torben K., (eds.) and Ottovay Jørgensen, Martin, (eds.), Challenging Ideas? Theory and Empirical Research in the Social Sciences. Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.: Cambridge Scholars Press, pp 88-107
Men on a mission: masculinity, violence and the self-presentation of policemen in England, c. 1870-1914
Dodsworth, Francis (2012). In: Barrie, David G., (eds.) and Broomhall, Susan, (eds.), A history of police and masculinities, 1700-2010. Oxford, U.K.: Routledge, pp 123-140
Shaping the city, shaping the subject: honour, affect and agency in John Gwynn’s London and Westminster improved (1766)
Dodsworth, Francis (2012). In: O'Brien, Gillian, (eds.) and O'Kane, Finola, (eds.), Portraits of the City: Dublin and the Wider World. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press, pp 76-90
Mobility and civility: police and the formation of the modern city
Dodsworth, Francis (2011). In: Bridge, Gary, (eds.) and Watson, Sophie, (eds.), The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Oxford, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, pp 235-244
Governing conduct: law, order and violence
Dodsworth, Francis (2008). In: McFall, Liz, (eds.), Du Gay, Paul, (eds.) and Carter, Simon, (eds.), Conduct: sociology and social worlds. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, pp 121-151
Masculinity as governance: police, public service and the embodiment of authority, c. 1700-1850
Dodsworth, Francis (2007). In: McCormack, Matthew, (ed.), Public men: masculinity and politics in modern Britain. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, pp 33-53
Intelligence as a source of cold case homicide investigation : a cross national perspective
Aslam, M., Barker, J. and Dodsworth, F.(2021). In: Hot Leads for Cold Cases, Spring Event 2021, 30 Apr 2021 :Held online