Dr Adam White
School of Law
Senior Lecturer in Criminology
Director of Research
adam.white@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 6813
+44 114 222 6813
Bartolomé House
Full contact details
Dr Adam White
School of Law
Bartolomé House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
School of Law
Bartolomé House
Winter Street
Sheffield
S3 7ND
- Profile
-
I joined the School of Law in 2016. Before arriving at the University of Sheffield, I worked in the Department of Politics at the University of York as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Public Policy (2010-2015).
I have also spent time as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington (Seattle) and worked a researcher for Gun Free South Africa (Cape Town) and Demos (London).
- Qualifications
-
- PG Cert Academic Practice, University of York (2013)
- PhD Politics, University of Sheffield (2008)
- MA Research Methods in Politics and International Relations, University of Sheffield (2005)
- MA International Political Economy, University of Leeds (2003)
- BA (Hons) Geography, University of Leeds (2002)
- Research interests
-
My research focuses on four interconnected themes:
- Policing
- Private Security
- Terrorism
- Counterterrorism
These interests are multidisciplinary, lying at the intersection of criminology, politics, international relations and socio-legal studies.
- Publications
-
Books
- The Politics of Private Security: Regulation, Reform and Re-Legitimation. Palgrave Macmillan.
Edited books
- The Everyday Life of the State: A State-in-Society Approach. University of Washington Press.
Journal articles
- Size matters: measuring the private security industry in the United Kingdom. Crime Prevention and Community Safety. View this article in WRRO
- The everyday political economy of private security. Policing and Society, 34(1-2), 1-9.
- Cultural and symbolic capital in the market for security : police-private security relations in Mexico and the United Kingdom. Policing and Society, 34(1-2), 27-41.
- Private security discretion: economic rules, social norms and situational judgement in the night-time economy. Criminology & Criminal Justice.
- Critical workers? Private security, public perceptions and the Covid-19 pandemic. Security Journal, 36(2), 317-332.
- Questioning Anglocentrism in plural policing studies : private security regulation in Belgium and the United Kingdom. European Journal of Criminology, 20(2), 548-567. View this article in WRRO
- Fragile alliances: Culture, funding and sustainability in police-academic partnerships. Evidence and Policy, 17(1), 93-109.
- What is the privatization of policing?. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 14(3), 766-777. View this article in WRRO
- Soldier, contractor, trauma: The governance of post-traumatic stress disorder in the private military labour market. Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 27(4), 274-292.
- Valour for Money? Contested Commodification in the Market for Security. British Journal of Criminology, 58(6), 1401-1419. View this article in WRRO
- Mercenarism, norms and market exchange: Reassembling the private military labour market
. International Sociology, 33(4), 523-540. View this article in WRRO
- Beyond Iraq: The Socioeconomic Trajectories of Private Military Veterans. Armed Forces & Society, 44(3), 387-407. View this article in WRRO
- From ‘what works?’ to ‘who am I?’ : existential research in the extended policing family. European Journal of Policing Studies, 5(3), 91-106. View this article in WRRO
- How can we better align private security with the public interest? Towards a civilizing model of regulation. Regulation and Governance, 11(2), 166-184.
- The Politics of Police ‘Privatization’: A Multiple Streams Approach. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 15(3), 283-299.
- The Impact of the Private Security Industry Act 2001. Security Journal, 28(4), 425-442.
- Post-crisis Policing and Public–Private Partnerships: The Case of Lincolnshire Police and G4S. British Journal of Criminology, 54(6), 1002-1022.
- The Paradox of Security Regulation: Public Protection Versus Normative Legitimation. Policy & Politics, 42(3), 421-438.
- The Transformation of Policing: From Ratios to Rationalities. British Journal of Criminology, 53(1), 74-93.
- The New Political Economy of Private Security. Theoretical Criminology, 16(1), 85-101.
Chapters
- The Privatization of Criminal Justice: Emotional, Intellectual and Political Responses In Luscombe A, Silva D & Walby K (Ed.), Changing of the Guards: Private Influences, Privatization and Criminal Justice in Canada (pp. vii-x). University of British Columbia Press
- Private Security/Private Military: One Phenomenon or Two? In Gill M (Ed.), Handbook of Security. (pp. 123-143). Palgrave Macmillan
- Private Security and the Privatisation of Criminal Justice In Bean P (Ed.), Criminal Justice and Privatisation: Key Issues and Debates (pp. 127-141). Routledge.
- Police Outsourcing and Labour Force Vulnerability. In Albertson K, Corcoran M & Phillips J (Ed.), Marketisation and Privatisation in Criminal Justice (pp. 107-118). Policy
- Monopoly or Plurality? The Police and the Private Security Industry in Mid-Twentieth Century Britain. In Churchill D, Janiewski D & Leloup P (Ed.), Private Security and the Modern State: Historical and Comparative Perspectives (pp. 78-95). Routledge
- Private Military Contractors: A Criminological Approach. In Wadham B & Goldsmith A (Ed.), Criminologies of the Military (pp. 81-94). Hart
- Just Another Industry? (De)Regulation, Public Expectations and Private Security. In Hucklesby A & Lister S (Ed.), The Private Sector and Criminal Justice (pp. 65-96). Palgrave Macmillan
- Private Security and the Politics of Accountability. In Lister S & Rowe M (Ed.), Accountability of Policing (pp. 172-191). Routledge
- The Market for Global Policing. In Bradford B, Jauregui B, Loader I & Steinberg J (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Global Policing (pp. 535-551). Sage
- Private Military Contractors as Criminals/Victims. In McGarry R & Walklate S (Ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War (pp. 191-209). Palgrave Macmillan
- A Crisis of Regulation. In Hay C, Richards D & Smith M (Ed.), Institutional Crisis in Twenty-First-Century Britain (pp. 198-217). Palgrave Macmillan
- Beyond the Regulatory Gaze? Corporate Security, (In)visibility and the Modern State. In Lippert R & Walby K (Ed.), Corporate Security in the 21st Century: Theory and Practice in International Perspective (pp. 39-55). Palgrave Macmillan
- Politics, Economics and Security. In Gill M (Ed.), Handbook of Security (pp. 89-106). Palgrave Macmillan
- A State-in-Society Agenda. In White A (Ed.), The Everyday Life of the State: A State-in-Society Approach (pp. 1-13). University of Washington Press
- The United Kingdom. In Bakker C & Sossai M (Ed.), Multilevel Regulation of Military and Security Contractors: The Interplay Between International, European and Domestic Norms (pp. 309-328). Hart
Book reviews
- Security/capital: a general theory of pacification. Policing and Society, 28(8), 1000-1003.
- The Politics of Private Security: Regulation, Reform and Re-Legitimation. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Research group
-
Areas of Research Supervision
- Policing
- Soldiering
- Privatisation
- Regulation
- War
- Grants
-
Title/Description: Centre for Vulnerability and Policing Futures
- Awarding Body: ESRC
- People Involved: Adam White (Co-Investigator)
- Dates: 2022-2027
- Amount (£): 8.23m
Title/Description: N8 Policing Research Partnership
- Awarding Body: HEFCE
- People Involved: Adam White (Co-Investigator)
- Dates: 2015-2020
- Amount (£): 6.64m
Title/Description: The Demobilisation of Private Military Contractors
- Awarding Body: Gerda Henkel Foundation
- People Involved: Adam White (Principal Investigator)
- Dates: 2014-2016
- Amount (£): 53,800
- Teaching interests
-
Over the past few years, I have studied, researched and taught within the disciplines of geography, international political economy, politics and public policy.
But criminology is my passion. It is a fascinating discipline with endless stories – both macabre and heartwarming – which open up a unique window into the human condition.
My aim when teaching criminology is to communicate this fascination to others and to nurture it within their own learning experience.
- Teaching activities
-
The modules I teach are:
Undergraduate
- Criminology and War
- Drugs, Crime and Control
Postgraduate
- Criminality, Victimhood and War
- Global Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
- Professional activities and memberships
-
- Member of the Centre for Criminological Research
- Editorial Board, British Journal of Criminology
- Editorial Board, Security Journal
- Steering Committee, British Society of Criminology Policing Network
- Fellow, Higher Education Academy