The primary goal of Major Criminological Theories: Concepts and Measurement is to advance criminology as a science. Although the audience may be criminologists and criminal justice educators in general, the book is written mainly for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. It lists the achievements in measures of the major criminological theories and presents criticisms of some current practices in research. It can be used either as a principal or as a supplemental text to other texts or anthologies in courses on theories of crime and delinquency. There is no similar criminology text on the market. This is one of a kind.

While it is written for students, I have no doubt that it will also benefit any researchers who are engaging in criminological/criminal justice studies. It is argued that efforts towards standardization are part of the process of scientific theory building because they force scholars to constantly refine their theoretical perspectives and measuring instruments and because they force researchers to choose more comparable measures. This observation is certainly worthwhile for all criminologists to be aware of in their research. The citations of the theoretical and research literature and the list of references are extensive and will prove useful to professionals in general to build or enhance their research projects. The notes in each chapter are intended for interested readers who want to investigate a certain topic further.

The book intends to increase students’ appreciation of and to sharpen criminologists’ vision of the key concepts in criminological theories and their measures. It is not an attempt at a new theoretical development, such as through theory competition, theory elaboration and theory integration, or theoretical verification through empirical analysis, or any other ways of creating a new variation of a theory; rather it is an attempt at strengthening the very foundations in doing criminological research right. It provides a guideline for students of criminology or criminal justice to engage in their own research. There are two unique features of this book: (1) deduction of a theory is used, and (2) a summary of the theoretical operationalizations is emphasized.

The book is the culmination of more than a decade of research and teaching of criminology. It combines criminological theories with a concern for measurement of abstract concepts. The bifurcation of theory and methodology is too common in the curriculum of criminology/criminal justice. The division into separate spheres misrepresents the nature of scientific inquiry. Theorizing and empirical research are reciprocal and interrelated parts of scientific theory building. This book thus attempts to reflect this reciprocal process in the study of crime. It intends to transcend the limitations of previous textbooks of criminology. By rejecting both romantic testing of a theory at will and rigorously sterilizing a classic statement, it contributes to the construction of a more scientific approach to criminology. It allows for a more penetrating analysis of existing problems of scientific criminology and of the ways to address these problems.

Two events provided the inspiration for writing this book. First, in the spring of 1997, Jay Weinstein, then chair of the departmental personnel committee, advised me in private after the committee’s recommendation to accord me tenure and promote me to associate professor that I should consider writing a book in the future. Second, at the 1997 American Society of Criminology Conference in San Diego, Francis T. Cullen, my mentor and friend, said, in discussing Jay’s suggestion, that people would remember a scholar with a unique theory book, not a series of articles. He thought that he would mainly be remembered as an advocator of rehabilitation. I thus became aware of the issue of academic memory.

The initial adumbration of the book began in early 2001 after I returned from a one-semester sabbatical leave at Max Planck Institute of International Criminal Law and Criminology. Having decided on the topic of the book, I found that there were still details to surface only during writing. The book could become either a simple handbook or a complicated theoretical statement. I have decided that it should take the middle road. I have found that theorists have stood on the shoulder of the giants, but that the measurement of theory has not taken the same road. There is no systematic effort to examine the issue and the problems associated with it. This book hopefully fills this void in the literature and aims to help establish in some small way criminological theory as the basis of a scientific discipline sui generis without distorting the intent or content of each criminological theory.

I am indebted to many people for the successful completion of this book. On the top of the list is Francis T. Cullen, not only for his specific suggestions for this book, but also for all these years of unfailing friendship and intellectual encouragement. In fact, the book is dedicated to him and Paula Dubeck, and to the Department of Sociology and the Division of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. I thank my cohort graduate students (1986-1993) at the University of Cincinnati for their friendship and intellectual challenges, especially for Velmer Burton, Gregory Dunaway, David Evan and Sandra Browning. In retrospect, their excellent dissertations could be regarded as a prototype of the current book. Thanks go to my current and former students, both graduate and undergraduate, at Eastern Michigan University, who help me bring this theory book to their level of understanding. I also want to thank Jay Weinstein and Stuart Henry who generously shared their book proposals. Jay is my in-house confidant. He knew all about my publishing saga and was always ready with advice. Special thanks go to Jihong Zhao, John Winterdyk, Ira Wasserman, and Ling Ren, who read early versions of my manuscripts and graciously gave their constructive criticisms of early versions. At the time of difficulty, their encouragement was much appreciated. Kristy Schindler carefully edited Chapters 3, 4, 5, 12, and 13. Alethea Helbig provided valuable suggestions to improve the language of Chapters 1, 2, and 13. Last, but not least, I have adopted the current book title at the suggestion of Michael Braswell.

Finally, I am grateful to all my family: my daughter Nancy, my wife Meiling, my parents, and my parents-in-laws for their love and support. They probably feel I often spent more time with my computer and books than I do with them. I hope that when they see this book or read the comments on this book they will agree that the effort was worth it. Nancy actually helped to polish the language of Chapter 13. At the age of 15, she already shows her talent in writing. Unlike most wives named in prefaces, my wife is not an angel, but an ordinary complex human being, who constantly reminds me of the importance of humanistic approach in social sciences.