Dr Francis Dodsworth
Faculties, departments and locations
- Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
- Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology
- School of Law, Social and Behavioural Sciences
- Penrhyn Road
Senior Lecturer in Criminology
- Email:
- [email protected]
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, policing and protection.
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. My current research has two main strands: one on self-defence and personal protection, and a second on police legitimacy, both historically and from a more contemporary perspective with a particular focus on social media.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Manchester
- MA, University of Manchester
- BA (Hons), University of Wales, Lampeter
Domains
I am course leader for our BSc Criminology & Forensic Psychology programme.
My principal teaching is on the following modules:
- CM5013 Criminal Justice: Policing, Prisons and Probation
- CM5021 Crime, Media, and Culture
I also make occasional contributions to other modules and regularly supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations.
Course director
Courses taught
My research background is in historical criminology and criminal justice history, with a particular focus on crime, policing and security in modern Britain. My most recent work has focused on spatial justice, the ideology of protection and the challenge of social media to police legitimacy.
My book The Security Society: History, Patriarchy, Protection (2019) draws together criminological studies of security and the 'new police science', as well as Foucauldian work on governmentality and Elias's concept of the 'civilising process', to explore the long-term processes through which the ideology of protection has figured in processes of securitisation, 'civilisation / pacification' and 'governmentalisation'. A central element of this was an emphasis on the shaping of possible roles and identities through these processes and the extent to which processes of securitisation were driven 'from below' as much as top-down or by 'the state'.
I have extended this focus into studies of spatial justice in women's self-defence and the 'preventive turn' in personal protection, both of which explore the distinctive emotional regimes associated with securitisation. My current research continues this theme and also explores challenges to police legitimacy through social media and 'sousveillance'. Both strands of this recent work are animated by interest in the politics of de-legitimisation, underenforcement and challenges to the authority and competence of the criminal justice system.
I have supervised several PhD theses to completion:
- Muhammad Aslam, ‘Exploring enhanced Understandings of Police Criminal Investigation on Cold Case Homicides in Pakistan Using Intelligence and Forensic Science'
- Merlinda Bajo, ‘The Role of Migration, Belonging and Identity in the Desistance Narratives of Migrant Ex-Offenders in England and Wales’
- Sharmistha Chaudhuri, ‘How school teachers in the UK conceptualise the Prevent duty and how they identify pupils who may be vulnerable to radicalisation'
- Daniel Contreras Dordelly, ‘Alternative currencies in comparative context: distinctive dynamics and the impact of mainstreaming on schemes in the UK, Mexico and Kenya'
I am currently supervising:
- Steven Kent, ‘Estrangement and Appeasement: An Analysis of Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1902-42'
- Russell Murfin, 'The impact and effectiveness of Manchester City's housing policy, 1945-79
- Arthur Whitehead, '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, policing and protection.
Specialisms
- Policing
- Security
- Historical criminology
- Cultural criminology
- Governmentality
Scholarly affiliations
- British Society of Criminology
- European Society of Criminology
I am currently course leader for our BSc in Criminology & Forensic Psychology. I also contribute to our BSc Criminology programme. Do get in touch with me about any of these programmes.
University responsibilities
- Course leader for BSc Criminology and Forensic Psychology
Publications
The global perspective on cold case homicides: a qualitative assessment of policing policies, procedures and practices
Aslam, Dr Muhammad, Kaunert, Dr Christian, Barker, James and Dodsworth, Dr Francis, 2026, International Journal of Judicial Law (5), 2pp 96-105, Published
Law, order, and social media: Perceptions of police effectiveness on X/Twitter
Bullock, Josh and Dodsworth, Francis, 2025, Crime, Media, Culture, E-pub ahead of print
Habit, the criminal body and the body politic in England, c. 1700-1800
Dodsworth, Francis Martin, 2013, Body & Society (19), 2-3pp 83-106, Published
Shifting religions and cultures in London's East End
Dodsworth, Francis, Vacchelli, Elena and Watson, Sophie, 2013, Material Religion (9), 1pp 86-112, Published
Into unorthodox London: the religious ethnography of Charles Maurice Davies
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie, 2012, Victorian Literature and Culture (40), 2pp 487-508, Published
Constituting religious publics: the tale of two non-conformist churches in London
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie, 2011, Culture and Religion (12), 1pp 1-19, Published
Fabricating the market: the promotion of life assurance in the long nineteenth-century
McFall, Liz and Dodsworth, Francis, 2009, Current Orthopaedic Practice (22), 1pp 30-54, Published
The idea of police in Eighteenth-Century England: discipline, reformation, superintendence, c. 1780-1800
Dodsworth, F. M., 2008, Journal of the History of Ideas (69), 4pp 583-604, Published
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), 3pp 439-454, Published
Virtus on Whitehall: the politics of Palladianism in William Kent's Treasury Building, 1733-6
Dodsworth, Francis, 2005, Journal of Plankton Research (18), 4pp 282-317, Published
'Civic' police and the condition of liberty: the rationality of governance in eighteenth-century England
Dodsworth, Francis M., 2004, Social History (29), 2pp 199-216, Published
The security society: history, patriarchy, protection
Dodsworth, Francis (2019). London, U.K.: (Palgrave Macmillan) [Published]
A world laid waste? Responding to the social, cultural and political consequences of globalisation
(2018). Abingdon, U.K.: (Routledge) [Published]
The 'idea' of policing
(2014). London, U.K.: [Published]
From the 'old‘ to the 'new‘: corruption and the police, c. 1750-1910
Dodsworth, Francis (2022). In: Cawood, Ian, Crook, Tom, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.:pp 54-74 [Published]
Security: history, genealogy, ideology
Dodsworth, Francis (2022). In: Gill, Martin, (eds.), Cham, Switzerland:pp 19-38 [Published]
Fighting for the right to the streets: the politics and poetics of women's self-defence
Dodsworth, Francis (2020). In: Watson, Sophie, (eds.), Abingdon, U.K.: Routledgepp 118-135 [Published]
Protection: selling self-defence in twentieth-century Britain and the United States
Dodsworth, Francis (2020). In: Churchill, David, Janiewski, Dolores, Leloup, Pieter, (eds.), Abingdon, U.K.: Routledgepp 154-171 [Published]
Coping with change: community, environment and engagement in a London Buddhist community
Dodsworth, Francis and Watson, Sophie (2018). In: Dodsworth, Francis, Walford, Antonia, (eds.), Abingdon, U.K.: Routledgepp 88-108 [Published]
Risk, prevention and policing, c. 1750-1850
Dodsworth, Francis (2016). In: Crook, Tom, Esbester, Mike, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 29-53 [Published]
Epochalism and the society of security: continuity and change in self-defence culture
Dodsworth, Francis (2015). In: Ottovay J├©rgensen, Martin, Lytje, Maren, Nielsen, Torben K., (eds.), Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K.:pp 88-107 [Published]
Men on a mission: masculinity, violence and the self-presentation of policemen in England, c. 1870-1914
Dodsworth, Francis (2012). In: Barrie, David G., Broomhall, Susan, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.:pp 123-140 [Published]
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, O'Kane, Finola, (eds.), Dublin, Ireland:pp 76-90 [Published]
Mobility and civility: police and the formation of the modern city
Dodsworth, Francis (2011). In: Bridge, Gary, Watson, Sophie, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.:pp 235-244 [Published]
Governing conduct: law, order and violence
Dodsworth, Francis (2008). In: McFall, Liz, Du Gay, Paul, Carter, Simon, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.:pp 121-151 [Published]
Masculinity as governance: police, public service and the embodiment of authority, c. 1700-1850
Dodsworth, Francis (2007). In: McCormack, Matthew, (eds.), Basingstoke, U.K.:pp 33-53 [Published]
Law, order, and social media: how Twitter/X shapes and amplifies public perceptions of policing
Bullock, Josh and Dodsworth, Francis(2025). [Published]
Intelligence as a source of cold case homicide investigation: a cross national perspective
Aslam, M., Barker, J. and Dodsworth, F.(2021). [Published]