This collection introduces readers to three decades of Ronnie Lippens’ research and writing and his multifaceted contribution to the social sciences and humanities. It focusses on five of his key themes, the respective relationships between critical criminological practice and hypermodernity, rhetorical discourse, post structural theory, Luciferianism, and the ethics of care. The chapters are written by former colleagues of Lippens who are respected academics with international reputations of their own, from England, Italy, and Brazil across the disciplines of criminology, sociology, philosophy, and legal studies. Each contributor offers their own perspective on one theme in an essay original to this collection. The book encourages readers to engage with and learn from Lippens’ effortless synthesis of social science and philosophy in their own studies of crime, harm, deviance, and justice.

Rafe McGregor is Reader in Criminology at Edge Hill University, UK. A critical theorist with research expertise in Anglophone culture, political violence, and policing, he is the author of twenty books, the most recent of which is Reducing Political Violence: Narrative Accounts of Crime and Harm (2026).
Jessica Dreworth is Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool, UK. She is currently completing her PhD, which examines international legal protections for people displaced across borders by the adverse effects of climate change. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from Liverpool and an LLB in Law from Edge Hill University.