We have entered a recent zeitgeist, the era of the "new space age", driven by billionaires, technological advancements, and a few dominating state powers. While the race to space may be said to offer "new" opportunities for "humanity", we ask, is it predicated on the same logics and historical patterns of the past? This question guides our approach and critical assessment of human expansionism into space. Space Expansionism and Criminology: The Emerging Terrain of Crime, Harm, and Violence offers readers a critical analysis of space expansionism and today’s race to space that has come to define our contemporary era. Taking a retrospective and prospective approach, we delve into the choices being made, the justifications being offered, and those excluded from the hegemonic discourse of the benefits of humans as extraplanetary beings. Space Expansionism and Criminology includes chapters on the historical roots of today’s space race, weaponization and realpolitik, space junk and debris, space mining and resource extrapolation, the burgeoning space tourism market, the manufacturing of space nostalgia from the 1950s through today, and efforts towards, and claims-making for, space colonization to save Earth and humanity.
This book offers readers a critical analysis of space expansionism and today’s race to space that has come to define our contemporary era. Taking a retrospective and prospective approach, the book delves into the choices being made and the justifications being offered by the hegemonic discourse of humans as extraplanetary beings.
