Zemiology

Zemiology is the study of social harms. Zemiology gets its name from the Greek word zemia, meaning harm. It originated as a critique of criminology and the notion of crime. In contrast with 'individual based harms' such as theft, the notion of social harm or social injury incorporates harms caused by nation states and corporations. These ideas have received increased attention from critical academics such as neo-marxists and feminists who have sought to create an independent field of study, separate from criminology, that studies the harms that affect individuals' lives that are not considered to be criminal or are rarely criminalised such as mortgage misselling, poverty and unemployment.