'Fire smolders in the soul more than under the ashes, the arsonist is the most dissembler of criminals. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Fire is such a fascinating thing, because it is a privileged phenomenon that can explain anything. It is the only phenomenon that truly attributes both good and evil, creates and breathes life and at the same time destroys. This is why I want to explore the “history” of fire through cultural criminology and understand the fear and fascination with fire and why it is criminalized. To do this effectively, an understanding of both cultural criminology and the meaning of fire is required. Fire has been instrumental in the development of both the natural and human worlds as it has helped shape the very world around us and how we live in it. Early humanity learned early that, although it was fascinated by fire, it had to be wary of its power. Eventually, early humans learned to use fire as a tool for cooking food and as a weapon for killing and hunting prey. Beyond that, they noticed how much new growth occurred after a fire. Through this observation, a new form of fire farming was born and just like that, humans began to play with the power of fire, both with creativity and with its destructive capacity. Some experts, like Freud, argue that civilization didn't actually begin until humanity figured out how to hold and "control" fire. The importance of fire was also noted by Levi-Strauss, who states that "culture and creativity were not possible until humanity moved from raw to cooked." Since fire became not only a necessity for human life but also important for the extension of social life, fire became an integral part of cultural life and was often used in celebrations and ceremonies. It symbolized both life and death, the beginning and end of the seasons, hence the symbolism of the passing of the baton seen as a passing of power. In ancient societies, those who possessed the equipment to create fire were called alchemists and were often marveled at as magical beings who had in their hands the power to create or destroy. advent of science, these people became "guardians of life" and were the beings who would guide and protect the passage of life and death, becoming the first versions of priests for the first religions. This duality of destructiveness and creativity, held within the abstraction of fire, has produced a profound polarity buried deep in the consciousness of human cultures, to the point that today in contemporary society it seems to be a natural cultural response and therefore instinctive, innate and emotional at the fire. But it is actually the result of social actions over time, implemented through social structures and relationships that slowly manifested themselves through forms and formations of culture. Fire has slowly permeated our emotional structure, entering our cultural consciousness in a deep and layered way. Fear and yet fascination; destruction and yet creation; death and still life. These fiery dualities lie buried within us, erupting from time to time, whenever and wherever the passage or survival of social life and social identity becomes a burning issue. In the late 20th century, cultural criminology emerged as a form of intervention for the archetypal discipline. It addresses the normal focus of statistical method development and brings to light the questions of what crime is andwhy it is important, which otherwise would have been slightly overlooked. Cultural criminology has developed a distinctive perspective on modern crime and crime control. As the name suggests, cultural criminology focuses and emphasizes the role of culture ranging from a variety of topics such as crime subcultures, shared styles and symbols, media dynamics and other related factors, in shaping criminal nature, actions and of criminal justice. Cultural criminologists argue that these factors are essential and therefore must be taken into account for a better understanding of crime in any of its forms, such as the timing of victimization at home or on the street, crime as a collective activity or crime as a social issue in relation to politics or the public. Some examples of what cultural criminologists study would be how criminal subcultures retain or recruit new members through shared experiences, specific clothing styles, and secret or distinctive ways of communication. They also examine police officers and how they use and display their authority through the use of uniforms and how authority over criminal justice is symbolized in both courts and prisons. Another area of ​​interest for cultural criminology is the mass media. More specifically, how popular films, television programs, and newspaper articles deal with topics of crime, criminals, and the justice system, and how these portrayals influence public perceptions. Beyond that, they also study politicians and legislators and the ways in which they prioritize and define some crimes as more important than others and then manage to hide these definitions in laws and enforcement policies. By having such a broad focus on both culture and communication, it can be argued that cultural criminology allows criminologists and others to develop a more critical understanding of crime. This is due to the belief that crime and criminology itself cannot simply consider criminals and the study of what they do, but must rather include different perceptions of how crime is viewed and what specific meanings crime develops for perpetrators. crime, the victims and other people involved. parties. It also allows for a deeper look at the consequences of these meanings and perceptions, while allowing for a critical insight into the politics of today's society. Cultural criminology not only has a qualitative methodological approach but also requires an "ethnographic sensitivity", a devotion to being familiar with the phenomenology of crime or, as Young calls it, "the versatility, the taste, the sensuality of the criminal act ». Rather than accepting the positivism of some quantitative studies, cultural criminologists believe that the importance of the criminal moment is in part the sense of participating in crime and studying it, while simultaneously being analytical and passionate about how crime affects all people. On the other hand, cultural criminologists agree that focusing on the affective and agentic aspects without clarifying their structure would be incomplete. Rather, the point they make is that action and structure constitute each other. There are some central themes that cultural criminology tends to skirt around while offering diverse areas of research. One of the central concepts is "edgework", or practice in various activities in which participants push themselves to a metaphorical and literal limit. This theme arises from the idea that perhaps these acts that seem 'out of control' might actually be attempts to bring back some control and an affinity of order to a world that is now’.