Profile

Biography

• PhD ( Leeds)
  
• MA ( Leeds)
  
• BA (Lancaster)

Having set out to study English Literature at Lancaster University Ruth discovered and transferred rapidly to sociology and became interested in crime and deviance.

Following her BA in Sociology she was awarded an ESRC scholarship at Leeds University to study for an MA in Criminal Justice Studies. The resulting Masters dissertation led to an interest in the notion of celebrities as victims and from this her ESRC funded PhD thesis ‘Celebrated Criminality’ emerged.

Following her PhD Ruth worked in the Leeds Metropolitan University Law School as a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice before coming to the University of York in April 2008 as a Lecturer in Criminology.

Research

Overview

Ruth has a broad interest in the cultural and sociological aspects of celebrity, crime and deviance and is keen to supervise PhD students who wish to conduct research in areas that overlap her key research interests in:

• Sociology of Celebrity
• Fascination and Spectacle
• Seduction and the Joy of Transgression
• Theoretical Criminology
• Cultural Criminology

Publications

Selected publications

Books

• Penfold-Mounce, R. (2010) Celebrity Culture and Crime: The Joy of Transgression, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Journal Articles

• Penfold-Mounce, R. (forthcoming) ‘Consuming Criminal Corpses: Celebrating the Spectacle of the Dead Criminal Body’, Mortality
• Penfold-Mounce, R., Beer, D. and Burrows, R. (2011) ‘The Wire as Social Science Fiction?’ Sociology, vol.45 (1), pp. 152-167. 
• Beer, D. and Penfold-Mounce, R. (2010) Researching glossy topics: the case of the academic study of celebrity, Celebrity Studies, vol.1 (3), pp. 360-365.
• Penfold-Mounce, R (2010) ‘Consuming Criminal Corpses’ Mortality, vol.15 (3), pp. 250-265.
• Beer, D. and Penfold-Mounce, R. (2009) ‘Celebrity Gossip and the Melodramatic Imagination’, Sociological Review Online, vol.14 (2/3)
• Penfold, R. (2004) ‘The Star, Victimization and Celebrity Culture’ Punishment and Society, vol.6 (3), pp.289-302