Dr Thomas Raymen

Associate Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Dr Thomas Raymen is an Associate Professor of Criminology in Northumbria University's School for Humanities and Social Sciences. A critical criminologist with over 10 years of experience in academic research and higher education, his research interests pivot around social harm, political economy and crimes of the powerful, leisure and consumer culture, and moral philosophy.

Thomas has done empirical research on topics such as greenwashing, fraud, money laundering, corruption, gambling, leisure and consumer culture, and theoretical and philosophical work on the concept of social harm. He is currently in the midst of a mid-career research fellowship with the Independent Social Research Foundation for his project, Dirty Green Money, which analyses systemic greenwashing and fraud within the EU's sustainable finance industry.

He is the author of four books, including Luxury and Corruption: Challenging the Anti-Corruption Consensus (Bristol University Press, 2024); The Enigma of Social Harm: The Problem of Liberalism (Routledge, 2023); Deviant Leisure: Criminological Perspectives on Leisure and Harm (Palgrave, 2019); and Parkour, Deviance and Leisure in the Late-Capitalist City: An Ethnography (Emerald, 2018). He is currently co-writing a new theoretical monograph on the concept social harm, Social Harm and Human Flourishing: A New Approach (Routledge, 2027).

Thomas' research has frequently appeared in internationally renowned peer-reviewed journals, edited collections, and mainstream media. He is open to all interdisciplinary collaborations, and PhD students on a variety of criminological and zemiological topics.

Thomas joined Northumbria University in 2019, and has held a variety of leadership roles including Deputy Head of Department Social Sciences, Head of Subject for Criminology and Sociology, and the Dept of Social Sciences Head of Degree Apprenticeships. Prior to Northumbria, Thomas worked at the University of Plymouth as a Lecturer in Criminology. He received a PhD in Sociology from Durham University and a BSc Criminology and Legal Studies from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2012.

He lives in Newcastle with his partner and two children.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research interests pivot around social harm, political economy and crimes of the powerful, leisure and consumer culture, and moral philosophy. I have a broad range of interests and I am always interested in new topics and collaboration. To date, I have been particularly interested in the following:

Corporate Greenwashing and Sustainable Finance
Fraud, Money Laundering and Corruption
Regulatory Justice and Compliance
Gambling and Gambling-Related Harm
Consumer Culture, Social Harm, and Theoretical Psychoanalysis
Moral Philosophy and Conceptualising Social Harm
Artificial Intelligence and Social Harm

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Gambling Addiction, Trauma and Loss, Raymen, T. 23 Apr 2026, Legacies of the Lost in Criminology, Bristol, Bristol University Press
Ethics Without Agents Corruption, Financial Crime, and the Interpassive ‘Ethics’ of Compliance, Raymen, T. 1 Aug 2024, Compliance, Defiance, and ‘Dirty’ Luxury, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan
Luxury and Corruption: Challenging the Anti-Corruption Consensus, Østbø Kuldova, T., Østbø, J., Raymen, T. 30 Jan 2024
Editorial: Corruption and the Moral Economy of Fraud, Kuldova, T., Raymen, T., Østbø, J. 6 Apr 2022, In: Journal of Extreme Anthropology
The Enigma of Social Harm: The Problem of Liberalism, Raymen, T. 2 Nov 2022
Clarifying Ultra-Realism: A Response to Wood et. al, Raymen, T., Kuldova, T. Jan 2021, In: Continental Thought & Theory
Editorial: The Longest Year, Raymen, T. 3 Oct 2021, In: Journal of Contemporary Crime, Harm, and Ethics
“It’s the Attraction of Winning That Draws You In”—A Qualitative Investigation of Reasons and Facilitators for Videogame Loot Box Engagement in UK Gamers, Nicklin, L., Gordon Spicer, S., Close, J., Parke, J., Smith, O., Raymen, T., Lloyd, H.,  Lloyd, J. 13 May 2021, In: Journal of Clinical Medicine
The Assumption of Harmlessness, Raymen, T. 10 Sep 2021, The Palgrave Handbook of Social Harm, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan
The Post-Covid Future of the Environmental Crisis Industry and its Implications for Criminology and Zemiolgy, Raymen, T., Smith, O. 3 Oct 2021, In: Journal of Contemporary Crime, Harm, and Ethics