This chapter examines the diversity of sociological explanations of crime by comparing them along a number of different dimensions. While highlighting key differences between these approaches, we try to show how they have shared a common commitment to the "modernist project" — that is, to a belief in the possibility and legitimacy of constructing a valid explanation of the phenomenon of crime and, hence, of developing strategies for doing something about it. Maintaining one of our central themes of the book, the debates about modernity and postmodernity, we also introduce the reader to the postmodernist critique of criminology.