Book excerpt: Since 1997 the probation service, an integral component of criminal justice for over 100 years, has been subject to a politically-driven process of modernisation and cultural transformation. This innovative book explores this probation modernisation by using social theories associated with Durkheim, Weber, Marx and Foucault. The book combines this theoretical analysis with empirical research from interviews, which highlights challenges to, as well as support of, the politics of modernisation. This research is unique in providing insights into what representatives of other organisations think about probation - from the outside looking in.This up-to-date text will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students of probation, criminology, criminal and social justice and allied disciplines.