The Wire is an American crime drama series, comprised of five seasons that aired on cable network HBO from 2002 to 2008. The series is set in the American city of Baltimore and in its beginning presents itself as a classic crime/cop show (to the likes of CSI, Hawaii Five-O, NCIS, Law & Order, Criminal Minds etc.). However, The Wire steps out of the parameters of its genre and aside from criminal institutions, the police department and courts, also examines many other institutions of the city, such as unions, political systems, schools, media houses, prisons etc. Through its five seasons the series touches on different issues that trouble the city of Baltimore (poverty, crime, corruption, drugs and the war on drugs, collapsing industry, homelessness…) and in a realistic way through storylines and lives of fictional characters portrays the workings of Baltimore and its subsystems. The Wire uses a complex narration to pinpoint some of the neuralgic points of late American capitalism and failed policies, which USA has been practicing for the last couple of decades (neoliberal policies and shrinking of social security, war on drugs, war on terror…). In my dissertation, I analyze The Wire from the perspective of sociological theses which the series displays.
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