Neoliberalism as social and political regression (2015) (original) (raw)
Crime Policy and Welfare Policy
This essay provides a synthesis of criminological and social welfare theoretical frameworks, along with empirical data illuminating the links between crime policy and welfare policy. It also reviews current debates regarding the extent to which European countries are undergoing a shift toward more punitive welfare or crime policies. Building upon Gøsta Esping-Andersen’s classic typology of welfare regimes, current scholarship ties liberal welfare regimes to punitive penal ideologies and high rates of incarceration and social democratic welfare regimes to lenient attitudes toward punishment and low incarceration rates. Research also underscores the significance of economic and social inequality in the production and outcomes of crime and welfare policies. Comparative empirical data supports the persistence of penal-welfarism in Europe, particularly in social democratic states, exemplified by Sweden, while indicating more punitive policies targeting marginalized sectors of the population, notably immigrants.
The Neoliberal State: Then and Now
Scott, D. and Sim, J. (eds.) Demystifying Power, Crime and Social Harm. London: Palgrave (In Press)., 2024
This chapter explores Steven Box’s contribution to our understanding of the neoliberal state, both when Power, Crime and Mystification (1983) was published, and today. After situating the book in political context and establishing a working, if orthodox, definition of neoliberalism, we go on to unpack the text’s eponymous subject matter – power, crime, and mystification – as each relates to the neoliberal state. Having given Box a fair reading and highlighted a number of key contributions he makes, we argue that his concept of mystification provides an underdeveloped account of power, whether applying it to ‘crime’ and social harm then, or now. If Box’s ‘mystification’ does not adequately account for power, then we might similarly conclude that his text fails to accurately theorise the state as an underlying relation determining a range of possibilities for social action rather than directly setting them on course. However, an important caveat we conclude with is the disciplinary environment in which Box was working. Set against orthodox, administrative, or mainstream accounts of crime and criminology, Power, Crime and Mystification kept alive a radical agenda, rendering the state and its agents legitimate and intelligible as critical criminological research objects. In sum, Box’s contribution to our understanding of the neoliberal state can, and should, be read two ways: as an intellectual project with strengths and flaws, and as a political project with a practical and enduring legacy for as long as his concerns are echoed by contemporary scholars, activists, teachers, and students.
Neo-liberalism and criminal justice policy: Law and order under the market system’
University of San Carlos Graduate Journal, 2006
Abstract Neo-liberalism has influenced the entire public sector, including the criminal justice system, which includes policing and law enforcement. At first glance they may not seem to lend themselves to Neo-liberal principles, but the minimisation of government in public services has reached this far, creating far-reaching consequences for criminal justice policy. The treatment of crime as a rational economic activity instead of a form of moral and social aberration and the criminal as a rational person seeking to maximise gain instead of a social deviant has begun to change the nature of criminal justice. Policing is becoming less about law enforcement, as it is more about risk management in modern society. Society itself is becoming a risk society as levels of trust are reduced, and law enforcement is changing into the provision of security rather than the prevention and treatment of crime. This essay argues that increasing government involvement in criminal justice policy could actually address some of the extreme consequences of Neo-liberalism without negating its better qualities. This assumes that government is democratic and that crime is a moral issue that a democracy needs to address, as it is a system predicated on people being responsible for each other’s well being.
Neo-liberalism, Crime and Punishment
A considerable body of research argues that one of the principal effects of neo-liberalism upon criminal justice has been to encourage penal expansionism and more generally harsher sanctions. This is done to encourage people to adapt to the austere conditions of a neo-liberal economy. This chapter suggests that if neo-liberalism is operative in the criminal justice sphere, it may be through the pragmatic management of criminal incidents, often through a price mechanism typical of a 'market logic', rather than through the stigma of harsh public punishment. Taking the case of the Republic of Ireland, this chapter investigates two examples, traffic violations and organized crime, which are dealt with on the basis of 'market logic'. The chapter concludes by speculating on how a more efficient model of control for both kinds of crime might be developed in the future.
Crime and modernity: continuities in left realist criminology
International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 2003
different within these communities and compared to those living in Lahore, Indonesia or the Gulf States because of the ways in which Islam combines with factors and influences in utterly different contexts. While in a short review I have focused on those aspects of the collection that most interest this reviewer, the other chapters are all informative and mostly insightful. Crime and modernity: continuities in left realist criminology John Lea; Sage, London, 2002, pp. 224, price d60 hardback, d17.99 paperback The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary society David Garland; Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp. 307, price d19.99 hardback
Images from a Neoliberal City: The State, Surveillance and Social Control
Critical Criminology, 2004
Smith (1996: 230–232) characterized the late twentieth century crusade for a “new urban frontier” as akin to the Wild West of nineteenth century America. In the last ten years, not only in the North American context but in Europe too, extending the boundaries of the urban frontier – economically, politically, and culturally – has galvanized powerful urban coalitions in the task of re-taking – both ideologically and materially – city spaces from the visible and symbolic elements of urban degeneration. The project of urban reclamation has not been neutral but has been formulated within a post welfare, neoliberal politics that has promoted a ideology of self responsibilisation within a climate of moral indifference to increasingly visible inequality. These ideological shifts have been fuelled by, and consolidated in, an evolving form of state ensemble that, as a rapidly moving target (Hay 1996: 3), has been largely neglected in criminological analysis. It is the contention of this paper that the agents and agencies of the neoliberal state are constructing the boundaries and possibilities of the new urban frontier while simultaneously engaging in a project of social control that will have far-reaching consequences for how we understand the meanings of public space, social justice and the parameters of state power.
The socialisation of crime policy? Evidence from the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund
Our starting point for this paper is the familiar assertion that social policy has, in recent times, become 'criminalised' – that one consequence of the increasing priority attached by governments to dealing with crime and disorder is that the policy and service domains associated with the welfare state (children and family policy, education, housing, health, employment, social security, etc) are required to contribute to the achievement of policy objectives concerned with controlling and reducing crime. In short, social policy has become colonised by, even subordinated to, crime policy. Whilst not disputing the general trend identified by the 'criminalisation of social policy' thesis, we wish to suggest that the reality is somewhat more complex; and indeed that it is possible to identify instances of crime policy being influenced and altered by elements of social policy. We begin by setting out some general arguments for seeing the crime policy/social policy relationship as complex and multi-dimensional, before discussing the significance of specific research evidence from the evaluation of a major recent national initiative.
Suburbia’s “Crime Experts”: The Neo-Conservatism of Control Theory and the Ethos of Crime
Critical Criminology, 2012
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ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 2018
The government of security and safety constitutes a privileged angle from which to study the links among government, public policy and urban dynamics, particularly in places where neoliberalisation intersects with historical racial and class tensions – as is the case in many US cities. I am concerned with the connection between (racialised) security politics and the institutional transformation of local security policymaking. I use the case of Memphis (TN, USA), which is paradigmatic of the neoliberalisation of security and permanent 'low-intensity' austerity; present four practices and trends – 'predictive' policing, rhetoric about 'community' self-defence, safety 'grants' and the 'mission creep' of the militarised police department; and discuss continuities/discontinuities with regard to long-term trends of restructuring crime control in the USA. The case of security policymaking allows me to argue that austerity and neoliberal rule tend to replace public policy – intended as a course of action stemming from conscious choice by the government – with a complicated patchwork of state intervention/disengagement, whose ultimate effect is the 'end of public policy' proper.
The Convergence of Social Policy and Criminal Justice
2001
This article discusses the shift from crime as a problem of the police and judicial authorities to a subject of local policy. It will, in particular, examine the relationship between safety policy and social policy. Safety has become an important social theme in the last decades. There are at least three reasons to explain why this is the case: the increase of crime, increased attention for the victim and the legitimacy of the government. A concentric model is proposed to serve the development of a systematically set up local safety policy. In the Netherlands programmes such as Communities that Care and Justice in the neighbourhood (Jib) are important developments which stress the integral approach of the crime and safety problem. The article closes with a discussion on the convergence of criminal justice policy and social policy.
The Relationship Between Mass Incarceration and Crime in the Neoliberal Period in the United States
2012
This dissertation marks the end of my decade as a graduate student, a decade roughly marked by the anti-globalization movement, which inspired me to study economics, and the current Occupy Wall Street movement, which I now come to armed with the tools I sharpened in graduate school. Reflecting back on my eight years spent in and around Thompson Hall, and acknowledging all those who inspired me, helped me, and kept me sane during that time, is a daunting task. I will surely forget to mention some people.
Images from a Neoliberal City: The State
2003
Smith (1996: 230-232) characterized the late twentieth century crusade for a "new urban frontier" as akin to the Wild West of nineteenth century America. In the last ten years, not only in the North American context but in Europe too, extending the boundaries of the urban frontier-economically, politically, and culturally-has galvanized powerful urban coalitions in the task of re-taking-both ideologically and materially-city spaces from the visible and symbolic elements of urban degeneration. The project of urban reclamation has not been neutral but has been formulated within a post welfare, neoliberal politics that has promoted a ideology of self responsibilisation within a climate of moral indifference to increasingly visible inequality. These ideological shifts have been fuelled by, and consolidated in, an evolving form of state ensemble that, as a rapidly moving target (Hay 1996: 3), has been largely neglected in criminological analysis. It is the contention of this paper that the agents and agencies of the neoliberal state are constructing the boundaries and possibilities of the new urban frontier while simultaneously engaging in a project of social control that will have far-reaching consequences for how we understand the meanings of public space, social justice and the parameters of state power.