The Long Struggle: An Agonistic Perspective on Penal Development

• In Event: 190 - Regular Session. Prisons and Prisoners 1

Abstract

Bridging insights from macro-level theorizing about “mass imprisonment” and micro-level case studies of contemporary punishment, this paper presents a mid-level agonistic perspective on penal change and variegation. Using the case of the “rise and fall” of the rehabilitative ideal in California to illustrate this perspective, we spotlight struggle as a central mechanism that both intensifies the variegated nature of punishment and drives penal transformation. The agonistic perspective posits that penal development is fueled by ongoing, low-level struggle among actors with varying amounts and types of resources. Like plate tectonics, friction from contestation periodically erupts into major battles and shifts in penal orientations. Conflicts do not occur in a vacuum; rather, large-scale trends in the economy, politics, social sentiments, inter-group relations, demographics, and crime affect—but do not fully determine—struggles over punishment and, ultimately, local penal outcomes.

Authors

• Phil R. Goodman, University of Toronto

• Joshua Aaron Page, University of Minnesota

• Michelle S. Phelps, University of Minnesota