Is there a future for the political economy of punishment? Theoretical balance and perspectives

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

The tradition of the political economy of punishment produced since the 1970s, in dialogue with the pioneering work by Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939/1968), different key theoretical concepts and arguments that were developed in relation both to historical and sociological explorations. Some of the works inscribed in this tradition were strongly criticized as “deteministic”, particularly during the 1990s, in the context of a more general “cultural turn” in the sociology of punishment. But since the mid 2000s some researchers have contributed to a sort of renaissance of this tradition, revising previous intellectual developments in order to avoid any type of determinism, from different standpoints and approaches (see Melossi, Brandariz and Sozzo, 2018). In this session we seek to generate a balance of this renaissance and to identify perspectives for the future development of the theoretical debate about economy, politics and punishment in contemporary societies.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 54. Inequality and Justice

Individual Presentations

• Are We Still Cheap on Crime? Austerity, Punitivism, and Common Sense in Trumpistan - Hadar Aviram, University of California, Hastings College of the Law

• The Political Economy of Punishment, Fifty Years On - Jose A. Brandariz, University of A Coruna, Spain

• The weight and form of "the political". Problems and perspectives in the renaissance of the political economy of punishment. - Máximo Sozzo, Universidad Nacional del Litorel, Argentina

• Whither neoliberal penality? The past, present and future of punishment in the US - Leo Cheliotis, London School of Economics; Sappho Xenakis, Birkbeck, University of London

Chair

• Máximo Sozzo, Universidad Nacional del Litorel, Argentina

Discussant

• Dario Melossi, University of Bologna