The culture of control Flashcards
What are the key themes of ‘penal welfarism’ (1800s-1970s)?
- rehabilitation of offenders as core principle
- political consensus
- penal ‘experts’ rather than politicians or the public
- low crime rates
When was the era of ‘penal welfarism’
1945 - 1970
what is ‘penal welfarism’ underpinned by?
underpinned by social and economic features of 20th century society:
- relatively low crime rates
- community cohesion
- high employment
transformation to a ‘culture of control’ (1970s - )
- high levels of crime and insecurity
- loss of faith in penal ‘experts’ and rehabilitation
- a policy predicament: contrasting strategies of populism and managerialism
What is the transformation to a ‘culture of control’ underpinned by?
a shift in social/economic structures and cultural aspects:
- high crime rates
- community breakdown
- individualism
- unemployment
- inequality
What are the three foundation conditions of ‘penal-welfarism’?
- political-economic conditions
- social conditions
- theoretical conditions (dominant ways of thinking about crime)
What are political-economic conditions?
- welfare capitalism (businesses providing welfare services to employees)
- economic management to attack issues of inequality (poverty, bad health, poor education and housing)
What are the social conditions?
- stable/falling crime rates
- full employment
- stable families
- cohesive communities
What are the theoretical conditions?
- positivist theories of crime causation
- strain theory
- psychological theories
- social disorganisation theory
What were the political conditions of garlands culture of control?
The attack on welfare capitalism
- neoliberalism and the new right
- conservative dominance and the reinvention of the left
- moral authoritarianism
- economic liberalism
- the politicisation of crime and punishment
- the role of mass media
What is neoliberalism?
Market-oriented reform policies e.g. free market economy, privatisation of public services
What is economic liberalism?
- free market economy with limited government interference
What were the social conditions of garlands culture of control?
- unemployment and economic recession
- changes in family structures
- the eroding of community
- new middle class insecurity
- rapidly rising crime rates
What were the theoretical conditions of garlands culture of control?
- the etiological crisis: nothing works
- criminologies of everyday life e.g. risk management and rational choice theories
- criminologies of the ‘dangerous other’
Adaptive strategies
- professionalisation and the rationalisation of justice
- the commercialisation of justice
- defining deviance down
- redefining success
- concentrate upon consequences
- relocating and redefining responsibilites
Professionalisation and rationalisation of justice
- rise of technology
- systemisation and rationalisation of criminal justice
Commercialisation of justice
- managerialism
- privatisation
Defining deviance down
- reclassification of crime
Redefining success
- from outcomes to output: an economy of efficiency
Concentrating upon consequences
- fear of crime
- ‘customer satisfaction’
Relocating and redefining responsibilites
- responsibilisation below, beyond and above
- steering but not rowing: the public sector should be less in the business of ‘rowing’ e.g. delivering health services, and more onto ‘steering’ e.g. providing and ensuring strategic guidance
What are punitive control strategies?
- respond to predicament by denying it
- reactivate and embrace the myth of the sovereign state crime control
- engage in emotional rituals of condemnation and punishment - ‘acting out’
What are the two feature of punitive control?
- expressive responses
- punitive segregation
Expressive responses
- denying the myth of limits to supreme authority over crime control
- restoring faith in the cjs
- tough political rhetoric and emotional tone
- crime and punishment as a key political background
- privileging of public opinion
