The Politics of Punishment: A Comparative Study of Imprisonment and Political Culture (New Advances in Crime and Social Harm)

Prisons are everywhere. Yet they are not everywhere alike. How can we explain the differences in cross-national uses of incarceration? __The Politics of Punishment__ explores this question by undertaking a comparative sociological analysis of penal politics and imprisonment in Ireland and Scotland. Using archives and oral history, this book shows that divergences in the uses of imprisonment result from the distinctive features of a nation’s political culture: the different political ideas, cultural values and social anxieties that shape prison policymaking. Political culture thus connects large-scale social phenomena to actual carceral outcomes, illuminating the forces that support and perpetuate cross-national penal differences. The work therefore offers a new framework for the comparative study of penality. This is also an important work of sociology and history. By closely tracking how and why the politics of punishment evolved and adapted over time, we also yield rich and compelling new accounts of both Irish and Scottish penal cultures from 1970 to the 1990s. __The Politics of Punishment__ will be essential reading for students and academics interested in the sociology of punishment, comparative penology, criminology, penal policymaking, law and social history. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction Comparative penology: Conceptual challenges Ireland and Scotland: Anglophone punitive exceptions Ireland Scotland Comparing penal cultures Notes Chapter 2: Comparative penal culture Introduction Comparing imprisonment The sociology of imprisonment Imprisonment regimes Political culture Explaining penal differences: political economy or cultural compulsion? Comparative framework for the politics of punishment Cultural sensibilities Political reasoning Political culture – a logic of practice Comparing politics and imprisonment A methodological note Oral histories Archival research Reading the material culture of documents Contingent social field of relations Notes Section 1: Irish imprisonment regimes and political culture, 1970–1999 Chapter 3: Pastoral penality: Addressing the pains of imprisonment Political, social and cultural background Prison developments ‘Ordinary’ imprisonment ‘Subversive’ imprisonment Political culture The prisoner of poverty Sanctity of the flock Rehabilitation: an ‘approach to living’ Humanitarian sensibilities: shepherding the prisoner through the pains of imprisonment Nationalism Pastoral penality Notes Chapter 4: Pastoral penality losing ground Economic downturn and rising violence The politics of panic and retrograde regimes Doubling-up Shedding – a rolling amnesty Authority under threat The ‘new hardcore’ Drug addiction Urban criminality Gangland crime The revolving door Note Chapter 5: The power to imprison Ireland: A late moderniser Political and cultural conflict Reaffirming pastoral penality Signal crime Politicisation of punishment Expansion of the sovereign state The underserving prisoner A new governmental authority The reinvention of the political apparatus The promise of prisons Prisons – preventative detention and deterrence Prison works: techniques of intervention Punitive modernisation The irony of the punitive turn Notes Section 2: Scottish imprisonment regimes and political culture, 1970–1995 Chapter 6: The dismissive society: Discipline and exclusion in Scottish imprisonment Scottish social landscape Imprisonment in Scotland Mainstream imprisonment Long-term imprisonment Release Progression: training for freedom Segregation: the deep end Political culture Liberal aspirations Dangerous places, dangerous prisoners The feckless and disordered prisoner Prison: the terminal position Notes Chapter 7: Crisis management New prison problems Refining care and control Legitimacy crisis Note Chapter 8: Civilising Scottish imprisonment Progressive penal transformation Reassessment The Scottish prison service The reformed Scottish prison and the responsible prisoner Nationalism and fear in Scottish prison administration Civilising imprisonment Notes Chapter 9: Conclusion: Comparing the politics of punishment Comparative summary Ireland and Scotland: Divergent penal cultures Comparing the politics of punishment The political cultural meanings of imprisonment Punishment as a social institution Why we punish References Index "This book explores how and why we punish people differently by undertaking a comparative social and political analysis of imprisonment regimes and political culture in Ireland and Scotland. While providing compelling new accounts of both Irish and Scottish penal cultures from 1970-1990s - a critical period for the transformation of imprisonment and penal politics - the work also provides a new framework for the comparative study of penality. The book explores the different political ideas, cultural values and social anxieties that shape prison policymaking and closely tracks how these evolve and adapt over time. Through this historical recovery, the author shows that to make sense of comparative differences in how we imprison requires us to understand the political culture that governs incarceration. This study takes place in two nations often treated as peripheral to the dominant Anglophone story of penal transformation and comparison. As a result of the in-depth and historical nature of this comparison, this book advances important new understandings of punishment in both Ireland and Scotland and forces us to rethink claims of exceptional penal cultures. This book will be essential reading for students and academics interested sociology of punishment, comparative penology, criminology, penal policymaking, law and social history"-- Provided by publisher Présentation de l'éditeur : "Prisons are everywhere. Yet they are not everywhere alike. How can we explain the differences in cross-national uses of incarceration? The Politics of Punishment explores this question by undertaking a comparative sociological analysis of penal politics and imprisonment in Ireland and Scotland. Using archives and oral history, this book shows that divergences in the uses of imprisonment result from the distinctive features of a nation's political culture: the different political ideas, cultural values and social anxieties that shape prison policymaking. Political culture thus connects large-scale social phenomena to actual carceral outcomes, illuminating the forces that support and perpetuate cross-national penal differences. The work therefore offers a new framework for the comparative study of penality. This is also an important work of sociology and history. By closely tracking how and why the politics of punishment evolved and adapted over time, we also yield rich and compelling new accounts of both Irish and Scottish penal cultures from 1970 to the 1990s. The Politics of Punishment will be essential reading for students and academics interested in the sociology of punishment, comparative penology, criminology, penal policymaking, law and social history." This book explores why some governments choose to imprison more people than others, why some nations' prison systems are more humane, and how these systems of imprisonment change over time. It will be essential for students, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of penology, criminology, criminal justice, law and social history.