Description
Book SynopsisSince the publication of Michele Alexander's The New Jim Crow books on the criminal justice system have proliferated. In distinction from most of those often excellent investigative reports and analyses of the contemporary moment, this title attempts to sketch a history of crime and punishment's role in the development of capitalist society on explicitly Marxist terms. Title will benefit from the growing academic audience for the book series of which it is a part Peer reviewed nature of the book series provides an inbuilt credibility to other academics working within the field.
Trade Review
“The book, Marxism and Criminology, which I have received and read, must be the most extended treatment of Marx and crime made in many years...What I am fascinated by, and interested in, in this very impressive book, is the analysis according to the stages of capitalism in relation to forms of crime."
—Prof. Richard Quinney
"[This] path-breaking book compels us to revisit the insights of Marx and Engels and she challenges the dated, but often stated, claim made by orthodox Marxists (e.g., Hirst, 1975) that Marxist theory cannot be applied to the study of crime and law. Vegh Weis demonstrates that nothing can be further from the truth. As well, throughout her book, she contests the frequently cited declarations that Marx and Engels had very little to say about crime and that the sociology of law was little more than a secondary interest to them."
—Walter S. DeKeseredy, Punishment & Society,
"Marxism and Criminology is an excellent contribution to renew the debate on the causes of the growing demand for punitiviness and, at the same time, a questioning of the legal field auto-perception as emancipated from the conditions of production and reproduction of the life and the world."
—Jorge Elbaum, Delito y Sociedad, Santa Fe, 2018.
"[C]ertainly since Rusche and Kirchheimer and Foucault, we have an attempt at a general synthesis which brings together a vast range of empirical material on the dimensions of criminalisation which is then theorised in terms of a clearly articulated relationship to the central dynamic of capitalist development. The contribution of this book to the development of Marxist criminology and, reciprocally, criminologically-sensitive Marxism, is immense. If we want to understand where the world is heading, and the urgency of reform, then this is precisely the type of contribution we need."
—Jhon Lea, The British Journal of Criminology
"Valeria Vegh retakes, many decades later, the fundamental statements of Punishment and Social Structure by Rusche and Kirchheimer and goes beyond the strict consideration of the labor market to delve into the complex social and economic relations under which criminal demonstrations contemporarily take place [...] it is a real pleasure to present an investigation of the rigorousness that Valeria Vegh's work possesses. I hope that it has a long journey."
—Iñaki Rivera Beiras, Critica Penal y Poder
Table of ContentsList of Tables and Figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introduction
Criminological Theories and the Notion of ‘Criminal Selectivity’
‘Criminal Selectivity’ through the Work of Marx and Engels
Marx and Engels’ Contributions Did Not Analyze Crime and Crime Control in Deep.
Marx and Engels’ Contributions Understood Crime and Crime Control as Superstructural Aspects.
Marx and Engels’ Constributions Lead to the Failure of ‘Real Socialism.’
Marx and Engels’ Contributions Are Necessary to Analyze Crime and Crime Control
A Conceptualization of ‘Criminal Selectivity’ from a Marxist Perspective
Chapter 2: Original Criminal Selectivity
Where, How and When of the ‘Primitive Accumulation’ (Late 15th to Early 18th Century).
Original Conflict-Control
Original Under-Criminalization
Original Over-Criminalization
The Different Application of Penalization and the Transit from Physical Punishment to Workhouses
Who Were the Social Sectors Targeted by Original Criminal Selectivity?
Mixed insertion in the ‘Primitive Accumulation’
Punishment during Original Criminal Selectivity
Manifest Functions.
Latent Functions
Creating a Disciplined Working Class
Imposing a New Social Order
Fragmenting the Dispossed Sectors
Moral Entrepeneurs and Moral Panics
Brief Reflections
Chapter 3: Disciplining Criminal Selectivity
Where, How and When of the Disciplining Social Order (late 18th century- late 20th century).
Disciplining Conflict-Control
First Disciplining Phase: Legally-Disciplining Criminal Selectivity (Late 18th Century)
Legally-Disciplining Under-Criminalization
Legally-Disciplining Over-Criminalization
Second Disciplining Phase: Police-Medically Disciplining Criminal Selectivity (19th Century)
Police-Medically Disciplining Under-Criminalization
Police-Medically Disciplining Over-Criminalization
Third Disciplining Phase: Socio-Disciplining Criminal Selectivity (Early to Late 20th Century)
Socio-Disciplining Under-Criminalization
Socio-Disciplining Over-Criminalization
Who Were the Social Sectors Targeted by Disciplining Criminal Selectivity?
Mixed Insertion in the Disciplining Social Order
Punishment during Disciplining Criminal Selectivity
Manifest Functions
Retribution or ‘Just Deserts’ Theory
Specific Deterrence/Incapacitation Theory
General Deterrence Theory
Rehabilitation Theory
Latent Functions
Disciplining the Worker That Resisted the New Social Order and Its Guidelines
Disciplining the Entire Working Class
Fragmenting the Working Class
Moral Entrepeneurs and Moral Panics
Brief Reflections
Chapter 4: Bulimic Criminal Selectivity
Where, How and When of the Bulimic Social Order (Late 20th to 21th Century).
Bulimic Conflict-Control
Bulimic Under-Criminalization
Bulimic Under-Criminalization on the ‘War on Terror.'
Bulimic Under-Criminalization of Financial Manouvers
Bulimic Over-Criminalization
Bulimic Over-Criminalization on the ‘Social Junk.'
Bulimic Over-Criminalization on the ‘Social Dynamite’
Who Were the Social Sectors Targeted by Bulimic Criminal Selectivity?
Mixed Insertion in the Bulimic Social Order.
Punishment during Bulimic Criminal Selectivity
Manifest Functions.
Latent Functions
Incapacitating the problematic social sectors
Controlling the Modern Pauperism
Fragmenting the working class
Moral Entrepreneurs and Moral Panics
Promoting a ‘crime control industry’ and the omnipresent control of the social whole.
Brief Reflections
Chapter 5: Final Reflections.
References.
Index
