Description
Book SynopsisPunishment is the imposition, by a legitimate authority, of a painful consequence upon one who has offended the social order by indulging in acts contrary to the social good. Punishment is understood to serve a primary objective in any society: it rehabilitates or reforms (re-forms or shapes anew) the psyches of social offenders to bring them in line with prevailing codes of behavior. Punishment thus is a highly conservative force, affirming simultaneously the codes of conduct deemed desirable within the society and the status quo of power relations that hold sway in the society. Punishment is a form of social teaching. One of the favorite forms of didactic pain to which legitimate authorities turn, in teaching conformity to social regulations, is the psychological pain of shame. Shame is a special favorite in the penology of societies of the Western world, whose governing logic is already grounded in the shame-based religions of Judaism and Christianity. Parents, school teachers, re
Trade ReviewHamblet's fine study is timely. She goes against the conservative tendency that, out of fear, reasserts a belief in punishment. By placing punishment and shame in historical and philosophical contexts, she brilliantly demonstrates that our treatment of criminals and the poor reveals more about us than it does about them. -- Richard Stivers, Illinois State University
Hamblet here offers 'a genealogy of punishment,' an attempt to understand punishment through its history; this study offers, among other delights, a fundamental critique of Foucault's famous attempt to do the same. -- Michael Davis, Professor of Philosophy, Illinois Institute of Technology
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Part One. Ancient Ideas about Justice and Punishment Chapter 3 Chapter 1. Justice and the Cosmic Order in Greek Mythology Chapter 4 Chapter 2. Justice and Punishment in Greek Tragedy Chapter 5 Chapter 3. Honor and Shame in the Heroic Worldview Chapter 6 Chapter 4. Justice and Punishment in Classical Athens Part 7 Part Two. Plato's Revolutionary Penology Chapter 8 Chapter 5. From Avenging to Healing Chapter 9 Chapter 6. Shame as Witness to Education Chapter 10 Chapter 7. Plato's Revolutionary Penology Part 11 Part Three. From Punitive Science to Public Spectacle Chapter 12 Chapter 8. The Science of Penal Measure Chapter 13 Chapter 9. Toward a Christian Philosophy of Punishment Chapter 14 Chapter 10. From Karitas to Penal Spectacle Part 15 Part Four. A Modern Penology of Shame Chapter 16 Chapter 11. The Business of Punishment Chapter 17 Chapter 12. Modernity's Shameful Penology Chapter 18 Chapter 13. Shame, Social Injustice, and the Poor's Right to Crime Chapter 19 Afterword
