Abstract
Imprisonment rates are presumed to have risen in the West, and it is argued by certain social scientists that this can be explained by a comprehensive process of economic neo-liberalization. In this paper, we develop an alternative explanation, focusing on the rise of a 'new political culture'. Longitudinal cross-national analyses are performed to test the tenability of these theories. First, it is demonstrated that some countries have been witnessing a trend of penalization, but that there is no overall trend. Second, economic explanations for variations in imprisonment rates prove to be untenable. Third, it is shown that a new-rightist demand for social order, which is not found to be inspired by economic neo-liberalization, provides a better explanation. This leads to the conclusion that high incarceration rates can be understood as being part of a right-authoritarian politico-cultural complex.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 720-734 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | British Journal of Criminology, delinquency and deviant social behavior |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- SILENT COUNTERREVOLUTION
- OPINION POLARIZATION
- EUROPE
- AUTHORITARIANISM
- EXPECTATIONS
- CENTERFOLDS
- REVOLUTION
- PREJUDICE
- SOCIETIES
- THINNESS