Overview

Exploring the expansion of the penal system in Spain during the first 40 years of democracy, this book puts forward the importance of studying punishment from a sociological perspective and examines the neoliberal penality thesis. Today, Spain has more police officers and more people in prison than 50 years ago and a tougher penal code than that which existed at Franco’s death; however, crime has not increased for three decades, while most of the hardening of the penal system has occurred after its stabilisation. Studying the development of penality in Spanish democracy, this book explores Loïc Wacquant’s proposal that the expansion of the penal system should be understood as a characteristic of neoliberalism. It examines the parallel and reciprocal development of three policies in relation to the gradual implementation of neoliberal ideas and highlights how the evolution of the labour market, social policies, and the penal system are linked to one another and to neoliberal ideas related to the sacralisation of the utilitarian individual and the role of the state. Advocating for a sociological study of state punishment and contributing to a better understanding of the implementation of neoliberal policies, Neoliberalism and Punishment will be of great interest to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, and politics.

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9781032522098

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Reviews

""It makes a significant contribution to the political economy of punishment by closely scrutinising the impact of the neoliberal ethos and rationales on three key public policy fields, that is, labour policies, social policies, and penal policies. […] [Neoliberalism and Punishment] goes a long way in revitalising and updating academic debates on the neoliberal penality thesis."" - José Brandariz, Universidade da Coruña ""González-Sánchez extends, enriches and challenges the “neoliberal penality thesis” I proposed a decade ago in Punishing the Poor"" -Loïc Wacquant, University of California, Berkeley

Author Information

Ignacio González-Sánchez is a Serra Húnter lecturer at Universitat the Girona, Spain. He has published articles and books on crime policy, prisons, judges, and the criminalisation of demonstrations.

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