Cited by 43Criminal Justice and Corrections AnalysisCriminal Justice and PenologyFoucault, Power, and Ethics

Conceptualizing the Carceral Turn: Neoliberalism, Racism, and Violation

De Lissovoy, Noah·2013·Critical Sociology

Abstract

This article considers the turn to punishment in neoliberalism, and the hardening it marks in the criminal justice system, education, and public life. Examining tensions between neoliberalism’s doctrine of equality before the market and its actual reproduction of racial disparities, I specify a concept of violation, as a principle of both material and symbolic domination, that can respond to these tensions. Considering influential analyses of the turn toward punishment, I argue that the historic legacy of racism is a crucial determinant of the excesses of current regimes of penality, and that racialized repression figures in a contemporary recomposition of political economy. Furthermore, in the neoliberal moment the disciplinary repertoire of racism is extrapolated to new populations and terrains. I recontextualize the current carceral turn within a broader logic of violation that links moments of social production and decomposition, and fuses processes of material exploitation with racialized injury and subjection.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0896920512452162

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Research works printed but not linked: 16

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Authors
De Lissovoy, N.
Affiliations
University of Texas at Austin, USA
Venue
Critical Sociology
Published
2012-07-23
Volume
39
Issue
5
Pages
739-755
ISSN
  • 0896-9205 (ISSN-L)
  • 1569-1632
OpenAlex
W2317087508
Cited by
43
References
66
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 1
FWCI
8.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Critical Sociology (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Foucault, Power, and Ethics
Keywords
neoliberalism, racism, violation, punishment, criminal justice system, racial disparities, political economy, domination

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