Transcending the carceral archipelago: existential, figurational and structurational perspectives on power and control

Green, Simon

Abstract

From Foucault (1977) through to Cohen (1985) and Feeley and Simon (1992) criminological thinking about punishment has been dominated by penal rationalities of power and control. This has led to an under-theorised notion of the individual in criminology (Green 2011). As society and penality become increasingly ‘re-emotionalised’ (Karstedt 2011) justice and punishment are invested with a new narrative and expressive dimensions. Drawing on Sartre’s (2010) existential philosophy about choice and authenticity and the social theory of Norbert Elias (2000) and Anthony Giddens (1986) the aim is to locate individual freedom and agency within these wider social conditions and through this begin to provide the basis for a broader conception for criminology of power that is both enabling and liberating as well as oppressive and controlling.

Citation

Green, S. (2015). Transcending the carceral archipelago: existential, figurational and structurational perspectives on power and control. Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 5(3), 919-944

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 23, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 16, 2015
• Publication Date: 2015
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: Oñati socio-legal series
• Print ISSN: 2079-5971
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 919-944
• Keywords: Power, Agency, Figurational sociology, Structuration theory
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/380125
• Publisher URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2622078
• Additional Information: This is an open access article published in Oñati socio-legal series, v.5 issue 3. Article resulting from the paper presented at the workshop Law, Jurisprudence, Governance and Existencial Indeterminacy held in the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Spain, 23-24 May 2013, and coordinated by James Hardie-Bick (Keele University) and Patrick Baert (University of Cambridge).