180 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

180 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

180 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

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... Read more

Preface by Loïc Wacquant

Introduction to the English Edition

1.                  THINKING PUNISHMENT

2.                  NEOLIBERAL PENALITY

3.                  UTILITARIAN INDIVIDUALISM: RATIONAL SUBJECTS AND THE PROFANE STATE

4.                  THE FLEXIBLE LABOUR MARKET: PRECARITY AND DECOLLECTIVISATION

5.                  ACTIVE SOCIAL POLICY: RE-COMMODIFICATION AND MORALISATION

6.                  AN EXPANSIVE PENAL SYSTEM: REDUCING ANXIETY AND INCREASING OPPORTUNITY COST

CONCLUSION

EPILOGUE: ON THE CRISIS, NEOLIBERAL LOGICS, AND THE DECLINE IN PRISONERS

Biography

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.

"González-Sánchez extends, enriches and challenges the “neoliberal penality thesis” I proposed a decade ago in Punishing the Poor"
Loïc WacquantUniversity of California, Berkeley

"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."
Punishment & Society

"González-Sánchez’s work is far more than a case study. It is a theoretically sophisticated and empirically grounded intervention that enriches our understanding of neoliberalism and penal policy. It challenges the dominant theoretical frameworks of the Anglophone world and opens new avenues for comparative research."
European Journal of Probation

"González’s book does much more than just testing neoliberal penality theses. It is also remarkable in theoretical terms. In fact, N&P contains plenty of insightful methodological and epistemic comments scattered throughout its seven chapters."
Social and Legal Studies