Description
Market-state-prison in Spanish neoliberal democracy
Book summary
This work offers a rigorous analysis of the intersection between economy, politics, and the penal system in contemporary Spain. The author examines how the neoliberal model has shaped democratic institutions, generating a functional relationship between capital accumulation, governmental management, and the expansive use of the prison system. The reader will find a well-founded critique that unveils the mechanisms by which the market imposes its logic of exploitation and exclusion, while the State deploys punitive tools to manage the consequences of social conflict without addressing its structural causes.
What is it about?
The book explores the correspondence between the neoliberal economic boom in Spain and the penal bubble that characterized the periods of greatest growth. Jiménez Franco analyzes how the market imposes the accumulation of private profit as the supreme law, while the State provides the instruments to reproduce and manage exploitation, inequality, and social exclusion. The research addresses key questions: was the expansion of the penal system a necessary condition for neoliberal progress? How are government from the economy, the hollowing out of the rule of law, and the overproduction of social harm articulated? Through an interdisciplinary approach, the work unravels the links between capital, power, and punishment in Spanish democracy.
Main themes
- Relationship between economic neoliberalism and the expansion of the penal system in Spain
- Governmental management of inequality and social exclusion through punitive mechanisms
- Transformation of the rule of law under the logic of capitalist accumulation
- Labor exploitation and social, physical, political, and legal expulsion as conditions of the neoliberal model
- Correspondence between economic boom cycles and the prison bubble
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at students and researchers of political science, sociology, criminology, and political economy, as well as professionals in the legal and penitentiary fields. It is also of interest to readers committed to the critical analysis of contemporary democracies and the transformations of the State in the neoliberal context.
What this book contributes
- An analytical framework for understanding the role of the penal system in managing social conflict within the neoliberal model
- Evidence on the relationship between economic growth and prison expansion in democratic Spain
- Conceptual tools to question official narratives about progress, security, and social order
- A critical perspective that links political economy, State theory, and criminology
Technical specifications
- Author: Jiménez Franco, Daniel
- Publisher: Anthropos Editorial
- Language: Spanish
- Topic: LITERARY ESSAYS, SOCIOLOGY, PRISONS, POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND THEORY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, CRIMINOLOGY
- Collection: SOCIAL SCIENCES
- Binding: Paperback
- Date of publication: April 2016
- Number of pages: 384
- Weight: 657 g
Editorial review
This is a reference work for those seeking to understand the power dynamics underlying Spanish neoliberal democracy. Its interdisciplinary approach and its ability to connect economic, political, and penal phenomena make it an essential read for academics and professionals interested in the critical analysis of the contemporary State and social control policies.