Prison and the Factory (40th Anniversary Edition)

This new edition of The Prison and the Factory - a classic text which is the leading expression of the development of radical criminology towards analytical historical studies - includes two new, long essays from the authors and a foreword from Professor Jonathan Simon (Director, Center for the Study of Law and Society, University of Berkeley). In the two essays, the authors reflect on the changes and discussions surrounding mass incarceration that have taken place since this book was first published over 30 years ago. The reputation of The Prison and the Factory has long been established throughout the world, and this updated version of a classic text will be of very special interest to scholars of the criminal justice system, penology, and Marxist theory. This seminal book examines the links between the development of capitalist economics and changing forms of social control. Dario Melossi and Massimo Pavarini analyse the connection between the creation of penal institutions and regimes in Europe and the USA, and the problems of control generated by the emergence of capitalist social relations. They provide a thorough Marxist history of emergent capitalism and the penal mechanisms which are constructed to deal with the problem of labour. Parallel to the work of Michel Foucault and Michael Ignatieff but taking a broader comparative and politically nuanced view, Melossi and Pavarini combine research on the development of penal philosophies and institutions with a rigorous account of changing forms of capital accumulation, focusing on the use, and the problem, of labour under capitalist relations. They deal primarily with the early period of emergent capitalism, and offer comparative material on both European societies and North America.