Durkheim's Theory of Punishment: A Critique
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Description
The work of Emile Durkheim has traditionally been the central reference point for the .sociology of punishment. Whenever theoretical questions are posed as to the form; historical trajectory or social significance of punishment, the concepts and analyses of Durkheim present themselves as the most adequate or developed responses available. This essay interrogates these concepts, and questions both their coherence and their ability to open up the social analysis of penal practice. After a brief exposition of Durkheim's position(s) on the subject, the paper argues, first, that these positions, and the arguments which support them, are often incoherent, essentialist or presumptive, and secondly, that these Durkheimian concepts arbitrarily close off certain crucial questions concerning punishment. These ‘closures’ are shown to be at once illogical or arbitrary, and yet are required by Durkheim's arguments. They are also shown to be of considerable political significance in that they limit the kinds of questions (and struggles) which can otherwise be advanced in regard to penal practices. The paper is therefore engaged in the business of critical analysis, of exposition and critique. But before entering upon that venture, perhaps a word or two is necessary on the question of criticism and its credentials. The predominant modes of criticism currently undertaken in reference to Durkheim may be characterised in the following way: (1) the ‘empirical’ critique; (2) the ‘theoretical’ critique; (3) the political/ideological critique. Although any one article or analysis may include a combination of these types, it is generally the case that these modes or ‘levels’ of critique are seen as separable, and to some extent distinct. These modes of criticism, as I will describe them, share a fundamental misconception of the nature and status of theory. The first type wrongly construes the relation of theory to the category of the empirical; the second type confuses the relation of one theory to others; and the third misrepresents the relationship of the author to his or her theoretical discourse.
Source Publication
The Power to Punish: Contemporary Penality and Social Analysis
Source Editors/Authors
David Garland, Peter Young
Publication Date
1983
Recommended Citation
Garland, David W., "Durkheim's Theory of Punishment: A Critique" (1983). Faculty Chapters. 667.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/667
