*The political economy of punishment today:*
*Visions, debates and challenges*
*International two-day conference*
*18-19 September 2014*
*Law School, University of A Coruna*
*A Coruna, Spain*
*CALL FOR PAPERS*
Over the last decade, several key texts have sought to examine the recent
transformations of penality, most prominently among them mass imprisonment,
through Political Economy conceptual tools. Hence, this literature, which
is fairly heterogeneous both in perspectives and conclusions, contributed
to updating the theoretical framework of Political Economy of Punishment,
which was crucial to reframing critical thought on punishment in the 1970s
and 1980s. Moreover, those recent works have coincided with the unfolding
of a theoretical line aimed at explaining the rise of punitiveness of the
last decades from the standpoint of the rise of neoliberalism, understood
both as a political project and as an economic *doxa*. By contrast, another
prominent body of literature has tended to emphasise the cultural and/or
political components of the evolution of penality – and hence its
variability - to some extent side-lining the political economic analysis.
Taking account of this theoretical context, it appears to be particularly
timely to reflect on the current condition of the analytical field of the
Political Economy of Punishment from the plural perspectives that arose
from these *new *contributions on the subject.
First, the Conference aims to debate whether those recent texts are shaping
*new* theoretical tools for the political economic analysis of punishment.
Second, the Conference seeks to analyse whether and how the recent
Political Economy of Punishment literature may be related to the texts on
neoliberalism and punishment and to those which are focused on the cultural
and political elements of the contemporary penal trends. Last, but not
least, the Conference is aimed at examining to what extent the Political
Economy of Punishment literature may contribute to critically analyse the
evolution of penality since the onset of the so-called Great Recession.
Therefore, we will consider contributions on a wide range of issues that
encompass the broad theme of *The political economy of punishment today:
Visions, debates and challenges*, particularly on the themes of:
- Variants of capitalism and punishment: versions and relations
- Contemporary transformations of capitalism and penality: postfordism,
neoliberalism, etc.
- Great Recession and penal policies
- Economy, culture, politics and punishment: theoretical tools,
dialogues and conflicts
*Keynote speakers:*
*Leonidas Cheliotis* (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)
*Alessandro De Giorgi* (San Jose State University, USA)
*Dario Melossi* (University of Bologna, Italy)
*Máximo Sozzo* (National University of the Litoral, Argentina)
*Richard Sparks* (University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)
*Organization:*
ECRIM, University of A Coruna, Spain (
www.ecrim.es)
Academic chairs: *José Ángel Brandariz* (University of A Coruna,
Spain), *Máximo
Sozzo* (National University of the Litoral, Argentina) and *Dario
Melossi* (University
of Bologna, Italy)
Organizing committee chair: *Patricia Faraldo* (University of A Coruna,
Spain)
*Abstract guidelines:*
Proposals should be titled and should not exceed 250 words. Please include
the proposer’s name and contact details along with their university
affiliation.
Please submit abstracts via email to: dcastrolinares(a)gmail.com
dcastrolinares(a)gmail.com
The papers presented at the workshop may be eventually published in a book
containing the workshop proceedings.
*Closing date: *15 June 2014
Decisions about the acceptance of the papers will be made by the end of
June 2014.