Recent legislative and policy developments
in contemporary Britain have ushered in a new approach to criminal justice. The focus on criminal dispositions and welfarism has given way to a strategy which now involves the management of social exclusion, dysfunctional and anti-social families and situational crime prevention, leading to what has been widely characterized as the 'criminalisation of social policy' - and evidenced most recently by the anti-social behaviour and respect agendas.
This book is concerned to explore, analyse and explain these developments. It seeks at the same time to situate the study of anti-social behaviour and response to it in the wider context of changes in the industrial and social structure, social polarization and inequality and the changing role of the welfare state in present-day society.
Drawing upon the theoretical work of Durkheim, Elias, Bourdieu and Bauman, Criminalising Social Policy explores in particular the connections between the decline in support for welfarism in high crime cultures, the emergence of de-civilising tendencies through social exclusionary policies and the problem of delinquency and anti-social behaviour. Popular support for 'tough' rather than 'welfarist' policies to deal with criminality is not just a matter of a growing fear of crime throughout the population, but is bound up rather with the emotional consequences of social polarization, declining functional interdependence and the effects of market oriented social policies.
This book will be essential reading for students taking courses in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, social policy and related subjects.
