Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 09:55:59 +0000
From: James Heartfield <James-AT-heartfield.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Crime and Punishment (was Re: M-I: Re: So, the nanny's "guilty"?)


In message <v03102800b0858a3f42c1-AT-DialupEudora>, Yoshie Furuhashi
<Furuhashi.1-AT-osu.edu> writes
>Obsessions with crime and punishment seem to be a key link in the
>ideological chain. As Louis G. notes, the law and order mentality and "get
>tough on crime" attitudes have become hard-wired into many people's minds
>by the media and political rhetoric. Fear of crime and desire to punish
>criminals are way out of proportion to the actual incidence of crime in
>America. (Those who are the least likely to become victims of violent crime
>are also often the most vocal in calling for longer sentences and other
>measures to control the population.)
>
>Bombarding people with the stories of crime and detection of guilt also
>serves to reinforce individualism: it is individuals who are "guilty" (or,
>as the case may be, "innocent"), not the totality of social relations that
>produce the individuals and their acts. So even in the case where justice
>is done (regarding the determination of guilt and innocence of a given
>individual), capitalism may still benefit from mass preoccupation with
>crime. (One may enlist Freud and Foucault to explain the role that the
>ideas of guilt + innocence have played in the production of modern
>individuals who must learn to become "moral" in a way that is compatible
>with capitalist social relations.)
>
>Yoshie

I very much agree with Yoshie about the ideological importance of crime
scares. Evidently they lead to a greater identification with the police
and the courts and so present a real problem for radicals. The problem
that I have been thinking about is not so much why do the ruling class
promote crime panics, as why do the rest of us tend to go along with
them?

Provisionally, I suggest that the growing fear of crime is a
psychological reflection of the disaggregation of working class
solidarity.

Any thoughts?
-- 
James Heartfield


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