Modernizing Leviathan: Carceral Reform and the Struggle for Legitimacy in Brazil’s Espírito Santo State

IF 7.1 1区社会学 Q1 SOCIOLOGY

American Sociological Review Pub Date : 2022-09-24 DOI:10.1177/00031224221121294

Maria-Fátima Santos

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Abstract

Incarceration has become naturalized as a primary mode of punishment within the penal systems of modern states across the globe. This study examines how states develop the capacity to execute incarceration as a routine state function. I argue that rationalization and bureaucratization are key for transforming carceral enclosures into a naturalized feature of states’ routine exercise of coercion. I develop this argument through analysis of a dynamic case of carceral modernization in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo (2003 to 2014). I analyze the significance of coordinated violence and performative strategies for rulers to extend administrative capacity to incarceration and transform confinement into a legitimate and legitimizing instrument of state power. Findings demonstrate how coercive practices and other modes of violence that state authorities come to narrate as illegitimate are not antithetical to modernization. Rather, they become constitutive of the very process of consolidating and legitimizing rational-legal modes of administration that routinely exercise violence while more effectively being misrecognized as such. By extending inquiry to how states develop the administrative capacity to exercise penal power, this analysis makes several contributions to the political sociology of punishment and theories of state-building.

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利维坦的现代化：巴西圣埃斯皮里托州的殡葬改革与合法性斗争

在全球现代国家的刑罚体系中，监禁已成为一种主要的惩罚方式。这项研究考察了各州如何发展将监禁作为一项常规国家职能的能力。我认为，合理化和官僚化是将尸体围栏转变为国家例行胁迫的自然特征的关键。我通过分析巴西圣埃斯皮里托州（2003年至2014年）尸体现代化的一个动态案例来发展这一论点。我分析了协调暴力和执行策略对统治者将行政能力扩展到监禁并将监禁转变为合法和合法的国家权力工具的意义。调查结果表明，国家当局称之为非法的胁迫行为和其他暴力模式与现代化并不对立。相反，它们成为巩固和合法化理性法律行政模式的过程的组成部分，这些模式经常使用暴力，而更有效地被错误地认为是暴力。通过对国家如何发展行使刑事权力的行政能力的探究，本分析对惩罚的政治社会学和国家建设理论做出了一些贡献。

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来源期刊

American Sociological Review SOCIOLOGY-

CiteScore

13.30

自引率

3.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit membership association established in 1905. Its mission is to advance sociology as a scientific discipline and profession that serves the public good. ASA is comprised of approximately 12,000 members including faculty members, researchers, practitioners, and students in the field of sociology. Roughly 20% of the members work in government, business, or non-profit organizations. One of ASA's primary endeavors is the publication and dissemination of important sociological research. To this end, they founded the American Sociological Review (ASR) in 1936. ASR is the flagship journal of the association and publishes original works that are of general interest and contribute to the advancement of sociology. The journal seeks to publish new theoretical developments, research results that enhance our understanding of fundamental social processes, and significant methodological innovations. ASR welcomes submissions from all areas of sociology, placing an emphasis on exceptional quality. Aside from ASR, ASA also publishes 14 professional journals and magazines. Additionally, they organize an annual meeting that attracts over 6,000 participants. ASA's membership consists of scholars, professionals, and students dedicated to the study and application of sociology in various domains of society.