An in class essay presentation using this information. Quotes, paraphrases and citations and in-text citations with academic references inserted below texts.
“Mass Incarceration as a Tool of Social Control,” particularly in the context of incarcerated women in the United States, Karl Marx’s theories on class struggle provide a powerful lens. Marx’s ideas about the economic base influencing the superstructure, which includes institutions like the criminal justice system, can frame the subject matter effectively.
Karl Marx’s Conflict Theory will be the primary theoretical framework for this presentation. This theory posits that society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. Marx emphasized the struggle between classes (the bourgeoisie or capitalist class owning the means of production, and the proletariat, the working class) as the prime driver of social change and development. When applied to mass incarceration, this theory can illuminate how the criminal justice system serves the interests of the ruling class by maintaining social order and control, particularly through the suppression and control of disadvantaged social groups.
The focus will be on examining the ways in which the criminal justice system, through mass incarceration, acts as a tool of social control to perpetuate class disparities and suppress dissent among marginalized populations, with a specific spotlight on incarcerated women. It will explore how policies and practices linked to incarceration disproportionately affect lower socio-economic groups, reinforcing a cycle of poverty and marginalization that benefits the ruling class by maintaining a fragile status quo.
Presentation Content:
1. **Introduction to Marx’s Conflict Theory: Basis of class struggle and its relevance to the criminal justice system specifically New York State female prisons
2. **Historical Context and Contemporary Realities: Overview of mass incarceration in the U.S., New York State female prisons with statistics highlighting the disparate impact on women, particularly from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
3. **Illustration of Class Struggle through Mass Incarceration: Analysis of how economic interests and the capitalist system influence punitive justice policies and practices in the New York State female prisons.
4. **Case Studies and Testimonies: Personal stories from incarcerated women to humanize the data and emphasize the social and human cost.
5. **Impact on Society: Discussion on how mass incarceration reinforces class disparities and serves as a mechanism for social control in New York State.
Academic References:
Marx, K., & Engels, F. **The Communist Manifesto.
Marx, K. cAPITAL
Davis, A. **Are Prisons Obsolete?
Garland, D. **Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory.
Friedrich Engels’ “The Condition of the Working Class in England”, for historical context on class struggles.
“The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander, for a contemporary analysis of mass incarceration.
“Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” by Michel Foucault, for a theoretical perspective on surveillance and control.
“Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity” by Loïc Wacquant, for a critique of penal policies within capitalist societies.
