Punishment, political economy and crisis: Disciplining labour through state-corporate surveillance in the ‘neoliberal heartlands’

• Published in: European journal of criminology Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 332 - 348
• Main Author: Xenakis, Sappho
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-05-2022; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Capital; Crises; Labor force; Migrants; Neoliberalism; Political economy; Punishment; Surveillance; Undocumented immigrants; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); punishment; state-corporate surveillance; Political economy; imprisonment; Windrush Scandal
• ISSN: 1477-3708; 1741-2609
• DOI: 10.1177/14773708221089233

The aim of this article is to advance the politico-economic analysis of punishment in contexts of crisis. To this end, the article examines punitive state interventions in the ‘neoliberal heartlands’ of the UK and the US, as set against a backdrop of multidimensional crises that have reconfigured political landscapes, the relationship between labour and capital, and the mode and scope of state punishment. Through a focus on the treatment of socio-economically embedded undocumented migrants, the article highlights the increasingly diffuse punitive repercussions stemming from the growing multi-sectoral, corporate-facilitated surveillance of the labour force.