The political economy of punishment suggests that the evolution of punitive systems should be connected to the transformations of capitalist economies: in this respect, each 'mode of production' knows its peculiar 'modes of punishment'. However, global processes of transformation have revolutionized industrial capitalism since the early 1970s, thus configuring a post-Fordist system of production. In this book, the author investigates the emergence of a new flexible labour force in contemporary Western societies. Current penal politics can be seen as part of a broader project to control this labour force, with far-reaching effects on the role of the prison and punitive strategies in general.

Examining the political economy of punishment, this book debates the view that the evolution of punitive systems should be connected to the transformations of capitalist economies. The author investigates the emergence of a new flexible labour force in contemporary Western societies and the role of penal politics in controlling this labour force.