Foucault, Crime and Power : Problematisations of Crime in the Twentieth Century

Foucault, Crime and Power argues that a Foucauldian approach to crime holds greater analytical potential for criminological research than have so far been recognized. The book considers both how crime has been conceived as problem and the responses that has been suggested to deal with it, using developments in Denmark as a paradigmatic case for understanding how crime has been problematized in the West. Christian Borch demonstrates how the tendency of criminologists to focus on either disciplinary power or governmentality has thus far neglected the broader complex of Foucault’s concerns and their historical context.

This book presents a Foucauldian problematisation analysis of crime, with a particular focus on the twentieth century. It considers how crime has been conceived as problem and, by scrutinising the responses that have been adapted to deal with crime, demonstrates how a range of power modalities have evolved throughout the twentieth century.

Christian Borch shows how the tendency of criminologists to focus on either disciplinary power or governmentality has neglected the broader complex of Foucault’s concerns: ignoring its historical underpinnings, whilst for the most part limiting studies to only very recent developments, without giving sufficient attention to their historical backdrop. The book uses developments in Denmark – developments that can be readily identified in most other western countries – as a paradigmatic case for understanding how crime has been problematised in the West. Thus, Foucault, Crime and Power: Problematisations of Crime in the Twentieth Century demonstrates that a Foucauldian approach to crime holds greater analytical potentials for criminological research than have so far been recognized.