Discipline and Punish: Some Notes on the Margin

Abstract

Abstract: This paper re‐analyses a debate between Cohen and Bottoms over the alleged growth of the ‘disciplinary society’. It then takes as a test case empirical evidence concerning a new technique of social control used by social workers, namely the use of ‘contracts' in welfare interventions, especially with parents suspected of maltreating their children. It argues that this form of social control illustrates the limitations of the analytical framework used by both Cohen and Bottoms and suggests that a characteristic of modern control techniques may be the way they fuse together disciplinary and juridical elements. © 1989 Howard League and BPL