Shackled and Chained: Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America

by Eugene Puryear

Shackled and Chained, Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America is a thorough examination of mass incarceration, its causes and consequences. Eugene Puryear examines the evolution of mass incarceration as a product of U.S. monopoly capitalism as well as bipartisan political allegiance to the system’s needs. In addition to detailing its historical origins, Puryear provides a detailed examination of the oppressive reality that reigns inside America’s prison system. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the “how” and “why” of mass incarceration as well as for those seeking a factual account of what it is truly like “inside.”

From Shackled and Chained, Mass Incarceration in Capitalist America

“There can be no universal theory for ‘crime,’ because it is defined by the shifting boundaries of the law and law enforcement, and the objectives of a given ruling class. ... As an example, some of the most gratuitous forms of theft—daily exploitation at the job, usurious interest rates, bank bailouts—are considered completely legal, and the perpetrators are in fact rewarded. One can receive a stiff sentence for robbing a bank; but when a bank systematically robs society as a whole, no one goes to jail.”

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Sociology, Theory, American History, Education

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Dan]

A critical intervention in radical discussions around mass incarceration in the US. While this was written prior to the past decade of new uprisings against racism and police terror, that only underlines its prescient critique of liberal views of the issue. Points out important blind spots in otherwise good texts like The New Jim Crow, which became more ascendent during the 2020 uprisings. Certainly there is much to add in the past ten years, but Shackled and Chained remains a vital foundation for our work to build a movement against mass incarceration that will not fall back into liberal co-optation.

[Beth Belangee]

A must-read. HOWEVER, it is important to note that this book was written in 2013. It gave good history as well as an interactive read because I researched current statistics as I read.

It touches on the aspects that were missed in “The New Jim Crow” which was very interesting! This book took a heavy approach to the economic/capitalistic aspects of mass incarceration.

[Donovan Glasgow]

This book rightfully places the rise of mass incarceration in the US within the context of capitalist development and national oppression of Black and brown people.

Prisons act as a place to “put” the surplus population– the portion of workers who have no place within the labor market. In the US, with its history of slavery and Jim Crow, the surplus population is primarily made up of Black workers. For the few who managed to get the “good” manufacturing jobs which built that middle class in the 20th century, Black workers were always last hired and first fired. Widespread racist hiring practices and well as the state’s refusal to provide full employment locked most Black workers into low wage service sector jobs. Another side of the story that the book does not go into is the 90% decline of Black landownership in this same period, as Black farmers were pushed off their land in the South by racist USDA policies.

When the economy began to stagnate in the 70s, the neoliberal turn in economic policies wrecked massive devastation to Black workers in particular, and many expelled from the workforce entirely. Concurrently, the ruling class slashed social services and removed all barriers for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. This laid the groundwork for the War on Drugs and the resulting massive prison population we have today.

The book also debunks bourgeois theories of crime as well as outlines the history of revolutionary social movements and how prisons were used to crush dissent.

[Adrian]

this book should be recommended reading for everyone. it's extremely informative, covers a wide scope, and is extremely well written

[A]

I had originally read this book a few years ago. I read it again as a rebuffer. It SHOULD be “required reading” for all high-schoolers and college students. Eugene Puryear tackled a taboo and complicated subject to really elucidate us on the current status of our corporatized legal system. It is an ABSOLUTE must read.

[Joseph M. Carr]

I heard Puryear speak in an interview and knew I had to read this book. This was a very powerful read, and it is very useful to research I am doing for my master's dissertation. The violations against those trapped in the mass incarceration system should not go unknown.

[Dashaun]

Highly recommend, it’s the only commentary on mass incarceration I’ve read that takes a serious look at capitalism’s role and how it benefits from mass incarceration, as well as tackling the cultural racist depiction of black people as more criminal

[Jeffrey]

China good | America bad.

[Assata Bellegarde]

A good analysis of the problems and origins of Mass Incarceration in the US.