Incarcerating the Crisis: Freedom Struggles and the Rise of the Neoliberal State (American Crossroads)

by Jordan T. Camp

The United States currently has the largest prison population on the planet. Over the last four decades, structural unemployment, concentrated urban poverty, and mass homelessness have also become permanent features of the political economy. These developments are without historical precedent, but not without historical explanation. In this searing critique, Jordan T. Camp traces the rise of the neoliberal carceral state through a series of turning points in U.S. history including the Watts insurrection in 1965, the Detroit rebellion in 1967, the Attica uprising in 1971, the Los Angeles revolt in 1992, and events in post-Katrina New Orleans in 2005. Incarcerating the Crisis argues that these dramatic events coincided with the emergence of neoliberal capitalism and the state’s attempts to crush radical social movements. Through an examination of the poetic visions of social movements—including those by James Baldwin, Marvin Gaye, June Jordan, José Ramírez, and Sunni Patterson—it also suggests that alternative outcomes have been and continue to be possible. 

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

282 pages, Paperback

Published April 18, 2016

Reviews

[Chance Grable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Camp ambitiously articulates an argument that takes race as serious as class, history as serious as theory and social movements as serious as political economy. Consequently, this book provides a much needed synthesizes the fundamental texts and contemporary literature on the rise of the carceral state. However, this book is not merely a summery of the literature it makes important interventions, challenging and expanding on some of the most influential arguments about the carceral state building.
One of the books main interventions is the assertion that the origins of the carceral state lie in a bipartisan cold war counterinsurgent project initiated in the 1930's and intended to divide the Black freedom struggle, labor and socialist movements. To camp, Nixon and Regan's tough on crime and stances and carceral state building are a manifestation of this broader counterinsurgent project, rather than the initial thrust of the carceral state. According to Camp, this counterinsurgent project gains popular legitimation through what a process Camp describes as "revanchism"- racailizing political agitation, which allows for popular consent to carceral responses to inequitable social conditions and the political agitations that arise out of them. While camp adequately demonstrates the prevalence of revanchism, I failed to see how revanchism is different than the backlash theory explaining popular consent to carceral state building. Lastly, Camp makes an important intervention by demonstrating active resistance to the construction of the neoliberal carceral state through making social movement struggle central to the analysis rather than an afterthought as is the case for most books on the carceral state
Overall, and important book for anyone trying to understand or dismantle mass incarceration.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that offers a historical materialist conception of analyzing the surveillance and policing's ties to neoliberal practices. The book's strength is its analysis of the rise of a punitive society and neoliberal capital It also makes some efforts to map the cultural resistances against a neoliberal mindset, but generally the analysis is rather generalized and somewhat superficial. None the less, a good effort that explicitly champions a socialist understanding of the present crisis.

[Tyler Jimenez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of mixed thoughts about this one. While purporting to be a historical materialist account of mass incarceration under neoliberal capitalism, much of the book focuses on the articulation of resistance through poetry. This cultural analysis was pretty shallow and rang hollow when paired with the scale of authoritarian policies. There were some interesting historical events covered, though most could be gleaned from other books on neoliberalism and incarceration.

Overall, this could be an interesting introductory read, though for a more compelling theoretical account Wacquant is a better choice.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Camp clearly articulates the many ways that neoliberalism shaped incarceration. I like the idea of poetics as an intervention. Ultimately, I thought this was somewhat redundant of many other scholars Camp cites and I don’t know that the multi sited stories added.

[Margot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly just feels like a factual version of Angela Davies' Prisons are Obsolete
Also, please stop saying "I will argue that" every two paragraphs, it's a book, not a fucking high school essay

kinda interesting though

[Berslon Pank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good materialist analysis of the rise of the surveillance and prison complex. The cultural analysis was less compelling and generally superficial.

[zoe]

dense and redundant

[Meghan Ong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super important topic but unfortunately it was very dense and hard to read at times

[Sydney Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, but I really will never understand why Marxist writers use such insanely opaque rhetoric and jargon when their audience is meant to be working class readers like what