The Upper Limit - by François Bonnet (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Since 1993, crime has fallen in the United States to historic lows, providing extraordinary legitimacy to the country's peculiar mix of welfare and punishment, with ever stingier social programs for the poor and the highest rates of incarceration in the world. <i>The Upper Limit<i> sets out to explain why.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>Since 1993, crime in the United States has fallen to historic lows, seeming to legitimize the country's mix of welfare reform and mass incarceration. <i>The Upper Limit </i>explains how this unusual mix came about, examining how, beginning in the 1970s, declining living standards for the poor have defined social and penal policy in the United States, making welfare more restrictive and punishment harsher. François Bonnet shows how low-wage work sets the upper limit of social and penal policy, where welfare must be less attractive than low-wage work and criminal life must be less attractive than welfare. In essence, the living standards of the lowest class of workers in a society determine the upper limit for the generosity of welfare and for the humanity of punishment in that society. <i>The Upper Limit</i> explores the local consequences of this punitive adjustment in East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood where crime fell in the 1990s. Bonnet argues that no meaningful penal reform can happen unless living standards and the minimum wage rise again. Enlightening and provocative, <i>The Upper Limit</i> provides a comprehensive theory of the evolution of social and penal policy. <br><p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br>"A book of incredible scope, complexity, and erudition, <i>The Upper Limit</i> shows how paying the lowest possible wages to workers at the bottom of the labor market makes us all less secure." --Mary Pattillo, author of <i>Black on the Block </i> <p/> "An original and valuable addition to the field of contemporary punishment and society studies." --Alessandro De Giorgi, author of<i> Re-thinking the Political Economy of Punishment</i> <p/> "The concept of less eligibility is essential for understanding social control policies in the modern world. This book offers readers an excellent account of how this concept explains the trajectories of punishment and welfare policy in America. It should be read by everyone with an interest in these important subjects." --Ahmed White, author of <i>The Last Great Strike</i><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"<i>The Upper Limit</i> will be of wide interest to sociologists and criminologists concerned with social order, inequality, and punishment. It makes important theoretical contributions to research on? ?social policy and penal transformation?. . . . ?In a contemporary moment defined by the human and economic devastation of the global covid-19 pandemic and ongoing violence, racism, and political turmoil in the US, this book lays out what it would take to move the American social order towards greater equality and humanity.?"-- "Labour/Le Travail"<br><br>"<i>The Upper Limit</i> enriches a broad range of literatures, including poverty and inequality, social welfare, punishment studies, reentry, federal housing assistance, and political sociology. . . . Bonnet's work illuminates the social stakes and imperatives of that fight--the chance to create a more generous and less punitive society."-- "Contemporary Sociology"<br><br>"The book's analyses of punitive practices through multiple public and private organizations is worthy of the read in itself."-- "Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books"<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>François Bonnet</b> is Research Fellow in Sociology and Political Science at CNRS, the French National Center for Scientific Research. <p/>
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