Criminological Displacements: A Sociological Deconstruction

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Abstract
This text re-presents a deconstructive sociological reading of Michel Foucault's several investigations of the genealogy of the human sciences. We take the sociological history of criminology as an exemplar of the relation between the form and content of Western social science theorizing and the historically material pleasures associated with the production of a certain knowledge of “Other”ness within the intellectual marketplace of modern Western society. In analyzing the epistemological pleasures of human scientific knowledge in terms of sadism, surveillance, and the realization of a normal subject in discourse, we make connections between the structures of social scientific knowledge and the hierarchical organization of capitalist, racist, heterosexist, and imperialist power. We conclude with an outline of the methodological and political implications of a critical, post-structuralist intervention into social science theorizing.

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