Unemployment, Imprisonment, and Social Structures of Accumulation: Historical Contingency in the Rusche‐kirchheimer Hypothesis*

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between punishment and social structure by combining the work of Rusche and Kirchheimer with current theorizing regarding social structures of accumulation (SSAs). Specifically, we theorize that the unemployment-imprisonment (U-I) relationship is historically contingent. I n particular, we argue that qualitative changes in the configuration of labor markets, state strategies f o r managing surplus populations, and international relations across SSAs and stages within them result in changes in the magnitude and direction of the U-I relationship. I n other words, changes in the qualitative relations among capital, labor, and the state are reflected in quantitative changes in the relationship between rates of unemployment and imprisonment. W e hypothesize that three stages of the Fordist S S A (exploration, 1933-1 947; consolidation, 1948-1 966; decay, 1967-1 979) will manifest varying levels of a positive and significant U-I relationship, while the first stage of the new globalized, cyber-technology SSA (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992) will be characterized by a negative U-I relationship due to the co-emergence of a (semilpermanent underclass and an intensification of punitiveness. We test this model using a structurally periodized analysis to determine if the relationship between rates of unemployment and new court admissions to prison (net of rates of violent crime) differs across the four periods studied. Our analysis of the U-I relationship within each SSA phase, and time-varying parameter tests of the periodization of twentieth-century capitalist development, indicate that the U-I relationship is indeed historically contingent and warrants further structurally periodized analysis. *We would like to thank the Faculty Research and Creative Activities Support Fund program of Western Michigan University and the Organized Research Programof Northern Arizona University for providing support for our research. We would also like to thank several anonymous reviewers for their valuable assistance in refining our discussion of SSA theory. CRIMINOLOGY VOLUME 37 NUMBER 2 1999 217 MICHALOWSKI AND CARLSONThe history of the penal system. . . is a history of the relations of the "two nations," as Disraeli called them, that constitute a people-the rich and the poor.

Did Falling Wages and Employment Increase U.S. Imprisonment?

“…Judges can view poor defendants as more culpable with less potential for rehabilitation (Kluegel 1990;Steffensmeier, Ulmer, and Kramer 1998, 770;Greenberg 1977;Albonetti 1991 rates were associated with high levels of incarceration (Michalowski and Carlson 1999). Indeed, recent studies by David Jacobs and his colleagues find no evidence for the effects of unemployment on incarceration in a time series or a panel study of 50 state in 1970, 1980(Jacobs and Helms 1996Jacobs and Carmichael 2001).…”

Minority threat and punishment: A cross-national analysis

“…In their meta-analyses of unemployment and imprisonment, for example, Chiricos and DeLone (1992) found that positive associations were more likely when imprisonment rates, rather than prison admission rates, were used as a dependent variable. Second, Michalowski and Carlson (1999) found that the relationships between economic conditions and punishment were dependent upon stages of economic development, at least within the United States. Third, factors that influence the use of imprisonment at the city or county level of analysis might not have a statistically significant association at larger levels of aggregation (Arvanites & Asher, 1998).…”

“…Even though a meta-analysis of national imprisonment studies Downloaded by [Simon Fraser University] at 14:46 05 June 2016 found a significant positive association between unemployment and imprisonment (see Chiricos & DeLone, 1992), this relationship has not been supported in a series of recent national (Beckett & Western, 2001;Greenberg & West, 2001;Jacobs & Helms, 1996;Ruddell, 2004), and cross-national studies (Neapolitan, 2001;Ruddelt, 2005;Sutton, 2004). It is plausible that the failure to find a positive association depends on the economic era examined (see Michalowski & Carlson, 1999) and that other indicators of economic stress are more likely to influence the use of imprisonment. Because recent studies failed to find a positive association between imprisonment and unemployment, and because unemployment statistics were available for less than 100 nations, we did not include this variable.…”

Employment and Exile: U.S. Criminal Deportations, 1908–2005

“…In their historical analysis of incarceration and unemployment, Michalowski and Carlson (1999) argue that labor market conditions affect punishment differently based on the social, political, and economic arrangements of the time. For instance, they demonstrate that unemployment and prison admission rates were positively correlated between 1948 and 1966 yet negatively correlated during the 1980s.…”