Synopses & Reviews
The state is often regarded as an abstract and neutral bureaucratic entity. Against this common sense idea, At the Heart of the State argues that it is also a concrete and situated reality, embodied in the work of its agents and inscribed in the issues of its time.
The result of a five-year investigation conducted by ten scholars, this book describes and analyses the police, the court system, the prison apparatus, the social services, and mental health facilities in France. Combining genealogy and ethnography, its authors show that these state institutions do not simply implement laws, rules and procedures: they mobilise values and affects, judgements and emotions. In other words, they reflect the morality of the state.
Of immense interest to both social scientists and political theorists, this work will make an important contribution to the ever expanding literature on the contemporary state.
Review
“Didier Fassin is one of the most imaginative social scientists of our time. As a sociologist and an anthropologist, he has profoundly renewed our understanding of the state, analyzed through the practices of its agents.
At the Heart of the State should be considered not only as required reading for all scholars in the field, but also for all active citizens.”
Review
“This is an important collection of finely wrought case studies of various institutions through which the state interacts with its most precarious populations. Uniquely, it focuses not simply on the bureaucratic logic of governance, but also on the role of effects, values, and moral judgment in shaping these interactions. This makes the book a major contribution at the too rarely visited crossroads of political and moral anthropology.”
Review
“This extraordinary collection delivers novel ethnographic questions and insights with regard to the literal and figurative dilemmas of alienation and incorporation within the contemporary state. The book will be informative to scholars, advocates, and anyone interested in the future of states.”
Synopsis
Can the state ever be a neutral entity? At the Heart of the State argues against apparently common sense ideas of state institutions as the mere apparatus of politics and explores the 'morality' which operates behind them.
The result of a five-year investigation, conducted by ten scholars, this book describes and analyses the police, the court system, the prison apparatus, the social services, and mental health facilities of Britain in an attempt to answer this question. Combining genealogy and ethnography its authors argue that state institutions are not simply concerned with the implementation of laws, rules and procedures but also with the mobilisation of values affects and judgments. At the Heart of the State explores how discourses, practices and relations constitute the concrete and situated reality of state institutions.
Of immense interest to both ethnographers and political theorists, this work will make an important contribution to the ever expanding literature on the nature and purpose of the state.
Synopsis
At the Heart of the State argues against the idea of government institutions as the tools of politics and politicians and explores the inherent moralityor immoralityof such institutions supposedly designed for the public good. The result of a five-year investigation, conducted by ten scholars, At the Heart of the State describes and analyses the police, court systems, prisons, social services, and mental health facilities of Britain, analyzing the supposed neutrality of these government institutions. Combining genealogy and ethnography, the authors argue that government institutions are not simply concerned with the implementation of laws, rules, and procedures but also with the imposition of values, affects, and judgments.
About the Author
Didier Fassin is the James D. Wolfensohn Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface, by Didier Fassin
Introduction: Governing Precariousness, by Didier Fassin
First Part: JUDGING
1 The Right to Punish: Assessing Sentences in Immediate Appearance Trials, by Chowra Makaremi
2 Justice for Immigrants: The Work of Magistrates in Deportation Proceedings, by Nicolas Fischer
3 In Search of Truth: How Asylum Applications Are Adjudicated, by Carolina Kobelinsky
Second Part: REPRESSING
4 Maintaining Order: The Moral Justifications for Police Practices, by Didier Fassin
5 Sanctioning behind Bars: The Humanization of Retribution in Prison, by Fabrice Fernandez
6 Assisting or Controlling? When Social Workers Become Probation Officers, by Yasmine Bouagga
Third Part: SUPPORTING
7 Discipline and Educate: Contradictions within the Juvenile Justice System, by Sébastien Roux
8 The Listening to Suffering: Dealing with Mental Fragility in a Home for Adolescents, by Isabelle Coutant and Jean-Sébastien Eideliman
9 The Profiling of Job Seekers: Counseling Youths at an Employment Center, by Sarah Mazouz
Conclusion: Raisons d’État, by Didier Fassin
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index