Introduction

This chapter will explore contemporary narratives of the expansion of the use of imprisonment, with a focus on the experiences of the US and England and Wales. Lloyd and Whitehead (2018) argue that the development and growth of mass incarceration are endogenous features of neoliberalism. The term ‘mass incarceration’ is used here to donate the expansion of the use of imprisonment that has occurred across a number of jurisdictions since the early 1980s (Simon, 2007). The US is the country where the rise in the use of imprisonment has been most dramatic. Lloyd and Whitehead (2018) conclude that there is a distinctive form of neoliberal penality that has developed over the past 40 years. This chapter argues that this approach offers a partial explanation. To begin with, we need to examine the term ‘neoliberalism’, which has become such a dominant one in the analysis of modern social policy. The extensive use of the term generates its own difficulties (Garrett, 2019). For some, the term is used so broadly to describe such a range of social, economic and political policies that it has lost its original, theoretical, conceptual and analytical value.

Venugopal (2015) is particularly critical of the way that term ‘neoliberalism’ has been so widely and loosely used. He notes that ‘There were just 103 Google Scholar entries in English with the term “neoliberal” or “neoliberalism” in the title between 1980 and 1989. This had multiplied to 1,324 for 1990–9, and 7,138 for 2000–9’ (Venugopal, 2015: 165–6). The electoral successes of politicians influenced by Hayek (2014), Friedman (2009) and the Chicago School led to neoliberalism becoming a term that was both ‘omnipresent’ and ‘promiscuous’ (Clarke, 2008: 135). Garrett (2019) notes that critics suggest that neoliberalism has become a meta-narrative. ‘Neoliberal’ has become such an elastic term that it is applied across a range of political and economic settings. Dunn (2017) notes that the term has most traction in academia and among ‘left elites’. Other writers have continued to find the term useful as an analytical tool. Bourdieu (2001) saw neoliberalism as a ‘conservative revolution’ that sought to overthrow the post-war social-democratic consensus. This aim has largely been achieved.