Thomas Mathiesen

En autoritativ indføring i retssociologiens vigtigste teorier og temaer. Bogen gennemgår den retssociologiske tradition fra klassikere som bl.a. Weber og Durkheim til samtidige teorier og sætter fokus på centrale områder af den juridiske verden, som betragtes i en sociologisk optik. Kapitlerne er skrevet af forskere og eksperter på tværs af de skandinaviske lande, og hvert kapitel er ledsaget af oversættelser af kernetekster i den retssociologiske tradition. Retssociologi udkommer nu i en grundigt revideret 2. udgave, hvor flere kapitler og kernetekter er nye. Ole Hammerslev er professor på Syddansk Universitet, og Mikael Rask Madsen er professor på Københavns Universitet.

Sosiolog Thomas Mathiesen (f. 1933) tok doktorgraden i 1965 på avhandlingen «The Defences of the Weak - A Sociological Study of a Norwegian Correctional Institution», hvor han rettet et kritisk blikk mot fengselsvesenet i Norge. Han ble professor ved Det juridiske fakultet i 1972, og har siden den gang jevnlig deltatt i den norske samfunnsdebatten. Han har skrevet mer enn 30 bøker siden 1965, som er oversatt til flere språk, og var med på å stifte og utvikle foreningen KROM (Norsk forening for kriminalreform) fra 1968. Solospill og fellesskap er en i hovedsak faglig selvbiografi. Vi følger Mathiesens barneår ute på Jar i Bærum under 2. Verdens.krig, videre til hans studietid i Wisconsin, USA, på 1950-tallet - da han uventet fikk øynene opp for faget sosiologi, fra å ha vært hovedsakelig opptatt av musikk og pianospill - og helt fram mot de senere års svært aktive pensjonisttilværelse. Boken er opprinnelig utgitt på engelsk under tittelen Cadenza hos European Group Press, 2017. Dessuten utgitt på serbisk i 2019. Denne norske utgaven inneholder en rekke nye tillegg og opplysninger.

Originally published in 1974 and the recipient of the Denis Carroll Book Prize at the World Congress of the International Criminology Society in 1978, Thomas Mathiesen’s The Politics of Abolition is a landmark text in critical criminology. In its examination of Scandinavian penal policy and call for the abolition of prisons, this book was enormously influential across Europe and beyond among criminologists, sociologists and legal scholars, as well as advocates of prisoners’ rights. Forty years on and in the context of mass incarceration in many parts of the world, this book remains relevant to a new generation of penal scholars. This new edition includes a new introduction from the author, as well as an afterword that collects contributions from leading criminologists and inmates from Germany, England, Norway and the United States to reflect on the development and current state of the academic literature on penal abolition. This book will be suitable for academics and students of criminology and sociology, as well as those studying political science. It will also be of great interest to those who read the original book and are looking for new insights into an issue that is still as important and topical today as it was forty years ago.

Originally published in 1974 and the recipient of the Denis Carroll Book Prize at the World Congress of the International Criminology Society in 1978, Thomas Mathiesen’s The Politics of Abolition is a landmark text in critical criminology. In its examination of Scandinavian penal policy and call for the abolition of prisons, this book was enormously influential across Europe and beyond among criminologists, sociologists and legal scholars, as well as advocates of prisoners’ rights. Forty years on and in the context of mass incarceration in many parts of the world, this book remains relevant to a new generation of penal scholars. This new edition includes a new introduction from the author, as well as an afterword that collects contributions from leading criminologists and inmates from Germany, England, Norway and the United States to reflect on the development and current state of the academic literature on penal abolition. This book will be suitable for academics and students of criminology and sociology, as well as those studying political science. It will also be of great interest to those who read the original book and are looking for new insights into an issue that is still as important and topical today as it was forty years ago.

A most timely publication in view of current concerns about snooping. Thomas Mathiesen describes how the major databases of Europe have become interlinked and accessible to diverse organizations and third States; meaning that, largely unchallenged, a 'Surveillance Monster' now threatens rights, freedoms, democracy and the Rule of Law. As information is logged on citizens' every move, data flows across borders via systems soon to be under central, global or even non-State control. Secret plans happen behind closed doors and 'systems func tionaries' become defensive of their own role. Goals expand and entire processes are shrouded in mystery. Alongside the integration of automated systems sits a weakening of State ties as the Prum Treaty and Schengen Convention lead to systems lacking transparency, restraint or Parliamentary scrutiny. As Mathiesen explains, the intention may have been fighting terrorism or organized crime, but the means have become disproportionate, unaccountable, over-expensive and lacking in results which ordinary vigilance and sound intelligence in communities should provide.

This is a sociological study of a Norwegian penal institution. The author spent two years in the institution, observing and interviewing inmates and staff, the target being to learn the extent to which American prisons fit with prison life in a different culture. He gives a fascinating answer to the question: Norwegian prisons were, at the time of the study, miles away from their American counterparts. The conflicts between prison officers and inmates were certainly there, but they took a very different form. Rather than engaging in deviant practices and norms, emphasising more or less solidary opposition against the staff, the Norwegian prisoners criticised the staff and the prison fiercely on the basis of their own norms; rather than engaging in deviance, they turned the common practises and norms of Norwegian society against the staff, engaging in a kind of moral surveillance of those in power. He coined the phrase of "censoriousness" to this approach from the "bottom" of the prison. Mathiesen spells out the major causes of this different approach, from characteristics of this particular prison to broader social forces.

This is a sociological study of a Norwegian penal institution. The author spent two years in the institution, observing and interviewing inmates and staff, the target being to learn the extent to which American prisons fit with prison life in a different culture. He gives a fascinating answer to the question: Norwegian prisons were, at the time of the study, miles away from their American counterparts. The conflicts between prison officers and inmates were certainly there, but they took a very different form. Rather than engaging in deviant practices and norms, emphasising more or less solidary opposition against the staff, the Norwegian prisoners criticised the staff and the prison fiercely on the basis of their own norms; rather than engaging in deviance, they turned the common practises and norms of Norwegian society against the staff, engaging in a kind of moral surveillance of those in power. He coined the phrase of "censoriousness" to this approach from the "bottom" of the prison. Mathiesen spells out the major causes of this different approach, from characteristics of this particular prison to broader social forces.

Bokas hovedperspektiv er at retten er en komponent i en samfunnsmessig helhet. Første del drøfter generelle rettssosiologiske problemstillinger. Bokas annen del tar opp noen debattemaer i dagens rettssosiologi, f.eks. om rettsregler kan brukes til å skape utjevning i levekår og maktforhold. Med litteraturliste.

Forfatteren tar et oppgjør med den "tradisjonelle sosiologien", som han mener ikke stiller grunnleggende kritiske spørsmål til de forhold den undersøker. Han tar til orde for å ta i bruk mulighetene sosiologen gir til å motsi konvensjonell visdom, og til å frigjøre mennesker fra dennes tvang. Har litteraturliste og innholdsfortegnelse.

A leading text of worldwide renown: available in Norwegian, Danish, English, Swedish, German, Spanish, Italian - and now being translated into Chinese. Highly acclaimed, Prison On Trial is the classic critique of prisons and imprisonment: a book for everyone's library shelf and collection. For anyone seeking to understand the modern trend towards locking-up ever more people, it distills the arguments for and against incarceration in a readable, accessible and authoritative way - gaining in status each time prison populations increase across large parts of the world. In this new Third Edition - with its New Preface, Epilogue and other Revisions (plus all the material from earlier editions) - the author expands on the control aspects of prison, the gear change brought about by responses to international terrorism post-September 11 and the London bombings and explains how contemporary events are changing the boundaries of crime and punishment and increasing the risks to civil liberties and the Rule of Law. Thomas Mathiesen also argues for an 'Alternative Public Space' where discussion of serious and fundamental issues of this nature can take place free from the superficial world of knee-jerk reactions from politicians and the entertainment-driven needs of the press and media. Prison On Trial distils the arguments for and against imprisonment in a readable, accessible and authoritative way - making Thomas Mathiesen's work a classic for students and other people concerned to understand the real issues. It is as relevant today as when it was first published - arguably more so as policy-making becomes increasingly politicized and true opportunities to influence developments diminish. Mindful of this, Mathiesen recommends an 'alternative public space' where people can engage in valid discussion on the basis of sound information, free from the survival priority of the media - to entertain.

Två väsentliga böcker om makt och motmakt har samlats i en volym. Politisk kontroll och maktutövning kan ske på olika sätt. Den mest uppenbara formen är den som bygger på öppet fysiskt våld och tvång. Men det finns även en annan form: den dolda och outtalade disciplinringen. Om denna form av makt handlar Den dolda disciplineringen. Det är en lågmäld form av makt, svår att avgränsa, en del av vårt vardagsliv, inbyggd i den sociala strukturen. Vi finner den i den avväpnande toleransen av oliktänkande, i rättsapparatens övervakning av politiska uppfattningar och inte minst i att gamla maktformer gesnya namn och ansikten. Makt och motmakt är en text om motstånd och opposition i en tid med stelnande politiska partier, med högervindar och med stora folkgruppers utomparlamentariska engagemang i miljö-, kärnkrafts- och fredsfrågorna. Thomas Mathiesen visar hur opposition och motstånd är möjligt och betonar viljan till motstånd och behovet av en klar handlingsstrategi. Thomas Mathiesen är professor em i rättssociologi vid Universitetet i Oslo.