| Since the 1970's, the proper role of the state in social and economic life has become the subject of intense controversy in many advanced capitalist societies. In this context, the policies associated with both the welfare state and rehabilitative paradigm have come under attack. The breakdown of consensus around Keynesian economics has meant a scaling back of many modern welfare states, while the rehabilitative approach to crime-related problems has been replaced--to varying degrees--with more punitive anti-crime policies and rising levels of incarceration. The simultaneity of these changes and the apparently inverse relationship between these two state sectors suggest that the extension of state control systems may be a component of a much larger transformation of the state. Furthermore, there is evidence that policy changes in these state sectors are strongly related to racial dynamics. In this paper, we use cross-sectional data to assess the extent, pervasiveness, and causes of this alleged transformation in the fifty U.S. states. |
Updated 05/20/2006