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"According to political scientist Marie Gottschalk of the University of Pennsylvania, since the 1970s while the prison population of the United States was rapid

"According to political scientist Marie Gottschalk of the University of Pennsylvania, since the 1970s while the prison population of the United States was rapidly increasing as the U.S. was targeting mostly poor and working class people by harshly punishing street crimes, drug crimes and immigration offenses, there was a simultaneous mass deregulation and decriminalization of white collar and corporate crime "despite a tsunami of elite-level criminal activities by leading banks, accounting firms and major corporations." Sociologist Loïc Wacquant writes that during this time period neoliberalism has not shrunk government but instead set up a "centaur state" with little governmental oversight for those at the top and strict control of those at the bottom." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_collar_crime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_collar_crime

newsomix9xl 2mo ago
This is a very high level "class war" analysis by academics that suggests that the poor are being oppressed while the rich go free. It's a nice morality tale, and I'm sure there are instances where it is absolutely true. But that it is true as a rule, or even that they are comparable levels of analysis (one are "white collar" crimes and the parallel would be "blue collar" crimes, no? But street crimes and immigration offenses aren't working mans crimes - these are "no collar" crimes: anyone can commit an immigration offense, even rich people. And street crimes are often drug driven. This analysis by Gottschalk and Wacquant suggests a "conspiracy" tone within a class war context. I would want to know if they didn't have some class war bias in their analysis before I accept their analysis from authority without examination.