Population Control

Jen Rinaldi

ISBN 10: 0228019303 / ISBN 13: 9780228019305

Published by McGill-Queen's University Press, CA, 2023

About this Item

Violence is an inescapable through-line across the experiences of institutional residents regardless of facility type, historical period, regional location, government or staff in power, or type of population. Population Control explores the relational conditions that give rise to institutional violence - whether in residential schools, internment camps, or correctional or psychiatric facilities. This violence is not dependent on any particular space, but on underlying patterns of institutionalization that can spill over into community settings even as Canada closes many of its large-scale facilities. Contributors to the collection argue that there is a logic across community settings that claim to provide care for unruly populations: a logic of institutional violence, which involves a deep entanglement of both loathing and care. This loathing signals a devaluation of the institutionalized and leaves certain populations vulnerable to state intervention under the guise of care. When that offer of care is polluted by loathing, however, there comes along with it an unavoidable and socially prescribed violence. Offering a series of case studies in the Canadian context - from historical asylums and laundries for "fallen women" to contemporary prisons, group homes, and emergency shelters - Population Control understands institutional violence as a unique and predictable social phenomenon, and makes inroads toward preventing its reoccurrence.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780228019305

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Population Control
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, CA
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0228019303
• ISBN 13: 9780228019305
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Violence is an inescapable through-line across the experiences of institutional residents regardless of facility type, historical period, regional location, government or staff in power, or type of population.

Population Control explores the relational conditions that give rise to institutional violence – whether in residential schools, internment camps, or correctional or psychiatric facilities. This violence is not dependent on any particular space, but on underlying patterns of institutionalization that can spill over into community settings even as Canada closes many of its large-scale facilities. Contributors to the collection argue that there is a logic across community settings that claim to provide care for unruly populations: a logic of institutional violence, which involves a deep entanglement of both loathing and care. This loathing signals a devaluation of the institutionalized and leaves certain populations vulnerable to state intervention under the guise of care. When that offer of care is polluted by loathing, however, there comes along with it an unavoidable and socially prescribed violence.

Offering a series of case studies in the Canadian context – from historical asylums and laundries for “fallen women” to contemporary prisons, group homes, and emergency shelters – Population Control understands institutional violence as a unique and predictable social phenomenon, and makes inroads toward preventing its reoccurrence.

About the Authors

Jen Rinaldi is associate professor in legal studies at Ontario Tech University.

Kate Rossiter is associate professor in health studies at Wilfrid Laurier University.