Suchergebnisse

The rapid expansion of the social sciences in post-war America produced a new approach to research on the theory and practice of democracy. Some of the main themes of this approach were borrowed from early sociological critiques of democracy developed by a group of European social scientists who were later called 'elite theorists' or 'Machiavellians'. This article outlines the set of theoretical motifs found in the works of Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, and Robert Michels that became a foundation for the study of democracy in American post-war social science. Writing in response to the perceived problems of social democracy at the time, Mosca, Pareto, and Michels each identified the goals and ideals of mass popular sovereignty as ill conceived and dangerous based on 'social facts' derived from empirical observation. These 'facts' appeared in later studies of democracy as naturalized or self-evident foundational propositions. Joseph A. Schumpeter's famous critique of democracy's classical ideals is one of the most important examples of a theory built on the 'facts' produced by the early critics. This article therefore presents an analysis of the role these conclusions played in Schumpeter's theory, which characterized democracy as a series of mechanisms designed to mediate and control, rather than give full expression to, popular sovereignty.

There is still-growing interest in narrative in the context of offender rehabilitation. Recent moves towards a 'narrative criminology' have referenced literary theory and the tools of literary criticism, and have demanded exchange with other disciplines. This article responds with an examination of how a humanities-informed literary critical analysis might complement and extend social science's understanding of narrative work with offenders. The article analyses how and to what effect literary fiction is used in prisons and probation. Against the broader background of findings from prison literature programmes, it offers an in-depth analysis of the work of the Berlin prison theatre company aufBruch, from a literary critical as well as a narrative criminological perspective. With reference to Maruna's notion of the 'redemption script' and more recent narrative criminology, as well as to literary and cognitive theory and experimental psychology, it is suggested that an understanding of how literary fiction 'works' may enhance the theory and practice of narrative work with offenders.