Abstract
In this article culture is understood as the ensemble of systems of classification, assessment, and interaction that establishes a basic community of values in a given social field. We will argue that this is made possible through the institution of fundamental prohibitions understood as mythical points of closure that set the last frontiers of that community by designating what crime is. Exploring these theses, we will see that criminal transgression may be thought of as the actualization of a rigorous otherness. This otherness, however, is nothing but the culture itself in its extreme vectors, its contradictions, and residues. From there we will differentiate three types of crimes: paroxysmal, archaic, and impossible. And we will conclude that the criminal question it is not a ‘social problem’ among others. Rather, it is a fundamental crossroad where the very constitution of any culture is at stake. It is the question of the beginning and end of the societal order and its subjects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
All these statements, as well as the core argument of this section, are based on the Lacanian social theory developed in Laclau and Mouffe (1985) and in Laclau (1990, 1996). It is also based on the contribution realized by Zizek (1989) in this field, specifically in his development of a (Lacanian) theory of the subject in many ways complementary with Laclau’s and Mouffe’s propositions. For a detailed articulation of the major points of both topics—the Lacanian social theory and the Lacanian theory of the subject—see Stavrakakis (1999). For the place of Lacan’s works in contemporary social theory see Elliott (2003).
I propose to define as penal any ritual that seeks to reaffirm a system of classification and the affective economy that corresponds to it, through the mythological recoding and through the spectacular staging of transgressions and punishments. Given the lack of space to develop this (philo-Durkheinmian) definition in the context of this article, I will allow myself to refer to other works in which it has been attempted.
For an analysis of this psycho-social dynamic see Tonkonoff (2013)
References
Barthes, R. (1994). The semiotic challenge. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bataille, G. (1986). Eroticism: Death and sensuality. San Francisco: City Lights.
Bataille, G. (1985). Visions of excess: Selected writings 1927–1939. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Bataille, G. (1965). Le Procès de Gilles de Rais. Paris: J. J. Pauvert.
Baudrillard, J. (1983). In the shadow of the silent majorities: Or the end of the social and other essays. New York: Semiotext(e).
Becker, H. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
Cloward, R., & Ohlin, L. (1960). Delinquency and opportunity. IL: Free Press.
Durkheim, E. (1984). The division of labor in society. New York: The Free Press.
Durkheim, E. (1895). Criminalité et santé sociale. Revue Philosophique, 39, 148–162.
Elliott, A. (2003). Jacques Lacan as Social Theorist in critical visions: New directions in social theory (pp. 62–81). New York: Roman and Littlefield.
Foucault, M. (1999). Les Anormaux. Paris: Seuil/Gallimard.
Foucault, M. (1979). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York: Vintage.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality (Vol. 1). London: Penguin.
Foucault, M. (1975). I, Pierre Rivière, having slaughtered my mother, my sister, and my brother…: A case of parricide in the nineteenth Century. A case of parricide in the nineteenth century. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Ginzburg, C. (1980). The cheese and the worms: The cosmos of a sixteenth-century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
Katz, J. (1988). Seductions of crime. New York: Basic Books.
Lacan, J. (2001). Écrits: A selection. London: Routledge Classics.
Lacan, J. (1994). Seminar XI, the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis. London: Penguin.
Lacan, J. (1966). Introduction théorique aux fonctions de la psychanalyse en criminologie in Écrits (pp. 125–149). Paris: Seuil.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy. London: Verso.
Laclau, E. (1990). New reflections on the revolution of our time. London: Verso.
Laclau, E. (1996). Emancipation(s). London: Verso.
Levi-Strauss, C. (1962). The savage mind. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Miller, H. (1962). Tropic of capricorn. New York: Grove Press.
Stavrakakis, Y. (1999). Lacan and the political. London: Routledge.
Sutherland, E. (1937). The professional thief. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sutherland, E., & Cressey, D. (1978). Principles of criminology. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Tarde, G. (1972). La Philosophie Pénale. Paris: Cujas.
Tarde, G. (1895). Criminalité et santé sociale. Revue Philosophique, 39, 148–162.
Tonkonoff, S. (2013). The Dark Glory of criminals: Notes on the iconic imagination of the multitudes, law and critique (pp. 1–15). Berlin: Springer.
Young, J. (1999). Cannibalism and bulimia: Patterns of social control in late modernity. Theoretical Criminology, 3(4), 387–407.
Zaluar, A. (1994). O Condominio do Diabo. Rio de Janeiro: Ravan.
Zizek, S. (1989). The sublime objeto of ideology. London: Verso.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tonkonoff, S. Crime as the Limit of Culture. Hum Stud 37, 529–544 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-014-9322-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-014-9322-4