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From Vagrancy Heterotopias to the Proximity of Homelessness. A Historical Ethnography of the State's Moral Dilemmas in the Management of Unease
Author(s) -
Trovão Susana
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/johs.12127
Subject(s) - vagrancy , criminal justice , ontological security , sociology , criminology , state (computer science) , ethnography , portuguese , political science , law , social science , security studies , algorithm , computer science , anthropology , linguistics , philosophy
This paper discusses the tension between the criminal justice system and the welfare state as expressed through practices focused on populations who are perceived as being ‘at risk’ and constituting ‘a danger’ to society, therefore challenging the national governance of social precariousness and public (in)security. The analysis of a paradigmatic institution of Portuguese Fascism has brought to light how the contradictions between the long‐term subjectivation of vagrancy processes and the uses of anti‐vagrancy policies promoted by the dictatorial state to arrest and punish a significant part of his citizens may justify the moral dilemmas underlying the current Portuguese State's response to homelessness and urban marginality.