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Punishment and Respect

The Sacralization of the Person and Its Endangerment

Max Weber Centre, Erfurt, Germany, hans.joas{at}uni-erfurt.de, University of Chicago

Discussions of punishment in the modern era turn on the question of the definition and importance of human rights. To understand this linkage, it is important to examine critically two narratives of the origin and development of modern Western forms of punishment, namely that of the Enlightenment, and that of the process of `disciplination' to be found in the work of Foucault. In this article, I suggest an alternative to both these narratives, namely a Durkheimian attention to the process of the `sacralization of the person' which indicates the importance of reading the development of modern punishment as part of a larger process of `inclusion' in which more and more people were included within the category of human personhood. A focus on the sacrality of the person as central to the notion of punishment also helps us to understand the ambiguity of punishment in the modern era, as well as threats posed to human rights by certain contemporary punishment regimes.

Key Words: discipline • Durkheim • Enlightenment • Foucault • human rights • person • punishment • sacralization • torture • utilitarianism

Journal of Classical Sociology, Vol. 8, No. 2, 159-177 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1468795X08088870


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