{"title":"Bruce Western","description":"\u003cp\u003e0\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"punishment-and-inequality-in-america-book-bruce-western-9780871548955","title":"Punishment and Inequality in America","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver the last thirty years, the prison population in the United States has increased more than seven-fold to over two million people, including vastly disproportionate numbers of minorities and people with little education. For some racial and educational groups, incarceration has become a depressingly regular experience, and prison culture and influence pervade their communities. Almost 60 percent of black male high school drop-outs in their early thirties have spent time in prison. In \u003ci\u003ePunishment and Inequality in America\u003c\/i\u003e, sociologist Bruce Western explores the recent era of mass incarceration and the serious social and economic consequences it has wrought.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePunishment and Inequality in America\u003c\/i\u003e dispels many of the myths about the relationships among crime, imprisonment, and inequality. While many people support the increase in incarceration because of recent reductions in crime, Western shows that the decrease in crime rates in the 1990s was mostly fueled by growth in city police forces and the pacification of the drug trade. Getting tough on crime with longer sentences only explains about 10 percent of the fall in crime, but has come at a significant cost. \u003ci\u003ePunishment and Inequality in America\u003c\/i\u003e reveals a strong relationship between incarceration and severely dampened economic prospects for former inmates. Western finds that because of their involvement in the penal system, young black men hardly benefited from the economic boom of the 1990s. Those who spent time in prison had much lower wages and employment rates than did similar men without criminal records. The losses from mass incarceration spread to the social sphere as well, leaving one out of ten young black children with a father behind bars by the end of the 1990s, thereby helping perpetuate the damaging cycle of broken families, poverty, and crime.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe recent explosion of imprisonment is exacting heavy costs on American society and exacerbating inequality. Whereas college or the military were once the formative institutions in young men's lives, prison has increasingly usurped that role in many communities. \u003ci\u003ePunishment and Inequality in America\u003c\/i\u003e profiles how the growth in incarceration came about and the toll it is taking on the social and economic fabric of many American communities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49908048560401,"sku":"CIN087154895XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50624538771729,"sku":"CIN087154895XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":53611024810257,"sku":"CIN087154895XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/087154895X.jpg?v=1751331252"},{"product_id":"imprisoning-america-book-bruce-western-9780871546524","title":"Imprisoning America","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50371641409809,"sku":"CIN0871546523G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50371645210897,"sku":"CIN0871546523VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0871546523.jpg?v=1750787415"},{"product_id":"punishment-and-inequality-in-america-book-bruce-western-9780871548948","title":"Punishment and Inequality in America","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50371740664081,"sku":"CIN0871548941G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0871548941.jpg?v=1751363638"},{"product_id":"homeward-book-bruce-western-9780871549556","title":"Homeward","description":"In the era of mass incarceration, over 600,000 people are released from federal or state prison each year, with many returning to chaotic living environments rife with violence. In these circumstances, how do former prisoners navigate reentering society? In \u003ci\u003eHomeward\u003c\/i\u003e, sociologist Bruce Western examines the tumultuous first year after release from prison. Drawing from in-depth interviews with over one hundred individuals, he describes the lives of the formerly incarcerated and demonstrates how poverty, racial inequality, and failures of social support trap many in a cycle of vulnerability despite their efforts to rejoin society.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Western and his research team conducted comprehensive interviews with men and women released from the Massachusetts state prison system who returned to neighborhoods around Boston. Western finds that for most, leaving prison is associated with acute material hardship. In the first year after prison, most respondents could not afford their own housing and relied on family support and government programs, with half living in deep poverty. Many struggled with chronic pain, mental illnesses, or addiction--the most important predictor of recidivism. Most respondents were also unemployed.  Some older white men found union jobs in the construction industry through their social networks, but many others, particularly those who were black or Latino, were unable to obtain full-time work due to few social connections to good jobs, discrimination, and lack of credentials. Violence was common in their lives, and often preceded their incarceration. In contrast to the stereotype of tough criminals preying upon helpless citizens, Western shows that many former prisoners were themselves subject to lifetimes of violence and abuse and encountered more violence after leaving prison, blurring the line between victims and perpetrators.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Western concludes that boosting the social integration of former prisoners is key to both ameliorating deep disadvantage and strengthening public safety. He advocates policies that increase assistance to those in their first year after prison, including guaranteed housing and health care, drug treatment, and transitional employment. By foregrounding the stories of people struggling against the odds to exit the criminal justice system, \u003ci\u003eHomeward\u003c\/i\u003e shows how overhauling the process of prisoner reentry and rethinking the foundations of justice policy could address the harms of mass incarceration.\u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50467409101073,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50467411001617,"sku":"CIN0871549557G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51829300068625,"sku":"CIN0871549557VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52946856182033,"sku":"CIN0871549557A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0871549557.jpg?v=1751170780"},{"product_id":"between-class-and-market-book-bruce-western-9780691010335","title":"Between Class and Market","description":"In the United States, less than one worker in five is currently in a labor union, while in Sweden, virtually the entire workforce is unionized. Despite compelling evidence for their positive effects, even the strongest European unions are now in retreat as some policymakers herald the U.S. model of market deregulation. These differences in union power significantly affect workers' living standards and the fortunes of national economies. What explains the enormous variation in unionization and why has the last decade been so hostile to organized labor? Bruce Western tackles these questions in an analysis of labor union organization in eighteen capitalist democracies from 1950 to 1990. Combining insights from sociology and economics in a novel way, Western views unions as the joint product of market forces and political and economic institutions. The author argues that three institutional conditions are essential for union growth: strong working-class political parties, centralized collective bargaining, and union-run unemployment insurance. These conditions shaped the impact of market currents and explain variations across industries, across countries, and over time for the four decades since 1950. Between Class and Market traces the story of the postwar labor movements supported by a blend of historical investigation and sophisticated statistical analysis in an innovative framework for comparative research. Western tightly integrates institutional explanation and comparative method in a way that balances comparative generality with the unique historical experiences of specific cases.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50897347346705,"sku":"GOR014112539","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51416080187665,"sku":"CIN0691010331VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0691010331.jpg?v=1750816517"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-bruce-western.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}