Available From UC Press

Since 1993, crime in the United States has fallen to historic lows, seeming to legitimize the country’s mix of welfare reform and mass incarceration. The Upper Limit explains how this unusual mix came about, examining how, beginning in the 1970s, declining living standards for the poor have defined social and penal policy in the United States, making welfare more restrictive and punishment harsher. François Bonnet shows how low-wage work sets the upper limit of social and penal policy, where welfare must be less attractive than low-wage work and criminal life must be less attractive than welfare. In essence, the living standards of the lowest class of workers in a society determine the upper limit for the generosity of welfare and for the humanity of punishment in that society. The Upper Limit explores the local consequences of this punitive adjustment in East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood where crime fell in the 1990s. Bonnet argues that no meaningful penal reform can happen unless living standards and the minimum wage rise again. Enlightening and provocative, The Upper Limit provides a comprehensive theory of the evolution of social and penal policy.
 

"A book of incredible scope, complexity, and erudition, The Upper Limit shows how paying the lowest possible wages to workers at the bottom of the labor market makes us all less secure." —Mary Pattillo, author of Black on the Block 

"An original and valuable addition to the field of contemporary punishment and society studies." —Alessandro De Giorgi, author of Re-thinking the Political Economy of Punishment

“The concept of less eligibility is essential for understanding social control policies in the modern world. This book offers readers an excellent account of how this concept explains the trajectories of punishment and welfare policy in America.  It should be read by everyone with an interest in these important subjects.” —Ahmed White, author of The Last Great Strike