| In this study I combine theoretical insights from criminology, philanthropy studies as well as sociology of knowledge/science to analyze the role of foundations in the development of scientific research on deviance and social control in early 20th century United States. I argue that a major interest of 'scientific philanthropy' of the time was aiding the establishment of a rational scientific basis of contemporary society, which in turn was informed by a desire to rationalize the bases of social control. The central questions of the study revolve around the institutional production of theories of deviance in an era that saw a transition from a discourse of deviance based on moral categories to one based on positivist sciences. This is crucially linked to innovations in both the prognostic and the curative frames of social deviance, i.e. changes in the ways of conceptualizing 'social health' and the normativity of social relations as well as control and normalization of deviant behavior. This also brings up questions about the linkages between different institutional discourses, such as medicine, ethics, sociology, and law that converge or diverge in the process of defining deviance and prescribing solutions. A central focus of this study, then, is mapping the interaction and the processes of 'boundary making' between these divergent discourses in the establishment of a science of deviance as a form of social technology. I attempt to chart the course of the scientific projects undertaken by the organizations in question along with other allied governmental and non-governmental institutions and its implications in the development of a science of crime. |
