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PALGRAVE PIONEERS IN CRIMINOLOGY Colin Sumner Criminology Through the Looking-Glass David Moxon Palgrave Pioneers in Criminology Series Editors David Polizzi Indiana State University Terre Haute, IN, USA James Hardie-Bick School of Law, Politics & Sociology University of Sussex Brighton, UK Palgrave Pioneers in Criminology examines the theorists and their work that has shaped the discussions and debates in the interdisciplinary, grow- ing field of Criminology, focussing particularly on Critical Criminology. The pioneers range from established to newer academics in Criminology and beyond from other disciplines including Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy and Law. Each book in the series offers an overview of a pioneer and their contribution to the field of Criminology, from the perspec- tive of one author or multiple contributors. The series charts the historical development of key theories and brings discussions up to the present day to consider the past, present and future relevance of these theories for society. This series presents in-depth, engaging, new discussions about this field and the directions that it will continue to grow in. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15996 David Moxon Colin Sumner Criminology Through the Looking-Glass David Moxon Sheffield, UK Palgrave Pioneers in Criminology ISBN 978-3-030-36940-8 ISBN 978-3-030-36941-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36941-5 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgements I first encountered Colin Sumner’s work as an undergraduate whilst pot- tering around the law library in the Crookesmoor building at the University of Sheffield when I should really have been reading texts and cases on employment law, public law and the like. Since then it has been a constant companion, and although I no longer work in academia, it continues to inform my outlook. I have been fortunate enough to get to know Colin personally, and to assist in the preparation of this volume, he very kindly allowed me to borrow some papers and books that would otherwise have been all but impossible to get hold of. For this, and for all his work over the years, I thank him sincerely. Thanks also to Tony Amatrudo, who commissioned this book in the first place and has always been supremely encouraging and supportive. A number of other obscure papers were efficiently sourced by the British Library’s document supply service. The staff at the University of Sheffield’s Western Bank Library kindly facilitated access to Colin’s PhD thesis even though my credentials had long since expired. I am grateful to the typically hospitable Canadians who have hosted me and allowed me to set up shop in their homes: the Borody family—Marin, Cam, Brenner and Olen—in Toronto, and everyone at the cottage. I will try to have a proper holiday next time. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Finally, Jaime, Isla and Beth. Thanks as always for giving me the space and the support to do this. As Colin Sumner (1979: xi) himself once said, “I will organise it better next time.” RefeRence Sumner, C. (1979). Reading ideologies: An investigation into the Marxist theory of ideology and law. London: Academic Press. c ontents 1 I ntroduction 1 2 Sumner and Ideological Censure 5 3 After Censure 39 4 Sumner and the Death of Deviance 67 5 After the Death of Deviance 87 6 Sumner and the Looking Glass 113 7 After Sumner? 133 Works by Colin Sumner 147 Index 153 vii CHAPTER 1 Introduction Sometime after the year 2000, a young criminologist will provide a biographical account of Colin Sumner’s contribution to critical criminology during his sojourn at the Cambridge Institute. Several dozen students […] from the UK and from other countries have now passed through postgraduate studies which were exceptionally informed by his presence. —Brogden (1993: 304) Abstract This chapter introduces the book. It outlines the intention of the book to take a fresh look at the work of Colin Sumner, placing it in its disciplinary and wider social context. The sometimes divisive and contro- versial nature of Sumner’s work is noted, and it is suggested that despite being a distinctive and important thinker who has produced works of great theoretical sophistication, his influence in criminology has not been as great as it might have been. It is suggested that Sumner’s work has involved a gradually deepening understanding of his core notion of ideological censure, which has given his career a remarkable consistency and clarity of purpose. An outline of the book is provided, and it is noted that the book will refer extensively to original sources, chiefly in order to act as a corrective to some of the misconceptions that abound about Sumner’s work. Keywords Sumner • Criminology • Censure © The Author(s) 2020 1 D. Moxon, Colin Sumner, Palgrave Pioneers in Criminology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36941-5_1 2 D. MOXON It was with a certain degree of prescience that Mike Brogden opened his review of Imperial Policing (Ahire 1991), a book written by one of Colin Sumner’s erstwhile students at Cambridge. While a digest of Sumner’s time at Cambridge has yet to appear, the present book at least partly affirms Brodgen’s confident prediction by offering an assessment of Sumner’s entire work and career to date, including but not limited to his Cambridge years. What Brogden did correctly identify was the sense that Sumner’s contribution to criminology, through both his writing and his teaching, had reached the point where it was deserving of recognition in some way. By 1993, Sumner was well known as a “combative” (Rock 1988: 193) criminologist who had long been part of the radical faction of the “fortunate generation” (1988: 190), but had counter-intuitively landed a position at the Cambridge Institute of Criminology where he had been in post for the best part of a decade and a half. What is now Sumner’s best-known work, The Sociology of Deviance: An Obituary (1994), would be published just a year later. But this does not tell the whole story. Sumner’s direct and uncompro- mising style, his longstanding commitment to Marxism or at least a Marx- inspired worldview, his refusal to shy away from criticism of the work of others, and a barely disguised contempt for the direction of the discipline as a whole was not to everyone’s taste. Indeed, the reception to The Obituary only seemed to reinforce Sumner’s status as a polarising figure in the discipline, particularly in North America. As a result, his standing as one of criminology’s most distinctive and important thinkers was never really consolidated, and his early semi-retirement from academia in 2002, though later aborted, saw him increasingly move towards the fringes of the conversation in the discipline at a time when his contemporaries were cementing their legacies. Against this background, this book takes a fresh look at the entirety of Sumner’s work with the aim of restoring his standing in the discipline. He should be thought of as a criminological pioneer who has produced works of great theoretical sophistication which were well ahead of their time. By systematically considering Sumner’s entire output, the book will show how his thought has involved a gradually deepening understanding of his core notion of ideological censure, a slowly unspooling appreciation of the ramifications of that singular theoretical insight which first appeared in his PhD. This has given his career a remarkable consistency and clarity of purpose. His thinking has been vindicated by the rise of a hyper-i ndividualised, aggressive neo-liberalism where anxious, atomised subjects busy t hemselves