History and Aims of the Group

 

In 1970 Stan Cohen, Mario Simondi and Karl Schumann, who ironically enough met whilst sharing an office at the Berkeley University, California, proposed the formation of an alternative critical criminology forum. Their aim was not just to cover topics and hold debates marginalised or ignored by mainstream, administrative and official criminology but to establish a new network that could support, and provide solidarity with, emerging social movements. Recognising the dominant influence of Anglo-American criminology, this new forum was to be characterised by a distinct European focus. This sense of place was to be significant on a further level, linking the conference theme with the conference location and offering support to local political activists, for example through press releases and resolutions and sometimes even joining them on demonstrations. Shaped by an unequivocal commitment to social justice; inspired by the radical activism of the Norwegian prisoner rights movement, the French mental patients' union and the German radical lawyers' group; and building on the model of the York Deviancy Conferences in England in the early 1970s, the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control held its first conference in Italy in 1973 on the theme Deviance and Social Control in Europe: Scope and Prospects for a Radical Criminology.

 

By emphasising the study of deviancy and social control, the founders fashioned the political and theoretical priorities of the European Group. Through the notion of deviancy, they highlighted, among other things, the importance of understanding the political nature of private troubles and public issues, the essentially contested nature of ‘crime’, and how deviancy, normality and disorder must be located within the structural contexts of a given society.

 

Further, by critically scrutinising the ‘organised ways in which society responds to behaviour and people it regards as deviant, problematic, worrying, threatening, troublesome or undesirable in some way or another’ (Cohen, 1985: 1), manifestations of social control such as migration and border controls, policing, the judiciary, detention and authoritarian statism, were placed firmly in the spotlight. This focus has continued, albeit in modified form, to the present day.

 

In a recent discussion on the foundations of the European Group, Stan Cohen indicated that in the early days there was ‘a strong anarchistic and libertarian ethos’ (personal correspondence). As time has passed the philosophies of Marxism, phenomenology, penal abolitionism, feminism, anti-racism and the insights of Michel Foucault, among others, have also proved influential for the European Group. What unites such diverse and potentially contradictory philosophies are there critique of hierarchies of power and the call for progressive and emancipatory change rooted in alternative critical normative values. Whilst the critique and transformation of class hierarchies remains important, the focus has gradually expanded to address much wider concerns around nationalism, heterophobia, racism, ability, ageism, hetero-normativity and sexual divisions. The European Group therefore aims to foster ‘emancipatory knowledge’ (Wright, 2010) which has the explicit political and theoretical intention of not just understanding individual and social problems, but also challenging and transforming existing power relations.

 

The European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control has always encouraged membership from a broad range of delegates - students, local advocacy and activist groups, academics, researchers, and practitioners. Delegates adhere to many different philosophies and membership stretches not only across Europe but also now to countries in five other continents. European Group conferences are therefore always eclectic and diverse but they are unique from mainstream conferences for other reasons too. This is can best be explored through consideration of how the values of the European Group shape interactions between members. We are non-hierarchical - it makes no difference whether someone is a first year PhD Student or highly distinguished Professor, we are all students of deviancy and social control. We are all on a level playing field, and indeed this non-hierarchical ethos is central to the democratic and participatory workings of the European Group itself. Our conferences and forums are deliberately informal emphasising mutual support, cooperation, solidarity and friendship, some of which we hope will continue for many years into the future. Given the philosophical heritage of the European Group we have respect for differences and tolerance of diversity, although we anticipate that the non-hierarchical ethos of anti-sexism and anti-racism, for example, will be adhered too in all forms of interaction.