Law, Order, and the Imaginary Community

Louis Kontos, John Jay College (CUNY)

The demand for greater social control reappears predictably in times and places where crime rates are rising rapidly as well as times and places where there is great disruption, including through political economic turns, population transfers, changes in patterns of migration, and cultural divergence. The demand takes myriad forms. When it is attached to mythologized origins against which established social groups and assemblages name themselves inheritors of noble tradition, or the source of the nation’s greatness, or its internal line of defense (through a vigilant attitude) against invaders or usurpers, it is impervious to contradiction. Self-identification with this type of imaginary group is more peculiar in the U.S. than Germany or France, because the former lacks a meaningful connection to premodern, singular, traditions, but instead begins as a conglomerate of people and cultures). In each case, however, the select group claims the right to judge and not be judged. The following paper examines the current upsurge in authoritarian populism in the U.S. in historical context, drawing upon qualitative and quantitative evidence and engaging with Anderson's concept of imaginary community.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 101. Crime, Justice and the Law