Punishment and social structure: reactionary Bourbonism and the social origins of Progressive Era death penalty reinstatment

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This thesis is an attempt to extend a former investigation that sought to identify those social factors which influenced many, at least, if not all, of the ten U.S. States which abolished capital punishment during the Progressive Era and early 20th century, to reinstate the death penalty during this same period. Based on analysis of original archival data, this new study emphasizes the importance of a single variable present in the previous study (anti-Bolshevism) previously underrepresented in the empirical data sets earlier researchers used. The central premise of this thesis is that problems specifying the site of social origins of these actions appear to dissolve when one employs a theory of domination to examine and critique the various reactions to Bolshevism taken by political leaders and actors, especially those who turned to the militant forces of reactionary Bourbonism for guidance in the struggle against what they believed was a general effort to extend the powers of soviet communism into the United States. The overall purpose of this thesis is to analyze the relationship between individuals organized by vested interests in domination (though differentially coordinated in support or opposition to Bourbon techniques of domination and legislative decisions for or against death penalty reinstatement in the states under review.