An extensive literature examines the modern era (1976-present day) of American capital punishment. Some has focused on why the institution persists despite abolition from the rest of the Western world. An example of this is Steiker and Steiker (2016) who argue that judicial rationalization of capital law has helped to legitimate and thus sustain the modern death penalty. However, no work attempts to understand capital punishment or its persistence in America in regards to neoliberalism. To address this void in understanding, I conceptualize Ritzer's four tenets of McDonaldization (predictability, calculability, efficiency, control) as a representation of market rationality, which neoliberalism seeks to insert into various societal spheres (including penality). I examine modern era developments in capital punishment in the United States through the contextual framework of McDonaldization to understand how McDonaldization has served to legitimate the institution. My analysis suggests a transition of the neoliberalized death penalty in the direction of government of government, or what Dean (2010), drawing on Foucault's treatment of governmentality, calls reflexive government.
","abstract_html":"<p>An extensive literature examines the modern era (1976-present day) of American capital punishment. Some has focused on why the institution persists despite abolition from the rest of the Western world. An example of this is Steiker and Steiker (2016) who argue that judicial rationalization of capital law has helped to legitimate and thus sustain the modern death penalty. However, no work attempts to understand capital punishment or its persistence in America in regards to neoliberalism. To address this void in understanding, I conceptualize Ritzer's four tenets of McDonaldization (predictability, calculability, efficiency, control) as a representation of market rationality, which neoliberalism seeks to insert into various societal spheres (including penality). I examine modern era developments in capital punishment in the United States through the contextual framework of McDonaldization to understand how McDonaldization has served to legitimate the institution. My analysis suggests a transition of the neoliberalized death penalty in the direction of government of government, or what Dean (2010), drawing on Foucault's treatment of governmentality, calls reflexive government. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Phillips, Ryan"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Justice Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z","subjects":["Capital Punishment","Death Penalty","Governmentality","McDonaldization","Neoliberalism","Criminology and Criminal Justice"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Ryan Phillips"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/551","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Phillips, Ryan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Justice Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Capital Punishment","Death Penalty","Governmentality","McDonaldization","Neoliberalism","Criminology and Criminal Justice"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Ryan Phillips"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/551"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["An extensive literature examines the modern era (1976-present day) of American capital punishment. Some has focused on why the institution persists despite abolition from the rest of the Western world. An example of this is Steiker and Steiker (2016) who argue that judicial rationalization of capital law has helped to legitimate and thus sustain the modern death penalty. However, no work attempts to understand capital punishment or its persistence in America in regards to neoliberalism. To address this void in understanding, I conceptualize Ritzer's four tenets of McDonaldization (predictability, calculability, efficiency, control) as a representation of market rationality, which neoliberalism seeks to insert into various societal spheres (including penality). I examine modern era developments in capital punishment in the United States through the contextual framework of McDonaldization to understand how McDonaldization has served to legitimate the institution. My analysis suggests a transition of the neoliberalized death penalty in the direction of government of government, or what Dean (2010), drawing on Foucault's treatment of governmentality, calls reflexive government.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/PDF"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The McDonaldized Death Penalty: Neoliberalism, Governmentality, and American Capital Punishment"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Phillips, Ryan"],"dc:description.abstract":["An extensive literature examines the modern era (1976-present day) of American capital punishment. Some has focused on why the institution persists despite abolition from the rest of the Western world. An example of this is Steiker and Steiker (2016) who argue that judicial rationalization of capital law has helped to legitimate and thus sustain the modern death penalty. However, no work attempts to understand capital punishment or its persistence in America in regards to neoliberalism. To address this void in understanding, I conceptualize Ritzer's four tenets of McDonaldization (predictability, calculability, efficiency, control) as a representation of market rationality, which neoliberalism seeks to insert into various societal spheres (including penality). I examine modern era developments in capital punishment in the United States through the contextual framework of McDonaldization to understand how McDonaldization has served to legitimate the institution. My analysis suggests a transition of the neoliberalized death penalty in the direction of government of government, or what Dean (2010), drawing on Foucault's treatment of governmentality, calls reflexive government.
"],"dc:format":["application/PDF"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/551"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2017 Ryan Phillips"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Capital Punishment","Death Penalty","Governmentality","McDonaldization","Neoliberalism","Criminology and Criminal Justice"],"dc:title":["The McDonaldized Death Penalty: Neoliberalism, Governmentality, and American Capital Punishment"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Justice Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:47Z"}