ABSTRACT
Ours is a culture of confession. Novels about incest, family conflict and sexual indiscretion are confessed as autobiography. Biographers have recently disregarded the wishes of their subject, revealing personal, tantalizing information more suited to the private than public sphere. Recently one of us watched a Channel 4 documentary in which a number of men confessed their use of prostitutes, apparently without concern for the effect on their partners, friends or family. One, who attributed the death of his wife to her discovery of his previously hidden behaviour, said tragically that he hoped that taking part in the programme would in part atone the wrong he had done. The men’s individual lives and needs were paramount. It would not be surprising if a similar programme was found in next week’s television schedules. The 1997 general election campaign was focused sharply upon the personal lives of parliamentary candidates and whether or not individuals could be trusted, including attempts to excavate any grubby details that provoked confession. In this book academic criminologists have written about the intertwining of personal lives and intellectual pursuits. Ours is a confessional culture.
