SOC205H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cesare Beccaria, French Revolution, Mercantilism
Document Summary
Spiritual explanations were ways to understand crime in 1600s early 1700s but people started to change their minds because society was changing. Religion had a very dominant place in society but it started to change in what dominance looked like. The kings were deemed the gods to be and were considered men whom god had chosen which given them a lot of power. We have very monarchical societies and religious societies with very painful, severe punishments which have to appease god so the community doesn"t get punished by god. For example, a man had his four limbs ripped from his body, hot wax poured on him, body burned, etc. all due to the crimes he committed. There were a range of religious offences that would be punished and other capital crimes (like talking back to your parents) which were deemed as crimes. We start to see a shift from mercantilism to capitalism due to this concern for property rights.
