19 Apr 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 4 - February 1
February-01-12
2:15 PM
Sociology of Punishment by Marxism and Liberal Pluralism
-provide an account of punishment in the place of social order
-liberal pluralists; everyone with influence is trying to get their opinion in the forefront
-punishment system must reflect the status quo and those most privileged within it
-justice as a propaganda; justice system reflecting its view of itself - shows itself as equal (although this
is unfair)
-punishment is constantly analyzed in terms of how its ideological; what its presenting to the public
-punishment must somehow meet the common interest, else it would not function
Sociology of Punishment by Durkheim
-end of 19th beginning of 20th century in the shadow of Marx, aware of conflict in society
-understand the unavoidable ends and changes of society and those which can be changed; depicts
unavoidable concepts as positive
-contrast between mechanical and organic solidarity
-in both, a unified social organization of social practices and mental life, integrated into modes of
solidarity; society moving from mechanical to organic
-all punishments have one message; the collectivity is more big and powerful than the individual;
celebrate triumph of collective over individual (society itself)
-this is the essence of punishment under mechanical solidarity, where punishments are repressive
-people are inherently shocked by norm transgression and so reassert dominance of society or
individual; meets collective psychic inherent need
-sociology shows that the collective is metaphysically superior to the individual; we are more products of
society than society are products of us
-e.g. society as more real; individual act of x is only good/bad in society; good speech shaped by society;
society's idea of what is good, rather than individual being good himself
-people with different normative structures come together and this creates the division of labour
-creation of more complex differentiated societies
-mixed communities have higher moral density - the percentage of interactions in which moral
questions must be negotiated rather than are inherent; in a primitive society morals are more like facts
and are invisible; moral ambiguity is more pervasive figure in modern society
-this creates a different society; one of organic solidarity - more morally fluid, not held together by
everyone sharing the same moral perspectives, characterized by two qualities as it matures and
becomes harmonious a. organic - what is valued is that everyone has a functional place within society,
values of labour differences as valued individually, yet also knit together b. individual is celebrated, they
become more individual because of the division of labour; cult of individual - generalized cult that
individuals are valuable, unique, become rights of individual, violation of norms is violation of individual,
state should not violate individual's rights, even in punishment
-social institutions are introduced; appropriate punishment for new social order (restitutive)
-as organic solidarity develops, interdependence of individual within society, punishment shifts to not
being repressive and corporal as against moral order, but instead, punishment is still a ritual or
celebration, but is appropriate celebration of the newly developed moral order; put something back in
the order, restore the functional relationships - that act is the appropriate ritual for celebrating that
moral order
-underlying message continues to persist; superiority of the social order over the individual
-people are oblivious to their own action and structure; agreed punishments in family is a ritual that
repairs the moral order of the family by celebrating it in the appropriate fashion in accordance with the