[SOC 3730] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (64 pages long!)

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 3730
• Professor: Michelle Dumas

Document Summary

Themes of the course: justice evaluating our notions of justice, democracy what does democracy mean in terms of how the courts are run. Justice: defining, equality; fairness, the moral assessment of good and bad things. Works on the belief that the state is there: fairness. Offices, positions/positions of power, etc must be open to everyone under conditions of fair and equal opportunity: utilitarianism. Essentially means that we can do what is best for the greatest number of people. Rejected this notion because under utilitarianism some people have to suffer for the greater number to have the greater good: not fair how do we determine who has to be deprived, welfare. We need to adopt a strategy that maximizes the position of the least well off: retributive justice, response to wrongdoing. Types of courts (canada): family, traffic, civil small claims court deals with contracts between individuals, military, tax, youth, criminal deal with any law violation of the criminal code.