SOC225 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Puritans, Determinant, Intellectual Disability

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC225
• Professor: Bryan Hogeveen

Document Summary

Ontology: way of thinking about and being in the world (ex. religious discourse) shifts and changes over time. Crime was based on religious beliefs and superstition - linked evil spirits and wrongdoings. Temptation: people exercise their free will and choose to act ways they know to be wrong. Seduced by temptations of evil and the devil (*no free will) Believers use their faith to resist the devil"s allure. Religious leaders used images of hell fire and eternal damnation to prevent temptation. People who succumb to temptation were weak and morally inferior. Misfortunes of poor, destitute, and other unfortunate members of society were seen as moral failures. Threat of severe punishment was used to prevent misdeeds - first form of deterrence. Possession: wrongdoers were suspected of being possessed by the devil or spirit with no hope of recovering treated harshly. Determinant: possessed person no longer able to choose between good and evil.