SOCI 325 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Moral Panic, Mass Hysteria
25 Jun 2015
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Document Summary
Classical reformers: beccaria, bentham, all human action stems from self- interest, importance of happiness. Traits of demonic: high crime rates, stems from/causes moral panic, arbitrary and severe punishments, often public, deviants are partly responsible for their own behavior. Punishment: crimes, not criminals, should be the focus of punishment, specific deterrence-jail sentence, general deterrence- knowledge of punishment, classical theorists identify three basic elements, swiftness (celerity, certainty, severity, rational punishment, french penal code 1791. Focualt (1977: aimed for uniformity of punishment, laws determined by legislative body, guilt should be determined by judiciary, punishment of deviance should be greater than pleasure obtained from it. Demonic perspective: underlying tenets in society, informs policy-makers on moral issues, reveals arbitrary nature of defining deviance, and resulting control policies, centalized control and authority. Mini-max theorem (game theory: assumes calculating, rational actors, hedonistic, self-interested, units of pleasure and pain calculated, free will + social contract.
