SOCIOL 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Political Sociology, Unintended Consequences, Social Stratification
Document Summary
People"s homes, churches, attending funerals these places end up being hot spots for police to target and arrest those who have arrest warrants. Staying out of jail becomes aligned not with upstanding, respectable action, but with being an even shadier character. Family members and romantic partners experience considerable hardship because of their association with men who are being sought or supervised by the state. More surprisingly, the system of low-level warrants and court supervision has the unintended consequence of becoming a resource for women and relatives who, possessing more legal legitimacy, can use it to control their partners and kin. Contemporary theories of social stratification and political sociology argue that the criminal justice system has become a vehicle for passing on disadvantage (western 2006) and "an instrument for the management of dispossessed and dishonored groups" (wacquant 2001:95). Young men on the run in philadelphia can tell us something about how power operates in contemporary society.
