Chapter 7 Flashcards
1
Q
Forces of Social Change (8)
A
Law and Legal Systems
Technology;
Ideology;
Competition;
Conflict;
Politics;
Economics; and
Structural strains.
2
Q
3 ways technology affects the law
A
- Refining legal techniques: fingerprinting, lie detector, BAC equipment, etc.
- Forming and applying the law: e.g. televised hearings, etc.
- Substance of the law: new problems and conditions to which the law must respond.
ex. Automobile: Brought about new laws to control a huge volume of traffic, traffic rules, drunk driving, auto safety, driver’s license laws, pollution control, registration, insurance, etc.
ex. Computers: internet, privacy legislation, abuse of credit information laws, computer crime, identify thefts, etc.
3
Q
Why might Law Change?
A
- a voluntary and gradual shift in community values and attitudes
- may be enacted as needed, and regulatory bodies involved when necessary
- existing laws may undergo repeal or revision
- Reactive to social change
-
4
Q
How might Law Create Social Change
A
- environmental protection legislation changing how society functions
eg. job loss as high polluting sector are closed/defunded/restricted/heavily taxed
eg. Universal Healthcare
eg. One Child Policy in China to reduce population growth and the now heavy tax on additional children
5
Q
Indirect and Direct Aspects of Law in Social Change
A
- Indirect
- shaping social institution which impacts society
eg. compulsory education upgraded quality of the labour force
Patent law protects the rights of inventors and encourages inventions, and makes further changes in the technological institutions - Direct
- laws that aim to effect direct change
- redefines the normative order or creates new legal procedural opportunities
eg. Prohibition
E.g. In 1999, a N.S. mother who could not afford a lawyer for a child custody/ protection hearing raised a Charter challenge.
nThe court held that s.7 provides every parent with the right to a fair hearing and in this case, it required that the mother have legal counsel to present her case effectively.
- This created new procedural opportunities in the legal system: Claims Courts, Legal aid
- this extended formal rights gives greater protection to individual rights
6
Q
Friedman’s Perspectives of Change through law (2)
A
- Planning
- construction of new forms of social order and social interaction
- intentional
ex. 5 year plans for social and economic development - Disruption
- blocking or ameliorating existing social forms and relations
- Revolution
- litigation, injunctions and judicial review
- Requires an activist legal profession, financial resources, activist judges, genuine social movement(s), and elites must accept the results.
- Both planning and disruption can be “positive” or “negative” change, depending on your viewpoint.
- Whether the change produced is considered destructive or constructive, it is a fact that the law can be highly effective for producing social change.
7
Q
The Efficacy of Law as an Instrument of Social Change (7)
A
Evan (1965:288) suggests if the law is going to be successful in inducing change there are 7 conditions which must be met:
1.The law must come from an authoritative and prestigious source;
- The law must introduce its rationale in terms that are understandable and compatible with existing values;
- The advocates of change should refer to other countries or communities with which the population identifies and where that law is already in effect;
- The enforcement of the law should be in a relatively short period of time;
- Those enforcing the law must be very much committed to the changes intended by the law;
- The instrumentation of the law should include positive and negative sanctions;
- Enforcement of the law should be reasonable re: the sanctions as well as in protecting the rights of those who stand to lose by violating the law.
8
Q
Interrelated processes of behaviour in law (2)
A
- Institutionalization: establishing a norm with provisions for its enforcement
E.g. nondiscrimination in employment.
- Internalization: Incorporating the values implicit in law
E.g. discrimination is “wrong”.
9
Q
Factors of the Efficacy of Law (3)
A
- The amount of information available about the legislation, decision or ruling.
- f there isn’t enough information about these matters, the law will not have its intended effect.
- Ignorance of the law is not excuse for disobedience, but it obviously limits the law’s effectiveness.
- The extent to which the rules are not stated precisely
- the law must be clear and not ambiguous so there are not many perceptions and interpretations.
- Rules are more likely to be accepted if they reflect notions of fairness and justice prevalent in society.
- Responsiveness of enforcement agencies to a law
- Law enforcement agencies communicate the rules and they also show that the rules should be taken seriously, and that punishment for their violation is likely.
- For law to be enforceable, the behaviour to be changed must be observable.
- Law enforcement needs to be fully committed to enforcing a new law.
- Laws must be regularly and uniformly enforced across class and group lines, so are seen as more binding than if they are only selectively enforced.
- Law enforcement agencies communicate the rules and they also show that the rules should be taken seriously, and that punishment for their violation is likely.
10
Q
Types of Legitimate Authority (3)
A
- Traditional Authority
- Based on the sanctity of traditions;
- Based on the legitimacy of the status of those exercising authority.
- Obligation to obedience: personal loyalty.
E.g. the rule of elders.
- Charismatic Authority
- Devotion to unusual heroism or exemplary character of an individual.
- Belief in normative patterns revealed or ordained.
- This leader is obeyed because of personal trust in his or her revelations.
E.g. religious leaders (Jesus Christ, Moses, Mohammed) or political leaders (Gandhi, Mandela)
- Rational-legal Authority
- Belief in the legality of normative rules
- Belief that those persons have authority to issue commands under such rational-legal rules.
- Those exercising authority of office are obeyed because people belief in the formal legality of their commands,
but within the scope of authority of their commands
11
Q
Imperative coordination:
A
the probability that specific commands from a given source will be obeyed by a given group of persons.
12
Q
Legitimate Authority
A
- sense of obligation depends on society’s respect for legitimate authority
- has significant influence over actions and attitudes
- People assume that the law has the right to regulate behaviour, and so we conform with the law (obey the law because it is the law)
- accepting legitimate authority also minimizes the possibility of cognitive dissonance in how individuals interpret actions which the law says are “wrong” or morally bad.
- the law becomes a part of internalized values
13
Q
The Binding Force of Law (10)
A
- we are taught to obey the law from a young age
- by believing in law, people obey the law
- content of law demands obedience
- law is a morally obligatory force in society
- belief that a law is just and fair because it is applied equally
- trust in the effectiveness and legitimacy of government
- see it as your civic duty
- self interest: saves effort and risk
- acceptance of authority
preference for order over disorder - habit and security
14
Q
Mills 5 ways law can achieve social change
A
- Achieve common purpose which can’t be left to the forces of supply and demand in society (e.g. education);
- Protect the young and the helpless;
- Control the power of associations (managed by those directly interested and agents);
- Protect persons acting together in cases where such action isn’t effective without legal sanctions;
- To achieve important objects in society which is beyond the power so individuals or voluntary associations (may or may not be within their powers, and even so, wouldn’t normally be undertaken by them).
15
Q
Sanctions
A
- used to enforce behaviour
- guarantee that legal mandates are observes
- the forcible deprivation of life, freedom, economics, and other values as a result of certain conditions
- vary with the purpose and goal of a law or legal policy
