Lecture 4: Keeping Youth Under Control Flashcards
Discourse
Verbal, written, and recorded speech.
Discourse is often defined as verbal, written, and recorded speech. However, what other factors play a part in discourse?
- Speech patterns, diction, dialect, and colloquialisms.
- Unacceptable words and phrases.
- Denotation and connotation of words.
Differences in ___ ___, ___, ___, and ___ can lead to language, words, and expressions that are meaningful to some people but meaningless to others.
Speech patterns, diction, dialect, colloquialisms.
Give an example of how unacceptable words and phrases affect discourse.
Gender consciousness is coming. Using Ms. instead of Mrs. or Miss..
Denotation
Dictionary definition.
Connotation
Underlying definition.
Discourse specifics how you ___ an issue.
Approach.
Discourse is intelligible to…
A specific audience.
Can discourse portray ideology?
Yes.
True or false? The types of deviance that bring youths to the CJS is ever changing.
False, there has been little change.
How youth deviant acts are ___ has changed.
Understood.
Give an example of how the understanding of youth deviant acts have chanted.
What constitutes bullying has changed.
What are the two discourses on youth as a problem?
- The Reformable Offender.
2. The Punishable Young Offender.
The Reformable Offender
A discourse on youth that is based on 19th and 20th Century working class male youths.
The Punishable Young Offender
A discourse on youth that is based on the idea that present-day youths are in need of discipline.
What is the prevailing discourse at this age?
The punishable young offender.
What are the 4 groups of young offenders that are deemed to be punishable?
- Violent youth.
- Squeegee kids.
- Aboriginal youth.
- Female offenders.
How do discourses of youth and crime contribute to the theoretical underpinnings of various responses to youth crime? Give an example to illustrate.
If we view them as deserving more punishment, it influences the laws we create.
Sociological Imagination
Link between an individual’s biography and the life of the society.
Policies and laws are influenced by how we ___ to a social problem.
Respond.
What are the two broad paradigms in explaining crime?
- The consensus approach.
2. The conflict approach.
The Consensus Approach
We have reached agreement on how we want to be governed.
The Conflict Approach
Sees society as rich vs. poor, bourgeoisie vs. proletariat, etc..
The feminist approach and critique of mainstream criminology looks at…
Androcentric research and the concept of “criminalized women.”
What approach looks at afrocentric research and the concept of “criminalized women.”
Feminist approach.
Androcentric
Male-centeredness.
What is the opposite of androcentricity?
Gynocentricity.
List the characteristics of a theory.
- A window to social reality.
- Set of propositions trying to explain the same phenomenon.
- Aim is always explanation.
- Must be testable.
What is the aim of a theory?
Explanation.
True or false? Theories need not be testable.
False. Theories must be testable.
Rearrange the following: Made into law, guess, testing of a hypothesis,paradigm, hypothesis, put together to theory.
Guess, hypothesis, testing of the hypothesis, put together to theory, then made into law, then possibly into paradigm.
What does the social production of theories involve?
- Authorized knowers.
- Criminological knowledge(s).
- Forms of control and/or punishment.
- Societal patterns and changes.
Authorized Knowers
- Average people in society are not authorized to know.
- Cloud of legitimacy surrounding authorized knowers.
- People who are licensed to know.
- Can be common knowledge.
What is the first formal school of criminology?
Classical Theories by Cesare Beccaria.
Who came up with the Classical Theories of criminology?
Cesare Beccaria.
Cesare Beccaria is associated with which school of criminology?
Classical Theories.
What notions are Classical Theories based on?
Liberlaism and utilitarianism from the Enlightenment.
Classical Theories believed in rationality. True or false?
True.
Which theory views human beings as self-interested and economic beings?
Classical Theory.
Which theory does not differentiate between adult and young offenders?
Classical Theories.
Do Classical Theories differentiate between adult and young offenders?
No.
Which theory is known for stating that “the punishment should fit the crime?”
Classical Theories.
What theories were thought of by Lombroso?
Positivist Theories.
Who thought up of the Positivist Theories?
Lombroso.
What are some characteristics of Positivist Theories?
- Criminality is determined.
- Criminals are born: stigmata.
- Criminals as “atavisms.”
Which theories would say that criminality is determined?
Positivist Theories.
Stigmata
Physical attributes that signal criminality. Extra fingers, extra toes, protruding ears, connecting brows, etc..
Which theories would say that criminals are “atavisms?”
Positivist Theories.
Atavisms
People that do not belong in a post-modern time.
What are the 3 waves of influence Positivist Theories had on juvenile justice in Canada?
- Philanthropic elite.
- Eugenics-informed psychiatry.
- Environmental psychology.
Who were the philanthropic elite?
Usually volunteers from the male political and business elite.
Which group liked the idea of perfecting the moral character of society?
The philanthropic elite.
The philanthropic elite liked the idea of…
Perfection the moral character of society.
The philanthropic elite believed in social ___, and the possibility of perfecting persons as…
Progress, products of the environment.
The philanthropic elite believed that the right ___ ___ will transform criminals into useful beings. Give examples.
Social conditions. Role models, housing, education, religious teachings, etc..
The philanthropic elite was a ___ ___ to the positivistic approach.
Counter-movement.
What led to eugenics-informed psychiatry? How did Positivist Theories influence it?
- Expert knowledge challenging philanthropic discourse.
- Eugenics discourse (Social Darwinism).
- Good vs. bad genes, blood, and “races.”
- Need for selective “breeding.”
- Criminals are feeble-minded and/or defective.
- No possibility of changing the criminal.
Is it true that criminals ar feeble-minded?
No, the incidence of feeble-minded people committing violent crime is less than 10%.
What were some “solutions” of eugenics-informed psychiatry?
- Deportation of feeble-minded immigrants.
- Incapacitation of feeble-minded criminals.
- Sterilization.
Which way of thinking would say that biology is destiny?
Eugenics-informed psychiatry.
Environmental Psychology
- Offender is malleable and treatable.
- Investigation of offender’s backgrounds.
- Treatment-based solutions.
Which way of thinking would say that biology is not destiny?
Environmental psychology.
Which way of thinking would find out what went wrong in the past of the offenders?
Environmental psychology.
Social Control Theory
People’s relationships, commitments, values, norms, and beliefs encourage them not to break the law.
Social Disorganization Theory
Links crime rates to neighbourhood ecological characteristics; crime happens in the middle of the city.
4 dimensions of Hirschi and the Social Bond.
Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.
Social Learning and Labelling Theories
Criminals learn skills necessary for criminal acts.
Strain Theory
Includes Durkheim’s anomie and Merton’s theories. Said that strain between cultural goals and institutionalized means caused crime.
Durkheim’s Anomie
Normlessness.
When was the Era of Rights?
1950’s - 1970’s.
What happened during the 1950’s - 1970’s?
The Era of Rights.
What was involved in the Era of Rights?
- Rights discourse on blacks, gays, and lesbians.
- Counter-discourses against the hegemony of capital and the state: Feminism, Neo-Marxism, etc..
- The rise of critical criminology.
What is known as the most contentious period in the Western world?
The Era of Rights.
Where did Critical Criminology arise from?
The Era of Rights.
Which sub-field of criminology put political power as the epicentre of criminal outcomes?
Critical criminology.
People criminalize what runs against their interests. Laws can be a response to societal factors. What kind of criminology would make these statements?
Critical criminology.
Give an example of laws as a response to societal factors?
Sitting around and talking was a crime when the Black Plague was around.
Risk society happens when there is a shift from…
“I am hungry” to “I am afraid.”
Describe the “I am hungry” mentality.
When basic needs have not been fulfilled. This is the defining variable, and these societies are different from societies which moral economy of fear is the defining variable.
Describe the “I am afraid” mentality.
When moral economy of fear is the defining variable. Moral, political, and cultural economy of fear. You are scared of your neighbour.
What event directly led to the “I am afraid” mentality?
De-industrialization.
How did de-industrialization lead to the “I am afraid” mentality?
- Age of ideas, software, and information technology.
- Wealthy countries have gone beyond manufacturing goods.
- Focus on intangible products rather than material goods.
Give examples of what people might say in a risk society.
- Red wine is good for you/bad for you.
- You need to watch your BMI.
- You have to watch your own self.
Manufactured problems are symptomatic of…
The risk society.
As opposed to objective dangers, subjective dangers are…
Made up. These do not have to involve deception.
Give an example of the pervasiveness of risk and risk discourse.
- Schools may be shut down because someone pulled a prank.
- Get on an airplane and mention a bomb, and you are arrested.
Risk societies have ___ ___ economies.
Post-industrial.
Give characteristics of a risk society.
- Temporality of human relationships.
- Nothing is solid, nothing is fixed.
- Liquid life, liquid society, liquid modernity.
- There is no solidity.
Risk societies are the result of…
Economic excess.
What are the six postulates of the risk society thesis?
- Overdevelopment of ‘techno-economic’ capacity.
- ‘Catastrophic society’ concerned with risks coming from mega-technology.
- Risks are ‘politically reflexive.’
- Risk is a big business, but not immune to the ‘boomerang effect.’
- Science and scientists become demystified in a risk society.
- Scientific and social rationalities of risks do not often cohere in a risk society.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that accidents or problems in risk society do not come from natural disasters, but overdevelopment of ‘techno-economic’ capacity. What does this mean?
Society is concerned with the management of the often unknown and unintended risks and anxieties.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that the risk society is a ‘catastrophic society’ essentially concerned with the management of the often unknown and unintended risks and anxieties emanating from products of mega-technology.
Megatechnology is trying to improve technology. For example, TASERS were changed from non-lethal to less-lethal, because manufacturers did not mean for people to die.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that risks are ‘politically reflexive.’ What does that mean?
People are unequally affected by risks, and are affected as a result of class inequalities and other social issues.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that the risk society is a big business. Give an example.
Weight loss programs.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that scientists and scientists become demystified in a risk society. What does this mean?
It becomes clear that there is no expert on risk.
One postulate of the Risk Society Thesis is that scientific and social rationalities do not often cohere in a risk society. What does this mean?
There is little experts can do on how they view risk.
What are some things that the risk society has led to?
- Eclipse of trust, communality, and the rise of the individual.
- Social construction of danger and the riskiness of youth.
- The rise of neo-liberlaism.
- Responsibilization.
What is the eclipse of trust, communality, and the rise of the individual?
- Asks who can we trust?
- Sense of community evaporates in a risk society over time.
- “The good neighbour is the one you don’t know.”
What is meant by the social construction of danger and the riskiness of youth?
Youth are a problem to themselves and to the rest of society.
What is the rise of neo-liberlaism?
- Roll back of government and governance.
- Get rid of welfare.
- Those who cannot thrive should not be helped to survive.
- Those who believe that government should not supply health care.
What is responsibilization?
You should be responsible for yourself.
Foucault and governmentality focuses on the ___ of power.
Creativity.
What is creativity of power?
- Power is inventive.
- Power produces.
- Anything can be made legal or illegal.
- Giver of the law stands outside of the law.
Power has an influence on the ___ of reality, object, and truth.
Invention/production.
Governmentality
The conduct of conduct.
Give an example of how laws can be used as tactics.
Gay marriage law was passed in 2005. However, in reality, there was nothing in Canadian law that says gay marriage is legal. All they did was redefine the idea of marriage.
What ideas focused on the creativity of power, governmentality, the discipline and gaze of power, and the disciplinary society?
Foucault and governmentality. .
Who came up with the Panopticon?
Jeremy Bentham.
What did Jeremy Bentham come up with?
The Panopticon.
Panopticon
A structure built in a way that each person in each of the cells feels that they are being watched.
Give an example of a historical and modern dau panopticon.
Soviet gulags, iPhones telling you where photos were taken.
What idea uses the strength of centralizing power, and tonnes of inmates in their cells behaving in a way that suggests the guard is watching them?
The panopticon.
