THEORY QUIZ Flashcards
LAW VS SOC
LAW: law is official and institutional
SOC: law is everyday and cultural
3 TRAITS OF LAW
- ESSENTIAL ROLE OF DEMOCRACY
- fairness as foundational - LAW AS A MANUAL
- an official guide - LAW IS ALSO ENABLING
- law wields power
LAWS 3 COMPONENTS (ACTUAL THINGS)
- THE STATE, LAWMAKING AND THE LEGAL DOCTRINE
- CJS: POLICE, COURTS, CORRECTIONS
- THE LEGAL PROFESSION
LAW VS LEGALITY
LAW : as an institution
Ø The state, lawmaking and legal doctrine Ø CJS: policing, courts, corrections Ø The legal profession Ø Law as an official institution Ø "it is part of the destiny of the law to absorb little by little elements that are alien to it"
LEGALITY: as a behavioural system
- not the law itself, but having a LEGAL DIMENSION
Ø Legal consciousness
Ø Law as expertise
Ø Law, inequality and symbolic violence
Ø Cultural orientations towards law
Ø Law as “everyday” and cultural
LEGALITY’S 3 COMPONENTS
- LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS
- LAW IS EXPRESSIVE
- LAW, EQUALITY AND SYMBOLIC VIOLENCE
EMILE DURKHEIM MAIN CONCERN
Ø Chiefly concerned with society as a moral system
- Groups of people stick together because they share a common belief of what is right
EMILE DURKHEIM 3 KEY CONCEPTS
COLLECTIVE CONSCIENCE
Ø System of commonly shared beliefs and values
Ø Creates common condition of existence (social cohesion)
ANOMIE
Ø State of consciousness
SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
- Change of the division of labour led to social division, but still brought together because of their morals
Ø Mechanic versus organic
MECHANICIAL SOLIDARITY
Tribal (feudal) societies
God / religion (creates a
Set of rules for people to follow)
Communal life
Basic division of labour
(range of jobs limited)
Cogs (machine things that work similar and are interchangeable)
ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
Modern (industrialized) societies
(we focus on our own families/ ourselves, not other people)
Man / secularism
individuality
Specialized division of labour (special firemen for fires, etc)
Human body (distinct parts that all work together)
ORGANIC SOLIDARITY (IN TERMS OF LAW)
COOPERATIVE LAW (less punitive)
Focuses on restoring relationships/ social harmony instead of repressing
PRISONS
RESITUTION
MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY (IN TERMS OF LAW)
REPRESSIVE LAW (condemns those who break the law)
DEATH
RETRIBUTION
EMILE DURKHEIM, LAW IS ESSENTIAL: 2 POINTS
- Most objective single indicator of collective morality
- Produces + reaffirms social order
- What happens when someone breaks the law? Gets in trouble, showing both them and onlookers not to do so
- Produces + reaffirms social order
KARL MARX MAIN CONCERN
Ø Chiefly concerned with economic conditions under capitalism
BASE VS SUPERSTRUCTURE
Ø Economic base (means and relations of production)
Ø Superstructure (shaped by the base; controlled by the ruling class)
ALIENATION
- Alienation occurs when they can’t achieve their species being
- Happens because:
1. Detached from the things they make because they can’t control what they make
2. Little control for how they do it
3. Workers don’t get to explore their creative potential
4. Workers cannot share with the rest of their peers because capitalism creates competition
- Happens because:
LAW FACILITATES THE RULING CLASS’S OPPRESSION OF THE WORKING CLASS IN 2 WAY
- LAW (IN THE SUPERSTRUCTURE) HELPS MAINTAIN PRIVATE PROPERTY (PART OF THE BASE)
- Benefits the ruling class more because they own more property
- LAW LEGITIMIZES THE SOCIAL ORDER THROUGH THE FAÇADE OF JUSTICE (EX: LEGAL RIGHTS FOR ALL)
- Helps them feel good about their work
STRATEGY OF CONTROLLING THE POOR
- PRISON LABOUR
- Link between Penal policy and the economic requirements of capitalism
- “LESS ELIGIBLE” PRINCIPLE
- Prisons adapt conditions that are less eligible/ worse than the worst living conditions on the outside
- This makes the betterment of oneself basically impossible because it’s the worst of the worst
- Makes sure you will take the labour over prison - PROMINENT USE OF FINES ($)
- Fining assumes the whole population has expendable cash
- The ones who don’t, it’s a cycle
FEM PERSPECTIVES: KEY AREAS (7)
- HISTORICAL CRITIQUE
Ø Go back in history to find the laws that have harmed women perpetuated- Marriage
- Property (women used to be property to husbands and fathers)
- Reproductive rights
- CHALLENGING PATRIARCHY
Ø Patriarchal norms that are challenged by feminists
Ø Dismantle structures that facilitate male dominance
- Questioning employment laws that women’s primary role is to be at home with the children - EQUALITY AND JUSTICE
Ø Advocate for legal reforms that can create equality
Ø Recognizing differences in the needs for men and women
- Equal pay for equal work
- Anti-discrimination laws against women
- Policies that support inclusion - REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
Ø Dealing with the biological reality that women are responsible for doing everything to create a human being
Ø Bodily autonomy an essential right
- Safe abortions
- Comprehensive reproductive care
- Challenging restrictions that pose challenges to them
Ø Goal of a society that no one’s life outcomes are defined by your reproductive rights - VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Ø Any history of the development of the law as it relates to the women and male violence is also a chronicle of the history of the women’s movement and it’s relationship to law. ALL of the legislation and policy that recognizes women’s rights to be free of male violence has been put in place because of the political strength and persistence of the women’s movement in our country.
Ø Male partners #1 violence committers against women - FAMILY LAW
Ø Assumptions about marriage, divorce, child custody and property distribution
Ø Reforms that challenge traditional power imbalances
- Pushing for shared parenting support
- Or child custody, when one parent is often favoured than the other (mothers)
- When gender equal policies put in place, people USE them (ex: fathers who get to see their children more often) - INTERSECTIONALITY
Ø Recognition that gender and sex intersect with other social categories (race, class, etc)
Ø About understanding how various forms of oppression and privilege compound, and how that influences peoples relationship with the legal system
Ø Trying to create a legal system that is more just, equitable and RESPONSIVE
FORMAL EQUALITY
Ø Individuals treated equally under the law regardless of personal characteristics or circumstances
- Equal opportunity (ex: you cannot exclude someone on the basis of sex)
- Uniform treatment
- Legal equality
SUBSTANTIVE EQUALITY
Ø Individuals treated equitably under the law in light of underlying social and economic inequalities
Ø Recognizes that people start from different positions
- Redistributive justice (ex: affirmat
- Address disparity
- Material equality
3 FRAMES OF LAW
- BEFORE THE LAW
Ø Legality is majestic, principled and transcendent. The story law tells of itself- one of “grandeur” and “impartiality”
Ø Law is formal rules- Known, fixed, impervious to individual action (objective) and informed
- Authoritative and predictable
Ø Law operates in a separate sphere from ordinary life - “it’s grand, it’s over there, it’s not in my everyday life” “I don’t use my police that way”
- Reserved for some matter of public or general interest
- WITH THE LAW
Ø Legality is a game to be played, a terrain of “tactical encounters”
Ø Law is effective for getting things done
- A tool to be wielded to serve the widest range of purposes as new uses emerge
Ø Law is an arena of self interest
- Requires skill, resources, experience
- The “haves” come out ahead
- “its fun” (ex: television, judge Judy) - UP AGAINST THE LAW
Ø Legality is arbitrary and capricious
- Law offers no other ulterior but submission
Ø Law as something to be resisted and which resists “have nots”
- “making do”
Ø Law is an ass, an idiot - Charles Dickens
- Expensive $
