Social Contract Theories :Antecedents to Classical

Criminology

Renaissance…

Recall: Rediscovery of Greek Classics

Athens literature Aristotle

ScienceLogic

Social Contract Theories

Theoretical positions that explain social order in terms of a persons’ moral and political obligations, which depend upon a contract or agreement among people to form the society in which they live

Laws made his way of life Relationship between citizens and the

Laws of the city are not coerced (choose death & social contract)

‘‘Crito’Crito’ Socrates Socrates

Contractual Theories...

Today •Hobbes, Locke Rousseau

Next Class•Continue lecture•In class critical thinking exercise about...

Tuesday, 29th

Not a lecture/Group Work Tutorial

Thomas Hobbes (1588 -1679)

Radical Conservative

Leviathan (1651)Leviathan (1651) Social order is created by humans

Monarchy should have absolute powerSovereign state ruling over ‘equals’Authoritative government & commodious living

HobbesState of Nature:State of Nature:Natural’ causes of conflict:1. Limited material possessions2. Distrust3. Glory (power)

Natural human condition:“ in a state of perpetual war of all against all”

(Delaney, 2004:3)

No morality & constant fearRationality to seek Social Contract

How does this assumption translate temporally?How does this assumption translate temporally?

John Locke (1632 -1704)

Two Treatises on Government (1689)

Right to self-preservation through private property appropriationappropriation*

Authority of King: Protection of people’s property & well being.

Room for resistance …

Free will restricted only by God; precedes society & state.

State of Nature:State of Nature:

“perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others” (pre-political, but not pre-moral)

Peaceful Conjugal Society

Locke

Locke

Money leads to unequal possession

of Earth

Money leads to unequal possession

of Earth

Power granted to Civil Government by property owners and not majority

Power granted to Civil Government by property owners and not majority

Government has no rights, only responsibilities…

Government has no rights, only responsibilities…

Jean Jaques Rousseau

Social Contract Social Contract (1762)(1762)“Man was born free, and he is

everywhere in chains” (49).

How can we live together, free from coercion?

Through the collective renunciation of the individual rights and freedom (“forced to be free”)

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 -1778)

The Social Contract (1762)The Social Contract (1762)Generally peaceful● Think wilderness● Few conflicts● Many resources

Changes with population growth & civilization

Communities/Leisure time● Preferences● conflicts

Rousseau: Ideal Society

Grew in relation to good governanceAll members of society have an equal voicePeople are equal to their occupationNo one is above the lawRejected individual power in favor of collectiveNew members should not alter the state to their advantagePreservation from conquest

The importance of Social Contract Theories….

“Contractual models have come to inform a vast variety of relations and interaction between persons, from students and their teachers, to authors and their readers.”

Classical Criminology & Neo-Classical Crime Policy

Midterm 2: Critical Reflection Paper

Due Sunday Nov.24 @ 23:30 (e-mail submission guidelines)Group Work: approximately 3 people per groupGroup Work: approximately 3 people per group

Incorporate all 4 readings from weeks 9 & 10 and the guest lecture into a critical essay about the Carleton County Gaol (Crime & Punishment tour). You are not to use external sources for this assignment. Students will include three main sections in the paper:

Discuss the emergence of ideology about punishment in the classical period

Discuss Foucault’s critiques of the Classical approach and Becarria’s work in relation to the

Panopticon.

Describe how the Carleton County Gaol is a manifestation of these ideas and theories about crime and punishment.

SEE FORMATTING ASSIGNMENT & SUBMISSION SEE FORMATTING ASSIGNMENT & SUBMISSION GUIDELINESGUIDELINES

Group Work???

In Class Exercise (Thurs):Think about your relationship to the university in terms of a social contract:

1.Is it Hobbesian or Locke/Rousseau inspired (or neither)?

2.Critical Thinking•Break off in groups of 3-5•Discuss the purpose of the contract, authority, morality•Discuss punishment•How else could it be ordered (agreement/validity)?

Contemporary Critiques

“…social contract theory is at least an incomplete picture of our moral and political lives, and may in fact camouflage some of the ways in which the contract is itself parasitical upon the subjugations of classes of persons.”

Ethnocentric View of Social Order