Week 2, Paper 1
Jonathan Lowen
“Over the last several decades, historians and sociologist have devoted increasing attention to the phenomenon of social control – the mechanism by which powerful groups consciously or unconsciously attempt to restrain and induce conformity, even assent, among less powerful but nonetheless threatening segments of society. Laws, institutions such as schools and prisons, medical policies, informal gestures of approbation or displeasure, even forms of language – all may constitute forms of social control"....“The control achieved may be merely external, as when people are force to do things against their wills; or it may be internal, so thoroughly absorbed by its subjects that they come to monitor …show more content…
Social control, formed as a functional need in response to urbanization and the eventual formations of states. Prior to the formations of states, the world was governed by a feudal system where the lord of the land ruled as the default highest authority. Author P. W. A. Immink’s concept of social control is the relationship between ruler and the ruled, and that in a sense, punishment can only be given to subordinates; without subordination, there is no punishment. Because freemen were not subordinate to other freemen, they could only handle conflicts personally. Many times these conflicts would end in violence. During the feudal age, men were only considered free if they owned property, a piece of land where they had total independence from any and other worldly powers. As time progressed, freemen began to attach themselves to lords, the concept of freedom transformed into being directly bound to a kind, or in other words, subordination to a king. As a result, the king remained the only freeman in the sense of land ownership and thusly could punish all his subjects, even those of which considered themselves free. This caused a centralization of power which allowed for the formation of a state. Crimes no longer were conducted just against a person, but also against the state. As kings began to administer punishments to persons …show more content…
This new age of persons disliked corporal and capital punishments and would soon begin follow the arguments of Beccaria 's essay On Crimes and Punishments. Beccaria 's argument was that capital and corporal punishments were obsolete. Not in the sense of cruelty, but imprisonment is crueler, therefore deterrent. Imprisonment meant to be sent to hard labor, slave labor. It was not uncommon during the time of the Roman Empire that persons would be imprisoned, thusly stripping all previous high social status, and left with the status of a slave. Beccaria 's idea of imprisonment being the cruelest form of punishment was that, imprison until his debt was repaid to society through labor. In short, Beccaria 's plan was reduce those who have wrongs others and society into slaves. This in itself sounds very strong as a deterrent in order to control behavior, but as time went on, and society’s view of punishment changed once more, prisons became a place for
Jonathan Lowen
“Over the last several decades, historians and sociologist have devoted increasing attention to the phenomenon of social control – the mechanism by which powerful groups consciously or unconsciously attempt to restrain and induce conformity, even assent, among less powerful but nonetheless threatening segments of society. Laws, institutions such as schools and prisons, medical policies, informal gestures of approbation or displeasure, even forms of language – all may constitute forms of social control"....“The control achieved may be merely external, as when people are force to do things against their wills; or it may be internal, so thoroughly absorbed by its subjects that they come to monitor …show more content…
Social control, formed as a functional need in response to urbanization and the eventual formations of states. Prior to the formations of states, the world was governed by a feudal system where the lord of the land ruled as the default highest authority. Author P. W. A. Immink’s concept of social control is the relationship between ruler and the ruled, and that in a sense, punishment can only be given to subordinates; without subordination, there is no punishment. Because freemen were not subordinate to other freemen, they could only handle conflicts personally. Many times these conflicts would end in violence. During the feudal age, men were only considered free if they owned property, a piece of land where they had total independence from any and other worldly powers. As time progressed, freemen began to attach themselves to lords, the concept of freedom transformed into being directly bound to a kind, or in other words, subordination to a king. As a result, the king remained the only freeman in the sense of land ownership and thusly could punish all his subjects, even those of which considered themselves free. This caused a centralization of power which allowed for the formation of a state. Crimes no longer were conducted just against a person, but also against the state. As kings began to administer punishments to persons …show more content…
This new age of persons disliked corporal and capital punishments and would soon begin follow the arguments of Beccaria 's essay On Crimes and Punishments. Beccaria 's argument was that capital and corporal punishments were obsolete. Not in the sense of cruelty, but imprisonment is crueler, therefore deterrent. Imprisonment meant to be sent to hard labor, slave labor. It was not uncommon during the time of the Roman Empire that persons would be imprisoned, thusly stripping all previous high social status, and left with the status of a slave. Beccaria 's idea of imprisonment being the cruelest form of punishment was that, imprison until his debt was repaid to society through labor. In short, Beccaria 's plan was reduce those who have wrongs others and society into slaves. This in itself sounds very strong as a deterrent in order to control behavior, but as time went on, and society’s view of punishment changed once more, prisons became a place for