Legal Studies 160 Study Guide

Common (or Collective) Conscience

Ideas, beliefs, and sentiments shared by members of a society, functioning as a unifying force that maintains social cohesion.

Social Solidarity

The level of connectedness and integration within a society, studied by Durkheim.

Mechanical Solidarity

Social bonds found in pre-modern societies characterized by minimal division of labor and shared values.

Organic Solidarity

Social bonds in modern societies marked by complex division of labor and interdependence.

Class Struggle

Conflict between social classes, particularly the bourgeoisie (wealthy ruling class) and the proletariat (working class), rooted in Marxist theory.

Sovereignty

The supreme legal authority within a territory, particularly related to the centralization of power.

Secular Monarch

A ruler whose authority derives from legal or political structures rather than religious doctrine.

Law of Penal Evolution

Durkheim's theory that as societies evolve, the severity of punishment decreases.

Qualitative Law of Penal Evolution

Durkheim's theory that the type of punishment changes over time, evolving from corporal punishment to imprisonment.

Principle of Least Eligibility

The idea that the living conditions of prisoners should be worse than those of the lowest economic class to act as a deterrent.

Penal Institutions

Include prisons, courts, police, parole, probation systems, asylums, and detention centers; evolved from economic, political, and social crises.

Myths of Punishment

Beliefs that legitimize penal institutions and shape public perceptions of justice.

Power and Control Discipline

A mechanism to regulate behavior in modern societies through surveillance and institutional control.

Political Technologies

Strategies and tools used to systematically exercise power, like surveillance systems and bureaucratic procedures.

Microphysics of Power

Foucault's concept of power operating at a micro-level through disciplinary techniques rather than overt oppression.

Carceral State

A network of institutions designed to monitor, control, and punish individuals, including prisons and police forces.

Labor Markets

Economic conditions influencing the severity of punishment; harsher when labor is abundant and more lenient when scarce.

Crises of the Political Economy

Responses of penal institutions and reforms to political and economic crises, linked to the expansion of the carceral state.

Legal Revolution

Significant shifts in legal structures and ideologies that reshape the relationship between the state, individuals, and institutions of control.