LEGAL STUDIES 160 – STUDY GUIDE 1

Common (or Collective) Conscience

Shared ideas, beliefs, and sentiments that maintain social cohesion.

Social Solidarity

The level of connectedness within a society.

Mechanical Solidarity

Bonded by shared values in pre-modern societies.

Organic Solidarity

Interdependence in modern societies due to division of labor.

Class Struggle

Conflict between social classes, particularly bourgeoisie vs. proletariat.

Sovereignty

Supreme legal authority within a territory.

Secular Monarch

Authority based on legal or political structures.

Quantitative Law of Penal Evolution

Punishments become less severe as societies evolve.

Qualitative Law of Penal Evolution

Punishment shifts from corporal methods to imprisonment.

Principle of Least Eligibility

Prison conditions must be worse than the lowest economic class.

Penal Institutions

Systems of punishment including prisons, courts, police, and detention centers.

Myth of Repayment

Crime creates a debt that punishment must settle.

Discipline

Regulation of behavior through surveillance and institutional control.

Political Technologies

Tools for exercising power, such as surveillance and policing.

Microphysics of Power

Power operates through disciplinary techniques in everyday life.

Carceral State

Network of institutions that monitor, control, and punish individuals.

Labor Markets

Punishment fluctuates based on economic conditions and labor supply.

Crises of the Political Economy

Penal institutions expand during economic and social crises.

Legal Revolution

Major shifts in legal structures reshaping state and institutional control.