Week02_Slides_Prohabition

Prohibitionism

Definition: Banning of certain behaviors, properties, or partnerships by the state, as explained by Meadowcroft.
Government Control: Assumes partial ownership rights over citizens, potentially reducing individual liberty.
Justification: Often backed by the harm principle, suggesting actions can be restricted if they cause harm to others.
Example: Planning laws that prevent the demolition of listed buildings demonstrate state control over property rights.

Definition: Interference by the state or individuals with another against their will, intended to protect from harm.
Analogy: Family dynamics—state as the father, individual as the child.
Political Models: Left emphasizes unconditional love; right favors a patriarchal approach according to George Lakoff.
Conflict: Creates tension between individual autonomy and perceived necessity to protect individuals from their own decisions.

Origin: Articulated by J.S. Mill; asserts individuals cannot be protected from themselves but from causing harm to others.
Liberty: Individual choices should be respected, even if deemed harmful by others.
Example: Individuals cannot be forcibly prevented from using heroin, just guided on potential consequences of such actions.
Slippery Slope: Any intervention can be justified by claiming potential harm, complicating ethical considerations of personal freedom.

Law Enforcement Diversion: Resources reallocated from genuine harm actions.
Bureaucratic Overhang: Requires funding from taxes and complicates governance due to vested interests.
Criminal Organizations: Prohibition creates price differentials, increasing criminal activity in otherwise lawful populations.
Public Ignorance: Powerful interest groups influence policy, exacerbating stereotypes and misconceptions about prohibited behaviors.

Offsetting Behaviors: Individuals often find ways to circumvent restrictions.
Intrusive Regulation: Effective prohibition demands high government intrusion, often unacceptable in a free society.
Misaddressed Issues: Focus on symptoms rather than root causes of societal problems leads to ineffective outcomes.
Cycle of Failure: Prohibition can paradoxically increase the very issues it seeks to eliminate.

Abolitionism Definition: Advocating for the removal of prohibitive laws in favor of regulation, such as for sex work.
Historical Context: Early abolitionists aimed to repeal the Criminal Law Amendment Act (CDA) to favor regulation.
Social Purity Movement: Emerged post-abolitionism focused on moral cleanliness, imposing a triple standard on behavior.
World War 1 Influence: Social hygiene movement emphasized medical practicality and sexual education over moral issues.

Causative Factors: Weitzer identifies public nuisance, traditional morality, and women's oppression driving a moral crusade.

Sensationalism: Inflation of perceived social problems, with horror stories misrepresenting norms.
Atmosphere of Fear: Dramatization leads to calls for strict measures through the slippery slope argument.

Definition: Exaggerated societal reaction to perceived threats, often exacerbated by media.
Societal Transformation: Overreactions can transform societal fears into reality, as discussed by Stan Cohen.

Origin: Arise from real events but escalate due to sensational media reporting.
Consequences: Amplified societal anxiety leads to increased policing and labeling of deviant behaviors.

Disproportionate Reactions: Routine events portrayed as extraordinary threats igniting fear.
Deviance Amplification: Media plays a crucial role in framing moral panics and establishing societal boundaries.

Listing: Responses to garrotting, mods and rockers, hippies, skinheads.
Recent Examples: Concerns surrounding binge drinking, 'stranger danger,' and views on children as perpetual victims.

Moral Panics and Prohibitions: The pandemic sparked prohibitions and moral panics, showcasing varying societal reactions.