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Law and Social Control
-- By KhurramDara - 15 Feb 2012 |
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< | Civil Rights and Behavior
One theme we’ve discussed in our class thus far has been the view of the law as a form of social control. Eben has said that law is a weak form of social control. I want to discuss two examples in which law does not seem to have a strong affect on behavior, and discuss what functionality the law has. |
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> | Social Control
**use this section to explain how other forms of social control are more powerful than law. |
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< | Consider the civil rights movement, particularly for blacks in America. What role has the law played? There have been a total of eight federal civil rights laws that were passed dating as far back as 1866 and as recently as 1991. State governments have passed their own versions of these civil rights acts. And there have been several Supreme Court cases that upheld these laws and struck down other laws that sought to racially discriminate.
The second federal civil rights act in 1871, known as the Ku Klux Klan act, prohibited ethnic violence towards blacks. Since the acts passage there were over 3,000 blacks lynched. So several other civil rights acts were passed subsequent to 1871. And after those acts were passed, we saw voter disenfranchisement based on race, along with segregation in schools and other public places. So more laws were passed and more court cases decided. Despite this, in 1991 Rodney King was beat nearly to death at the hands of the Los Angeles police.
It seems that what protects racial violence and discrimination is not our laws, it’s our collective mindset, a societal belief that we should not treat people differently because of their race. The American youth started to interact, study, and socialize with one another. They didn’t need a law or class to tell them that black people were no less deserving of rights than white people. They had lived with them, experienced life with them, and knew that in many respects, they shared a lot in common. |
| | I don't know how you
come to the historical conclusion that you come to. You don't show |
| | First Amendment Protections and Behavior |
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< | In the ten years since 9/11 I’ve watched organization after organization in the American Muslim community look to laws and the legal system to control social attitudes about Muslims in America. Thanks to the change our societal mindset that took place during the civil rights movement, the harassment and bigotry faced by American Muslims is not even remotely as severe as what other groups throughout American history have faced. |
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> | **use this section to outline the overarching challenges Muslims face (irrational suspicion, anti-Sharia legislation, Spencer/Geller/Gaffney type group, mosque protests) |
| | I don't think the
measurement of "severity," is the most useful one. Social situations |
| | has happened or is happening or internally tends to happen between
black and white people in the Unites State. |
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< | This softer bigotry has taken various forms. For example, when Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he was accused of being Muslim. He wasn’t accused of being linked to a radical or terrorist group, he accused simply of being Muslim, as if there were something inherently wrong with being a member of the Islamic faith. |
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| | He was accused of both.
The opposing candidate publicly rejected efforts by voters to |
| | around with terrorists." I'm not sure why this matters, but if it
does we should be accurate about it. |
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< | A mosque construction site in Tennessee was set ablaze last year. In August a Manhattan taxi driver was stabbed, allegedly because he was Muslim. |
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| | We could find many more
examples of this form of criminal violence directed against Muslims, |
| | The premier Muslim advocacy organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations, has filed lawsuit upon lawsuit for every incidence of harassment or violence. They point to the law, not a statute or common law principle, but a fundamental right in the First Amendment, which protects freedom of religion. |
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> | **change this section to explain how this is a short term strategy, it is to be "that" AND "this." Law can be a good form of attaining short term goals (if one has the resources and ability to use the judicial process). |
| | This would make sense as
a strategy in the event of the passage of state laws that impeded
Muslim freedom of worship or religious practice for non-secular |
| | As an American Muslim, I can see how law is not the most preferable form of social control. A far better approach for the Muslim community would be to mirror some of the factors that led to successful integration and reduced discrimination towards blacks in America. Building personal connections and social bonds with other Americans would probably be a stronger antidote to negative stereotypes. How likely is it for a man who has a positive working relationship with a Muslim, or even a friendship with one, to protest a Muslim’s ability to practice their faith freely? A societal change in mindset is need for actual change to take place. |
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> | **this needs to be an "American exceptionalism" argument. An American Muslim is not the same as a Syrian Muslim, Saudi Muslim, or Eyptian one. There is something about the way American society works that makes what I am saying better suited for American Muslims, than any other type of Muslim. Think about what those unique qualities are. Then write them down here. |
| | Is this actually the
historical and social lesson concerning the treatment of Muslims
living in non-Islamic society? Is it how Indian society works? How |
| | Much like Arnold highlights the irrationality of politics, there's a certain irrationality in some of the fear that exists about Muslims in America. For example, fact that most would fear bearded men, wearing traditional Islamic garb with a Qur'an in hand at the airport, when in reality every single one of the hijackers on 9/11 was clean-shaven or with minimal facial hair, wearing jeans or khakis and button down shirts. Educating people about the flaws and inaccuracies of negative stereotypes would be the rational response, but of course, you can't reason with someone who can't reason himself. |
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> | **ask Eben what his comments mean. |
| | Which is all of us.
Because our rational processes are the secondary rather than primary
forces in our minds. Secular people who have absorbed the ideas we |