Social Science History
Biographical Literature Reviews

Being written by Social Science History students at Middlesex University

Aquinas - books and articles

Aquinas - weblinks

Thomas Aquinas was a theologian and philosopher writing in the thirteenth century. Unlike Comte, who saw theological thinking as a necessary step to science, but a hindrance in an attempt to gain real understanding, Aquinas believed that it was through theology that real truth could be found. He even refers to his work as a science.

Aquinas was ordained a priest around 1250 and began teaching at the university of Paris a few years later. His first writings were summaries of lectures that he gave during this time. In his first major work, he wrote commentaries on the work of an Italian theologian, Peter Lombard, a man who can be considered a great influential character for Aquinas.

Aquinas was also greatly influenced by both the work of Aristotle and by Roman Catholic doctrine and was the first to develop a synthesis of these. While it had previously been thought that their views were at opposition to one another, Aquinas attempted to show that they are fully compatible. In his most famous work, the Summa Theologica, he scientifically arranges an exposition of this, showing how he thinks theology and philosophy are related.

Unlike Comte, who saw theological thinking as a hindrance in an attempt to gain real understanding, Aquinas believed that it was through theology that real truth could be found. For him, theology really was wisdom. He even refers to his work as a science. We can immediately see by this, a direct contrast to the views of Comte on theology's worth. Aquinas believed theology to be a science because he saw it proceeding from principles that are certain.

"Sacred doctrine is a science...because it proceeds from principles established by the light of a higher science, namely, the science of God." (Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 1, Answer 2)

Before Aquinas, western thought had been dominated by the idea that in search for truth, people must depend on sense experience, and it was widely believed that philosophy was independent of revelation. Writing in the thirteenth century, Aquinas was influenced largely by the work of Aristotle and spent a great deal of time attempting to produce a synthesis of his work and Christian doctrine. At the time of Aquinas' writing, the Averroist theory of double truth was prominent. It was widely believed that philosophical and theological truths could not be related. Reason and revelation were considered at opposition to one another. Aquinas, however, did not accept this idea.

Aquinas believed that there could only be one truth. He saw, however, that there are two ways of knowing truth: many things are accessible to natural reason but there are some things which can only be known about God by faith in what has been revealed to us. Russell, however, criticises Aquinas by saying that before he begins to philosophise, he already knows the 'truth' as the answers lie in the Catholic faith.

Aquinas, however, does see certain cases in which both revelation and rational demonstration can be used to find truth. The existence of God and the immortality of the soul are examples of these. He believed that God revealed these truths to make them accessible to people who did not have a philosophical mind.

"It was necessary that man should be taught by a divine revelation; because the truth about God such as reason could discover, would only be known by a few, and that after a long time and with the admixture of many errors_It was therefore necessary that besides philosophical science built up by reason, there should be a sacred science learned through revelation." ( (Summa Theologica, Part 1. Question 1. Answer 1)

For those that did have a philosophical mind, Aquinas believed that using rational reasoning, he could demonstrate that God exists. He produced five famous proofs for the existence of God in part one, question one, answer three of the his Summa Theologica. The first of these is the argument of the unmoved mover, the second is the argument of the First Cause and the third is that there must be an ultimate cause of all necessity. These first three arguments are very similar and could be criticised for actually being the same argument, and so, in fact, offer only one proof. The fourth proof states that because there are perfections in the world, they must be the source of something perfect. The fifth proof argues that things must have a purpose.

Aquinas' belief that he could use rational reasoning as well as revelation to prove the existence of God, suggests that he did not see philosophy and theology as being opposed as was commonly thought. He actually believed them to be related, although distinct. He saw them being related in the sense that by demonstrating the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, philosophy shows that faith is necessary. Theology helps philosophy to reflect more deeply and correct itself if a philosophical conclusion is contrary to the mysteries of faith. ( (Summa Theologica, Part 1, Question 1. Answer 1 - Queston 12 Answer 4 - Question 32, Answer 1). Aquinas saw that nothing in revelation is contrary to reason.

"Whatsoever is found in other sciences contrary to any truth of this science must be condemned as false." (Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 1, Answer 6)

It seems evident then, that for Aquinas, it is in theology that real truth is found. Unlike Comte, who believed that theological thinking would not lead to knowledge and understanding, Aquinas held the belief that theology was in fact wisdom.

"Sacred doctrine is especially called wisdom." (Summa Theologica Part 1. Question 1. Answer 6)

He believed that a wise person would consider the end of the universe. This is because he believed that things get their end from their maker and so considering its end will mean considering its source. The wise person that does this will not consider just one area of truth as the various sciences do, but that truth which is the source of all truth.

"He who considers absolutely the highest cause of the whole universe, namely God, is most of all called wise." (Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 1, Answer 6)

This was important for Aquinas as he held the ancient concept of wisdom; that a good ruler would need to be a wise man so that he knew how to order and direct things. This real wisdom, which can be obtained by rational reasoning and revelation, was, for Aquinas, different to mere science as we require wisdom to use our scientific knowledge. In his Summa Theologica, Aquinas states his belief that,

"Other sciences consider only those things which are within reason's grasp." (Summa Theologica Part 1. Question 1. Answer 5)

One could infer, a belief that theology, for Aquinas, far from being inferior, is 'above' the other sciences as it goes beyond considering things which only reason can obtain knowledge of. It is evident that, for Aquinas, theology is the highest form of wisdom.

"the slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things." (Summa Theologica Part 1, Question 1. Answer 5)

For Aquinas then, it is through theology, rather than any other science that we can obtain real truth.

In comparing this idea to the ideas of Comte, we see a distinct difference. While Aquinas holds the idea that rational reasoning and considering questions about the universe and its source will provide us with truth, Comte sees that only positive thinking can do this and that thinking theologically is a vain search after absolute notions. Our thought needs to evolve into the positive stage of thinking where observation will help us to gain real knowledge.

Aquinas, unlike many other philosophers, maintains that we can know objects as they are in reality outside of ourselves. He believed that we can know things in two ways: as they exist in themselves and as they exist in thought. He states,

"the intelligible species, is the form by which the intellect understands. But since the intellect reflects upon itself, by such reflection it understands both its own act of intelligence, and the species by which it understands. Thus the intelligible species is that which is understood secondarily; but that which is primarily understood is the object of which the species is the likeness." (Summa Theologica Part 1. Question 85. Answer 2)

It seems clear then, that contrary to the views of other philosophers such as Locke, for example, who believed that we do not know things in themselves, only our ideas of them, Aquinas thought that our ideas are the way by which we know things and not merely all that we know. For him,

"the soul knows external things by means of its intelligible species." (Summa Theologica Part 1. Question 85. Answer 2)

Aristotle - books and articles

Aristotle - weblinks

Beccaria - books and articles

Beccaria - weblinks

Life and works

Beccaria was an Italian born in Milan. In 1713 the rule of Milan had passed from the Spanish to the Austrians. The rule of Empress Maria Teresa of Austria (1740-1780) and her son and successor Joseph 2nd of Austria (1780- 1790) gave rise to a long period of reform and cultural and economic reawakening. Beccaria's On Crime and Punishment) (1764) has been described as the high point of the Milan enlightenment and Il Caffè, the journal he wrote for between 1764 and 1766, as the reference point of Italian enlightenment reforms. (il punto di riferimento del riformismo illuministico italiano).

15.3.1738 Cesare Beccaria born into an aristocratic family in Milan Italy.

1746 At the age of eight Beccaria was sent to Parma to receive a Jesuit education. He displayed a talent and liking for Mathematics.

1748 Montesquieu The Spirit of the Laws "Law in general is human reason, inasmuch as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth: the political and civil laws of each nation ought to be only the particular cases in which human reason is applied."

Beccaria (in 1764) says Every punishment which does not arise from absolute necessity, says the great Montesquieu, is tyrannical. A proposition which may be made more general thus: every act of authority of one man over another, for which there is not an absolute necessity, is tyrannical. It is upon this then that the sovereign's right to punish crimes is founded; that is, upon the necessity of defending the public liberty,

The Italian Wikipedia says that Beccaria was influenced by Locke, Helvetius, Rousseau and Condillac.

1758 Beccaria received a degree in law from the University of Pavia.

Beccaria's period in prison Claudia writes that Beccaria's father had him imprisoned to prevent him marrying Teresa Blasco, who was poor. He released thanks to a grace/mercy by Maria Theresa of Austria and reconciled to his father two years later with the help of Pietro Verri. She says

"An example about how prisons were used in Beccaria's time, is offered by his own experience. Beccaria's father used prisons to imprison him in order to prevent his son from marrying a woman belonging to a lower class. This was possible for the right of patria potestas which was still in force among nobles in that time. This right, in force from Romans, stated that the pater familias, the patriarch, had a total authority and every right on the members of the family, even that of death, in order to preserve the patrimony of the family. Therefore, appealing to this right in order to avoid a marriage which could ruin the family patrimony, Beccaria's father could put him in prison"

1761 Beccaria married 17 year old Teresa Blasco

L'Accademia dei Pugni (Academy of the Fists), also called Società dei Pugni (Society of the Fists) founded in Milan in 1761 by Pietro and Allesandro Verri. A cultural club with vigorous debates around enlightenment topics. Beccaria was an active member. The Academy founded the review Il Caffè , whose suspension in 1766 marked the end of the activities of the Academy. (See Italian Wikipedia)

1762 A daughter, first of Beccaria's three children born.

"The study of Montesquieu seems to have directed his attention towards economic questions; and his first publication (1762) was a tract on the derangement of the currency in the Milanese states, with a proposal for its remedy" (1911 Encyclopedia)

Beccaria published Del disordine e de' rimedii delle monete nello Stato di Milano nell'anno 1762 (On Remedies for the Monetary Disorders of Milan in the Year 1762

"Shortly after, in conjunction with his friends the Verris, he formed a literary society, and began to publish a small journal, in imitation of the Spectator, called Il Caffè" [The Coffee House]. (1911 Encyclopedia)

Il Caffè was published from June 1764 to May 1766. 53 of its signed articles are by Pietro Verri, 31 by Alessandro Verri and 7 by Cesare Beccaria. 27 articles were signed by other people. Italian Wikipedia

1764 Beccaria's great work Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crime and Punishment) published, anonymously at first. In this he argued that law is based on a social contract between the members of society, that crime was the natural result of every individual wanting to get away with breaking the contract, and that punishment should be to deter people from harming society, He argued that punishments should be certain and infallible, not vicious or intense, and in proportion with the crimes committed. Justice should be public and punishment should teach people not to commit crimes.

Very quickly translated into French by André Morellet (1727-1819) in 1765, German in 1766, into English anonymously from the French in 1767, Swedish in 1770, Polish in 1772 and Spanish in 1774, (French Wikipedia)

1766 Beccaria went to Paris with Alessandro Verri. Beccaria returned after only a month, but Alessandro remained and went on to England. In Paris, Beccaria moved in the circle of the Encyclopedist Baron d' Holbach

End of Il Caffè

1767 An Essay on Crimes and Punishments, translated from the Italian; with a commentary, attributed to Monsieur de Voltaire, translated from the French. London : J. Almon, 1767. Jeremy Bentham's early manuscripts mention Beccaria. In November 1768, Beccaria was . His lectures on political economy

November 1768 Beccaria appointed to the chair of law and economy founded expressly for him at the Palatine college of Milan. After his death his lectures Elementi di economia pubblica ("Elements of Public Economy") were published in 1804.

1771 Beccaria appointed to the Supreme Economic Council of Milan (Austria ?) and remained a public official for the remainder of his life. "Entered the Austrian administration and a member of the Supreme Council of the Economy ... contributing to the Hasburg reforms." Italian Wikipedia

1776 Austria outlawed witch burnings and torture and took capital punishment off the penal code, as it was replaced with forced labor. Capital punishment was later reintroduced. (Wikipedia)

1776 Britain Jeremy Bentham's A Fragment of Government

29.11.1780 Joseph (Giuseppe) 2nd succeeded Maria Teresa to the throne of Austria and the places in power for the Milan reformists were reduced. [I think this is because Joseph centralised power. He was a reform emperor] Wikipedia says he "inspired a complete reform of the legal system, abolished brutal punishments and the death penalty in most instances, and imposed the principle of complete equality of treatment for all offenders. He ended censorship of the press and theatre"

1784 Joseph (Giuseppe) ordered that the whole of the Holy Roman Empire change its language of instruction and administration from Latin to German, (See Votruba, M. 2010?)

"After the passage of three years, all the imperial courts of justice and local courts shall handle all their respective cases in German at their locations, and the lawyers themselves shall prepare all their cases in this language and present them to the courts. Nevertheless, His Majesty is not unwilling to extend this deadline according to identified circumstances, which the imperial offices will be able to advance in their time. The statutes will remain in Latin, because the lawyers and judges must, regardless, know this language, which is part of academic scholarship"

May 1789 Start of the French Revolution

1789 Jeremy Bentham's An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

26.8.1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

1791 Beccaria appointed to the board for the reform of the judicial code. (Wikipedia)

1791 French Penal Code

28.11.1794 Beccaria died of a stroke in Milan

Crimes and punishments

Social contract - The pact at the base of society

Crime

Punishment and the aim of punishment

Characteristics of Punishment

Punishments have to be certain and infallible, not vicious or intense:

Punishments need a proportion with the crimes committed

Punishments must be public

Punishments have to be pedagogical

Social contract - The pact at the base of society

The whole Beccaria's discourse starts from the essential distinction between natural laws and laws that come from the pact, or contract, at the base of a society. He argues that it is the lack of this distinction which allows tyrants to have the power to do everything they want to their subjects, claiming even the right to decide about their life. This happens because they demand to personify not only the will of the people, but also the God's one.

"importantissimo di separare ciò che risulta da questa convenzione, cioè dagli espressi o taciti patti degli uomini, perché tale è il limite di quella forza che può legittimamente esercitarsi tra uomo e uomo senza una speciale missione dell'Essere supremo."

Crime

"No man ever gave up his liberty merely for the good of the public. Such a chimera exists only in romances. Every individual wishes, if possible, to be exempt from the compacts that bind the rest of mankind" (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 2)

Punishment and the aim of punishment

The two earlier utterances allow Beccria to state that:

Punishments are:

"motivi sensibili che bastassero a distogliere il dispotico animo di ciascun uomo dal risommergere nell'antico caos le leggi della società." (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 1)

Characteristics of Punishment

Therefore now it can be examined the characteristics of punishments.

Punishments have to be certain and infallible, not vicious or intense:

"Uno dei pií gran freni dei delitti non è la crudeltà delle pene, ma l'infallibilità di esse... la certezza di un castigo, benché moderato, farà sempre una maggiore impressione che non il timore di un altro pií terribile, unito colla speranza dell'impunità;" (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 27)

Punishments need a proportion with the crimes committed. Crimes with different intensity must be associated with different punishments.

"Non solamente è interesse comune che non si commettano delitti, ma che siano pií rari a proporzione del male che arrecano alla società. Dunque pií forti debbono essere gli ostacoli che risospingono gli uomini dai delitti a misura che sono contrari al ben pubblico, ed a misura delle spinte che gli portano ai delitti. Dunque vi deve essere una proporzione fra i delitti e le pene." (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 6 -)

Punishments must be public, and also the judgement, thus it can become a valuable deterrent:

"Pubblici siano i giudizi, e pubbliche le prove del reato, perché l'opinione, che è forse il solo cemento delle società, imponga un freno alla forza ed alle passioni, perché il popolo dica noi non siamo schiavi e siamo difesi, sentimento che inspira coraggio e che equivale ad un tributo per un sovrano che intende i suoi veri interessi." (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 14)

Finally, Beccaria thinks that punishments have to be pedagogical: they have to educate the criminal in order to let him re-enter society, without damaging it again.

Therefore Beccaria resolves his book stating that the best way a society has to prevent crimes resides in education (a clear example of ideas of that time, Enlightenment, in which men thought that human reason could resolve everything).

Summarizing with the words of the author:

"perché ogni pena non sia una violenza di uno o di molti contro un privato cittadino, dev'essere essenzialmente pubblica, pronta, necessaria, la minima delle possibili nelle date circostanze, proporzionata a' delitti, dettata dalle leggi." (Beccaria 1764 - Chapter 47)

Bentham - books and articles

Bentham - weblinks See crime timeline

Biography related to Bentham's relevant ideas, activities and writing

15.2.1748 Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was born in London to an affluent Tory family. His father was a prominent and prosperous attorney (solicitor).

Bentham studied Latin from the age of three

Bentham went to Queens College Oxford when he was only twelve.

At Queen's, Bentham took his Bachelor's degree (aged 15) in 1763 and his Masters in 1766.

1763 Entered at Lincoln's Inn, and took his seat as a student in the Queen's Bench

From 1765 Jeremy Bentham had a small private income

1768: Jeremy Bentham sees the light:

At twenty he had decided his vocation: he would provide a foundation for scientific jurisprudence and legislation (Harrison, W. 1967, p.vii)

In 1768 Jeremy Bentham discovered the principle of utility, that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the only proper measure of right and wrong and the only proper end of government (Steintrager, J. 1977 p.11 first sentence of book) Footnote 3: Precisely from whom Bentham first learned the principle of utility is not clear. In later years he attributed the discovery to a chance reading of a pamphlet by Joseph Priestly, but the early manuscripts frequently mention Helvetius and even Beccaria. (Steintrager, J. 1977 p.18)

Bentham qualified as a barrister at Lincoln's Innn in 1769

Bentham wrote about law rather than practising it. He was interested in the theory of law so he dedicated most of his life to writing on matters of legal reform. The website of the Bentham Project says Bentham "became disillusioned with the law, especially after hearing the lectures of the leading authority of the day, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780)" Blackstone had lectured on law at Oxford since 1753. In 1756 he published his An Analysis of the Laws of England - His own version of his lectures at Oxford. William Blackstone argued that English law embodies the collective wisdom of the society. Between 1765 and 1769, Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England were published.

1772

1775 Bentham's manuscripts from which Dumont extracted "La Théorie des Peines"

1776: In A Fragment on Government - Being an examination of what is delivered, on the subject of government in general in the introduction to Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries: by Jeremy Bentham with a Preface, in which is given a critique on the work at large (Bentham, J. 1776), Bentham criticised a passage in Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. He described Blackstone's idea that English law embodies the collective wisdom of the society as a "fiction" - a set of ideas hiding the true motives of those who proclaim them. Bentham's scientific study of law was to be based on the understanding that humans pursue happiness and avoid pain. This key to all human behaviour was later called utilitarianism.

By 1780, Bentham he had finished his Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, which was not published until 1789. He asked himself if he had a genius for anything, and replied that he had a genius for legislation "I am going to be the Newton of morals and legislation". (John Annette)

From 1785 to 1788, Bentham travelled the Continent, including Russia. It was here that he developed his idea of a model institution: the "Panopticon".

He developed the idea in a series of letters from Russia to a friend in England, in 1787. These were published in 1791 as Panopticon; or, the Inspection-House: Containing the Idea of a New Principle of Construction Applicable to Any Sort of Establishment, in which Persons of Any Description Are to Be Kept Under Inspection (Bentham, J. 1791)

1787 Jeremy Bentham circulates a plan for a Panopticon or model prison

1787 Jeremy Bentham's Defence of Usuary published (written in Russia)

1788 Jeremy Bentham returned to England with his plan for a model prison or Panopticon Through Samuel Romilly, Jeremy Bentham met Étienne Dumont, a Swiss exile who undertook the revision and French translation of parts of his manuscripts; publication in France began in the same year in Mirabeau's Courrier de Provence. The fundamental ideas and most of the illustrative material came from Bentham's manuscripts. Dumont sought to re-write in a shorter and clearer form suitable for the ordinary reading public. As well as deleting repetitive matter, he filled in gaps in the argument.

In 1789 Jeremy Bentham published An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Bentham, J. 1789). This was based on the principle of utility: That all human behaviour is based on the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain. Any rule should increase pleasure and decrease pain. The state in making law should promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. (John Annette)

"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we should do"

May 1789 Start of the French Revolution

26.8.1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

1791 Jeremy Bentham published Panopticon; or, the Inspection-House: Containing the Idea of a New Principle of Construction Applicable to Any Sort of Establishment, in which Persons of Any Description Are to Be Kept Under Inspection. Dublin [H+M p.446]

Jeremy Bentham published Essay on Political Tactics

1791 French Penal Code

1792 Jeremy Bentham made an honorary citizen of the French Republic.

1793 Jeremy Bentham published Emancipate your Colonies

October 1793 to February 1794: Jeremy Bentham drafting a prison bill.

1794: Penitentiary Bill 1794: Parliament accepted the Panopticon scheme

In 1794 the British Parliament backed Bentham's Panopticon as the plan for a new prison. Bentham was to run it under contract. Foundations were laid, but in January 1803, Bentham was told the government could not find the funds to complete it.

28.11.1794 Beccaria died in Milan

Bentham, J. and Dumont, P. 1802 Traité de legislation civile et pénale

Bentham, J. and Dumont P. 1811 Théorie des peines et des recompenses. Translated into English as The Rationale of Punishment by Richard Smith in 1830

"the manuscripts from which I have extracted La Théorie des Peines, were written in 1775. Those which have supplied me with La Théorie des Récompenses are a little later" (Dumont Advertisement)

"General prevention ought to be the chief end of punishment, as it is its real justification. If we could consider an offence which has been committed as an isolated fact, the like of which would never recur, punishment would be useless. It would be only adding one evil to another. But when we consider that an unpunished crime leaves the path of crime open not only to the same delinquent, but also to all those who may have the same motives and opportunities for entering upon it, we perceive that the punishment inflicted on the individual becomes a source of security to all." (Bentham, J. and Dumont, P. 1811/1830, chapter 3)

Bentham, J. and Dumont, P. 1815 Tactique des assemblées legislatives

About 1820 John Stuart Mill was converted to Benthamism as a "philosophy of life". He saw the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" principle as the tool for reforming all laws and institutions.

Summer 1821 John Stuart Mill went to France as a guest of Samuel Bentham. He stayed 12 months. On the way through Paris stayed with M. Say and met Saint Simon.

July 1822 See Bentham's note on the greatest happiness or greatest felicity principle

Winter 1822/1823 John Stuart Mill formed the Utilitarian Society (broken up in 1826). This met in Bentham's house. The members who became intimate companions were: William Eyton Tooke, William Ellis, George Graham and (from 1824) George Arthur Roebuck.

Bentham, J. and Dumont, P. 1823 Traité des preuves judiciaires

Bentham, J. and Dumont, P. 1828 De l'organization judiciaire et de la codification

Bentham, J. 1830 History of the War Between Jeremy Bentham and George 3rd, By One of the Belligerents.

6.6.1832 Bentham died in London

Utilitarianism

I will begin with Bentham as I want to define reason and unreason by his utilitarianism. According to this, it is rational to seek pleasure and avoid pain, and irrational to avoid pleasure and seek pain (unless that gives you some kind of pleasure). This is probably a definition of reason and unreason, but not of madness. According to Bentham, all human actions should be explained (scientifically) as an effort to minimise pain and maximise pleasure. An example of this is that if you were hungry and food was in front of you, you would eat the food - resulting in pleasure. You would not throw away the food as this would result in your still being hungry, therefore pain. However, we can think of circumstances when people do not eat the food, even if they are hungry. These have to be explained, by utilitarian principles, as cases where some other pleasure and/or pain outweighs the pleasure of satisfying hunger.

Foucault (1926-1984), in his books Madness & Civilisation (Foucault, M. 1961) and Discipline and Punish - the Birth of the Prison (Foucault, M. 1975), discussed first the way that the control of madness and then the way punishment and prisons have changed over centuries. In Discipline and Punishment, Foucault related this centrally to Bentham's plan for a universal institution of control, the Panopticon.

I will examine Bentham's Panopticon in relation to his utilitarianism. A prison or an asylum could be considered as a pain - Because, however humane, it deprives its inmates of freedom. Both, also, subject their inmates to total control of their lives. [Look at other aspects. Discuss deterrence and reform. Consider the importance of anxiety.]

It might be thought, therefore, that people would avoid both crime and madness to stay out of prisons and asylums and maximise their pleasure and minimise their pain. If this is true, why do people still behave in ways that get them sent to prisons and asylums? I will examine the answer to this conundrum given by Bentham's twentieth century follower, Hans Eysenck.

"Bentham Panopticon" or in other words the Inspection-house was an idea of a new principle of construction applicable to any sort of establishment, in which persons of any description are kept under inspection. These could be prisons, mad houses, schools, hospitals and many more. The plan

"consisted at the periphery, an annular building; at the centre, a tower; this tower is made with wide windows that open onto the inner side of the ring. The peripheric building is divided into cells, they have two windows, one on the inside, corresponding to the windows of the tower; the other, on the outside, allows the light to cross the cell from one end to the other. All that is needed then is place a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman. a patient, a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy." (Foucault, M. 1977 p.-)

"By the effect of backlighting, one can observe from the tower, standing out precisely against the light, the small captive shadows in the cells of the periphery. The panoptic mechanism arranges spatial unities that make it possible to see constantly and to recognise immediately. It reserves the principle of the dungeon. It encloses the imprisoned with full lighting and the eye of a supervisor to capture every movement. Visibility is a trap in this composition." (Foucault, M. 1977 p.-)

The purpose of this construction in the example of madmen was so that there would be no risk of them committing violence upon one another. The major effect of the panopticon is to induce a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.

In those times power was thought to be the only way to cure or at least control insanity. But did these buildings really cure insanity? The inmates were to be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. Power should be visible and verifiable. The inmate will always be able to see the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. The inmate must never be able to be to see his surveillance but always be aware that the possibility of being seen is constant. This is the history of the disastrous attempt of the bourgeois to control insanity. By cruel and inhumane means. These means did not reduce or control insanity, in the contrary it increased and probably got worse.

Bentham Surveillance

Blackstone - books and articles

Blackstone - weblinks

Blake - books and articles

Blake - weblinks

William Blake was born in 1757 in London his parents were James Blake and Catherine Wright. James Blake was a hosier in London. At a young age Blake had interest in arts; his father had taken interest in this and had encouraged him to attend a drawing school. At the age of ten, in 1767, he was enrolled into Henry Pars drawing school "where he learned to sketch the human figure by copying from plaster casts of ancient statues" (Vultee, D, 2003) [Where did you find the date? 2003? I could not find this]

Blake had a very vivid imagination and had seen images such as angels from the age of four. These visions influenced his poetry.

Once he was fourteen, Blake started engraving as an apprentice with James Basire for seven years. Gothic art and architecture were his main interests.

In 1782, William Blake married Catherine Boucher. William had taught her how to read, write, draw and paint. She worked with him as his assistant and helped him in many of his works. At times there are engravings signed CB rather than WB.

In 1788 William began to experiment printing with copper plates. His Songs of Innocence was produced by this technique in 1789. The plates are poems illuminated by pictures. The outline of the work was made by the copper plate and then the plate was hand coloured, often by Catherine. Because of the way the books were created, no two copies are the same, all the words (printed from the copper plates) do not vary. However, Blake did vary the order in which the poems were bound.

Songs of Innocence and Experience is the combination of two collections of pictorial poetry plates: Songs of Innocence (Blake, W. 1789) and Songs of Experience (Blake, W. 1794e).

The poems in Songs of Innocence (Blake, W. 1789) are based on childhood: The themes portrayed are of youth, play, freedom, naivety and so forth. The poems are also written in the manner of a child in that they are very clear, and quiet similar to nursery rhymes and hymns.

Introduction

Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

"Pipe a song about a Lamb!"
So I piped with merry chear.
"Piper, pipe that song again"
So I piped, he wept to hear.

"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy chear-
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read."
So he vanish'd from my sight,
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.

Here Blake, the piper, receives his instructions directly from a child. For a man who talked to angels, the child is real. But it is also a magic child sitting on a cloud and vanishing when its message is delivered. The symbol of the lamb from Christian imagery suggests that the child might even be the material appearance of God.

The poems are hopeful and optimistic and this may reflect Blake's political feelings in 1789, the year of the French Revolution.

Songs of Experience (Blake, W. 1794e) was first published in 1794, the year of the terror in France. The poems of Experience are a contrast to Songs of Innocence. They seem to be poems about adulthood, disappointment, misery, criticism of society and the negative aspects of adulthood.

Well known Songs of Experience include The Sick Rose, London, and The Tyger. Often there seems to be a balancing poem in Experience for one in Innocence.

A good example that shows these characteristics about misery and despair is the poem London. This poem is based on society having to suffer the consequences of the state and society due to passed events such as the Industrial Revolution. This had caused secularisation which is expressed through "the blackening of the church walls". And, he says "Bloods run down palace walls". Blake was against authority and institutionalised religion, and sexual repression.

London

I wander thro' each charter'd street.
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

Some of Blake's poems are similar; The same title may appear in Songs of Innocence as well as appearing in Songs of Experience. This is to show on one side the innocent view and the other in experience the reality.

In songs of innocence most of the poems are narrated through the eyes of a child, whereas in others it is from an adults point such as the nurse's song.

Poems from songs of innocence are based on innocence and naivety of children. The children from songs of innocence believe that the world is good and they can not see the evil or badness of the world due to their naivety, an example of this is in nurses song it mentions that the children should stop playing when it becomes dark as generally in society when it is night it is not safe for children to play, but the children are unaware of this as all they want to do is just play. There are two poems which are called Nurses Song one in innocence and the other in experience. The one in innocence is about young children playing in the hills and enjoying themselves whilst the nurse is happy to watch them play but also wants them to stop as the "nigth arises", as when it gets dark it is somewhat a frightful. She gives in to the children's pleas and lets them play for longer; she understands them as she herself was a child at some point in her life. She does not restrict them compared to the nurse in songs of experience. Blake uses nurse in his poems as "as protective figures" which they are as they are keeping an eye on the children in case of danger. The nurse tells the children. Blake has used female figures for his poems as women are seen to be comfort figures in society as they are the one show gives birth

The poem "The Lamb" from songs of innocence is based on god's creations and religion in particular Christianity. Blake must have used an animal like a lamb because a lamb portrays innocence as it is small, young and harmless which is different from the tiger who is portrayed as fierce, The poem starts with a child questioning an innocent animal about his creations, which is similar in the poem "The Tyger" which also asks the tiger about his creations. So Blake contrasts these two poems showing two different animals and their differences.

In "The Chimney Sweeper" we see a young innocent child fulfilling his duty which is sweeping chimneys. This is a typical characteristic in those times when fathers use to sell their children's labour for money during hardship. This boy was sold, and was deprived of his childhood. He says that he was sold even though he wasn't old enough to understand the world and to even pronounce words like "sweep".

The poems from Songs of Innocence end on a happy note which is child like as children stories usually end with happy endings; however this is not a reality which is why in songs of experience it shows the harsher realities.

Some poems which Blake used coincided with current events art that time. The industrial revolution happened during the 20th century. The poem London shows the affects and the aftermath of this. The poem shows the misery of the poor people. The poem is supposedly narrated by Blake himself. A main metaphor of this poem is "the mind forged manacles", manacles are shackles or chains which were chained on to convicts or slaves in the past with reference to mind forged it probably means that thinking and ideas are restricted by authority such as the church. This idea was a part of Rousseau's thinking that everyone is in chains and that they don't have right to free speech. Blake also uses the term "harlots" this means prostitutes as London had many of them during these times, and from them came babies thus: "Blasts the new-born Infant's tear" probably meaning that these babies are from these harlots and at them times harlots were carrying diseases which then could be passed on to their infants.

Burke - books and articles

Burke - weblinks

Comte - books and articles

Comte - weblinks

French sociologist Isidore Auguste Comte was born on the 20th January 1798 in Montpellier, France (Comte, A. 1974, pp7). The first of Comte's `Cours De Philosophie Positive' was published in 1830 and the last of the six coming in 1942.

Comte invented the word positivist for his conception of the scientific, as distinct from the theological and philosophical. The positivist seeks to describe the world in terms of observable objects' causes and effect. This philosophy was set out in his six volume Cours de Philosophie Positive between 1830 and 1842. In 1853, Harriet Martineau published a two volume The Philosophie Positive of Auguste Comte (Comte, A. 1853), which was a condensed version of Cours de Philosophie Positive which she had "freely translated" into English. John Stuart Mill's Auguste Comte and Positivism (Mill, J.S. 1865), in 1865, made Comte even better known to English readers. I have also used Stanislav Andreski's The Essential Comte (Andreski, S. 1974), and Introduction to Positive Philosophy by Auguste Comte (Comte, A. 1970), which is a 1970 translation by Frederick Ferre of the first two chapters of the first volume of Cours de Philosophie Positive.

Auguste Comte, argued that the distinction between theology, philosophy and science is crucial to understanding how thought develops and how we obtain true knowledge.

Comte argued that theology, philosophy and positive science relate to each other in the evolution of human thought. Alone, theology or philosophy cannot produce any real knowledge, but each is necessary for the development of science in which we find real knowledge.

We can argue that Aquinas' did not discuss positive science because it was ahead of his time. He was writing in the thirteenth century. If we agree with Comte's idea, we could argue that human understanding had not yet developed to this stage. Aquinas had not lived to see many of the great discoveries that Comte knew about. Russell, on the other hand, is a twentieth century writer, and specifically dismisses theology as a source of knowledge. Russell argues that theological (metaphysical) statements are "meaningless".

Although Aquinas was concerned with theological thinking, which is about unobservable things, and Comte was concerned with observable things, both are concerned with cause and effect. Aquinas uses it in his attempt to prove the existence of God, while Comte argues that determining the cause and effects between observable things is the way to find truths and form scientific laws.

Like Comte, Russell believes in the need for positive science. However, the importance that he places on theories and having a critical and questioning nature, means philosophy plays a crucial role. One of his greatest philosophical questions was whether it is possible to know anything at all. This question arises because Russell believes observations are the foundation of knowledge, but says that we cannot trust our senses. If we cannot trust what we know by our senses, Comte's method may be no more reliable than Aquinas', who has faith in something he cannot observe.

Cooper - books and articles

Cooper - weblinks

Darwin - books and articles

Darwin - weblinks

Dench - books and articles

Dench - weblinks

Dewey - books and articles

Dewey - weblinks

Durkheim - books and articles

Durkheim - weblinks

Contents

Life and works -

authority and power in family, politics and education -

Durkheim's general theory of society, morality and discipline

Durkheim's view of authority

Durkheim on politics and power

Durkheim on education

Durkheim on the stages of childhood and beyond
By Dina Ibrahim

Durkheim: Life and works

Emile Durkheim (15.4.1858 to 15.11.1917, was a French sociologist.

He was a French Jew born in Épinal in Lorraine, north-east France. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were rabbis.

Durkheim obtained his baccalauréat ès lettres at the Collège d'Epinal in 1874. In 1875 he obtained his baccalauréat ès sciences at the Collège d'Epinal and distinguishes himself in the Concours général.

Durkheim moved to Paris. In 1877 and 1878 Durkheim failed his first and second attempts at the entrance examination at the École normale suppérieure.

Near the end of 1879 Durkheim was, at last admitted to the École normale suppérieure began studying philosophy there, under the tutelage of Charles Renouvier and Fustel de Coulanges

1881-1882 Jules Ferry laws established free primary school education for all French children which would be taught by lay teachers rather than priests. Religion was not taught in these public schools.

1882 Durkheim passed the aggrégation (the competitive examination required for admission to the teaching staff of state secondary schools, or lycées), and began teaching philosophy.

In the same year, the Faculty of Letters at Bordeaux established France's first course in pedagogy for prospective school teachers.

Autumn 1882 Durkheim began teaching philosophy at the Lycé de Sens (Secondary School in Sens, seventy miles south-east of Paris)

1882-1885 Durkheim taught philosophy at various secondary schools and became a popular figure with students. (Rizwan - no source)

1885, Durkheim's published reviews of works by Schaeffle, Fouillée, and Gumplowicz in the Revue philosophique.

From 1885 to 1886 Durkheim was in Germany, where he studied at Marburg, Berlin, and especially Leipzig. When he returned from Germany, he published "Les Études de science sociale" in the Revue philosophique.

In 1887 Durkheim published "La Philosophie dans les universités allemandes" and "La Science positive de la morale en Allemagne" on the basis of his visit to Germany. In the same year, he was appointed "Chargé d'un Cours de Science Sociale et de Pédagogie" at Bordeaux University in 1887.

Robert Alun Jones says that one reason for his appointment was that Louis Liard, the Director of Higher Education in France,

"both resented the German pre-eminence in social science and was intrigued by Durkheim's suggestions for the reconstruction of a secular, scientific French morality." (Jones, R.A. 1986)

Durkheim's opening lecture of his course on "La Solidarité sociale" at Bordeaux, was later published as "Cours de science sociale: leçon d'ouverture"

At Bourdeaux from 1887 to 1902 Durkheim spent most of his time lecturing on the theory of history and practice of education. Each Saturday morning, however, he also taught a public lecture course on social science, devoted to specialized studies of particular social phenomena, including social solidarity, family and kinship, incest, totemism, suicide, crime, religion, socialism, and law. (Marviana - no source)

1892 Durkheim's latin thesis on Montesquieu.

1893 De la division du travail social ( Division of Labour in Society in which he tried to show that societies are real and that the reality of societies lies in something that he calls solidarity. He identified two types of solidarity present in all societies: solidarity through similarity (mechanical solidarity) and solidarity through difference (organic solidarity). The division of labour in society, he argued, created solidarity through complimentary difference. It develops in the course of human history to strengthen the solidarity provided by mechanical solidarity. He also said punishing crime is a way a society defines the way it thinks, reinforcing its mechanical solidarity

"morality - and by that must be understood not only moral doctrines, but customs - is going through a real crisis.... Profound changes have been produced in the structure of our societies in a very short time; they have been freed from the segmental type with a rapidity and in proportions such as never before been seen in history. Accordingly, the morality which corresponds to this social type has regressed, but without another developing quickly enough to fill the ground that the first left vacant in our consciences. Our faith has been troubled; tradition has lost its sway...

If this be so, the remedy for the evil is not to seek to resuscitate traditions and practices which, no longer responding to present conditions of society, can only live an artificial, false existence. What we must do to relieve this anomy is to discover the means for making the organs which are wasting themselves in discordant movements harmoniously concur by introducing into their relations more justice by more and more extenuating the external inequalities which are the source of the evil"

1895 Les Règles de la méthode sociologique (Rules of Sociological Method) argued that if we want to be sociologists we should "treat social facts as things".

"Durkheim sets out the boundaries of sociology, its object and method of study, arguing that an organised collectivity of people is an entity in itself ("sui generis"). Within it, all individuals play a collective role in maintaining and developing the society. One way Durkheim demonstrates this is by explaining how certain institutions such as religion, law and language exist before the individual is born and carry on existing after his/her death showing that they are independent and external realities (see: Durkheim, 1895/1938, p9). The study of society should therefore be distinct from other sciences such as psychology; the object of study for sociology is the collectivity, not the individual." (Rizwan - adapted)

He also argued that crime is necessary and normal for society.. It is a social fact of all societies because by punishing offences a society defines its moral boundaries:

"A social fact is to be recognised by the power of external coercion which it exercises or is capable of exercising over individuals, and the presence of this power may be recognised in its turn either by the existence of some specific sanction or by the resistance offered against every individual effort that tends to violate it."

It is also a necessary social fact because societies need deviance to evolve.

Durkheim founded the Année sociologique, the first social science journal in France, in 1896. At this time, the university at Bordeaux and the new Chicago University in the United States, were two main world centres generating "sociology"

1897 Suicide Durkheim attempted to show that even such a personal act as suicide was also ultimately determined by social conditions and not psychological ones.

C'est en 1899, que des intellectuels décident de créer, en face de la Sorbonne, l'école des hautes études sociales. Dans l'aventure, des universitaires de renom : le philosophe émile Boutroux, les sociologues Gabriel Tarde et émile Durkheim, des historiens tels Charles Seignobos ou Ernest Lavisse, des écrivains : Georges Sorel, Romain Rolland, etc. (Wikipedia)

In 1899, leading intellectuals decided to create, opposie the Sorbonne, an institute of advanced social studies. Well known academics involved in the venture included the philosopher émile Boutroux, sociologists Gabriel Tarde and émile Durkheim, historians such as Charles Seignobos or Ernest Lavisse, writers: Georges Sorel, Romain Rolland, etc.

1900

Durkheim was one of the main lecturers at the Congress International de l'éducation Sociale, in the Paris World Fair (Exposition Universelle). Lecture on Rôle des Universités dans l'éducation sociale du pays

Durkheim published "La Sociologie en France au 19e siècle."

1901 Durkheim's last Sociology lectures at Bordeaux were on the history of sociology. All that survives of them is his article on Rousseau's Social Contract. This argued that Rousseau bridges the gap between state of nature theory and sociology

Durkheim published "Deux Lois de l'évolution pénale"

Durkheim published the second edition of Les Règles de la méthode sociologique

1901 to 1904 A series of laws aimed at controlling the activities of religious congregations, prohibiting their members from teaching, and disbanding orders whose sole purpose was to administer and staff education institutions. (Sarah. A. Curtis)

7.6.1902 to 25.10.1906 Bloc des gauches (Coalition of the left) in power in France. See Wikipedia

En 1902, Durkheim est nommé à la faculté des lettres de l'université de Paris. Il est également professeur des écoles normales qui forment les instituteurs de la République HEI-HEP : c'est lui qui impose la sociologie comme discipline universitaire. C'est à cette époque qu'il publie Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse (1912), ainsi que plusieurs autres articles (Wikipedia)

In 1902, Durkheim was appointed Chargé d'un Cours (Professor in 1906) at the Sorbonne University in Paris and took over the Science of Education course vacated by Ferdinand Édouard Buisson.

Durkheim gave his first lecture - later published as "Pédagogie et sociologie" - of his course on "L'Education morale." The last 18 of 20 lectures (1902/1903, repeated 1906/1907) were published after Durkheim's death as Moral Education. A study in the Theory and Application of the Sociology of Education with a forward by Paul Fauconett

"His lecture courses were the only required courses at the Sorbonne, obligatory for all students seeking degrees in philosophy, history, literature, and languages; in addition, he was responsible for the education of successive generations of French school teachers," Jones, R.A. 1986 pp 12-23)

Durkheim published the second edition of De la division du travail social.

1903

In Britain a Sociological Society was founded and sociological teaching was begun at the University of London by Patrick Geddes, Edward Westermarck, A.C. Haddon and L.T. Hobhouse

Durkheim prepared a paper for the launch of the Sociological Society in London

1903 Durkheim and Mauss "Primitive Classification"

"Every mythology is fundamentally a classification, but one which borrows its principles from religious beliefs, not from scientific ideas" (pp 77-78)

1903 Durkheim and Paul Fauconnet "La sociologie et les sciences sociales."

7.7.1904 Law forbidding all members of religious orders, whether authorized or not, to teach.

30.7.1904 Rupture of diplomatic relations with the Vatican

1905

9.12.1905 Law on the separation of Church and State. See Wikipedia

Durkheim published "Sur l'organisation matrimoniale des sociétéaustraliennes."

The Catholic philosophy journal Revue néo-scolastique published a series of articles by the Belgian priest Simon Deploige attacking Durkheim's elevation of "society" to a power superior to that of the individual. Durkheim responds in a series of letters to the editors

1906 Durkheim became Professor of the Science of Education. In 1913 the title was changed to Professor of "Science of Education and Sociology".

11.2.1906 and 22.3.1906 Meetings of the Société Française de Philosophie at which Durkheim presented his papers "La Détermination du fait moral."

1911

Simon Deploige' Le conflit de la morale et de la sociologie [With special reference to the works of Emile Durkheim] Originally published in French by Institut Superieur de Philosophie, Louvain (1910?). Translated into English by Charles C. Miltner in 1938 as The conflict between ethics and sociology [St. Louis, Mo; London: Herder book]

1912 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life,

1913

Joseph Ward Swain (1891-1971) wrote in 1916: From 1913 to 1915 I was in Europe, studying especially at the University of Paris, but also carrying on private studies at Leipzig and London. During both winters I was regularly enrolled at the "Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des Sciences Religieuses," at the University of Paris ; at the end of the first year I was promoted to the grade of "eleve titulaire," and at the end of the second I presented a dissertation entitled "Hebrew and Early Christian Asceticism." Owing to the turmoils of war, the faculty have not yet passed upon this dissertation, but in case it is accepted, I shall receive the grade of "eleve diplome" of the section. The year 1915-16 I spent in graduate study at Columbia. I have translated into English the work of Professor Emile Durkheim, of Paris, entitled " The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life " (London : George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. ; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1915, pp. xi-f-456).

3.8.1914 German invasion of Belgium and northern France

Durkheim' son André, was sent to the Bulgarian front late in 1915. He was declared missing in January 1916, and in April 1916 was confirmed dead.

15.11.1917 Death.

Durkheim developed Rousseau's' theory that society is not just the sum of its individual members into a theory that society is a reality in itself. He considered that humans are by nature social and that society is not something that came about by individuals uniting together, but something that has always existed. Durkheim's theory is about "social facts" which are social realities external to the individual and which constrain the individual. The concept of social facts between individual and society is the notion that they are bound together by social bonds which are moral in nature. This means that moral authority rather than naked power is the force that will bind society together.

Oby Barnes examined what Durkheim says about authority and power in family, school and society, using his book on Moral Education.

I am making a study of just one of Durkheim's lesser known books Moral Education. A Study in the Theory and Application of the Sociology of Education (Durkheim, E. 1925) My motive for doing so is that I want to understand what he says about authority and power in a context that I can understand: bringing up children. This work of Durkheim's relates to the class room, rather than the family. One thing I do in the essay is to consider how Durkheim's theory of authority and power relates to the family on the one hand and politics on the other.

Durkheim's course on moral education was the first in the science of education that Durkheim offered at the Sorbonne in 1902-1903. He had for some time sketched it out in his teaching at Bordeaux. This course consisted of twenty lectures.

Durkheim's general theory of society, morality and discipline

Durkheim developed Rousseau's' theory that society is not just the sum of its individual members into a theory that society is a reality in itself. He considered that humans are by nature social and that society is not something that came about by individuals uniting together, but something that has always existed. Durkheim's theory is about "social facts" which are social realities external to the individual and which constrain the individual. The concept of social facts between individual and society is the notion that they are bound together by social bonds which are moral in nature. This means that moral authority rather than naked power is the force that will bind society together.

Durkheim believes that science can help us determine the way in which we ought to behave. He bases morality in reason rather than religion. To him morality means consistency, regularity. He believe that what is moral today must be moral tomorrow that is to say that it will never change. What is morally right in 2001 must be morally right in 2006. No matter the situation or condition. He argues that morality and regularity of conduct and authority are aspects of one thing he calls discipline. Therefore the school environment plays an important role in moral education that faces a child when he comes to school. The school is a more extensive association than the family or the little groups of friends but are brought together on the basis of similar age and social conditions. In that respect Durkheim said that it resembles a political society. In the sense that

"it is limited enough so that personal relations can crystallise" (Durkheim E. p 231).

Durkheim's view of authority

According to Durkheim authority is a

"quality with which a being, either actual or imaginary is vested through his relationship with given individuals and it is because of this alone that he is thought by the latter to be endowed with powers superior to those they find in themselves" (Durkheim, E. 1925 p.88)

That is to say that it not important whether the powers are real or not. Durkheim says that what matters is that they real in peoples' minds. For example a magician is an authority to those who believe in him.

"That is why authority is called moral... because it exists in [the] minds [of human beings], not in things". (Durkheim, E. 1925 p.88)

Durkheim calls this the "definition" of authority: That is, the people believing in their mind that some thing or person has, in relation to them, superior powers.

This is authority, and Durkheim argues that it can only be given by society.

Given the definition, he says

"it is easy to demonstrate that the being that best fulfills the necessary conditions as constituting an authority is the collective being. For it follows from all that we have said that society infinitely surpasses the individual, not only in material scope, but beyond that, in moral power.". (Durkheim, E. 1925 p.88)

In an earlier work Durkheim makes it clear that this believing in by the people flows from respect, rather than fear:

"In normal conditions the collective order is regarded as just by the great majority of persons. Therefore, when we say that an authority is necessary to impose this order on individuals, we certainly do not mean that violence is the only means of establishing it. Since this regulation is meant to restrain individual passions, it must come from a power which dominates individuals; but this power must also be obeyed through respect, not fear" (Durkheim 1897, p.252)

society is responsible for all the wealth of civilization, it is the society that accumulates and preserves the treasures that are transmitting from age to age, it is through society that the riches get to us. Therefore we are obligated to society since it is from it that we receive these things. These are our believe in our mind whether this is true or not or rather imaginary but we allow it to have authority over us. Durkheim believe that society is a moral authority and he is pleased to believe that there are at least some individuals who owe their eminence only to themselves and their natural superiority. Not only do we not respect the sheer physical strength but we scarcely fear it. However before authority can be establish, the public or society will first see something of moral value to it. Hence it will register in our mind otherwise it will not be taken seriously at all. In other to for it to be effective, our social organisation is inclined to prevent the abuse of power and consequently to make it less formidable.

Durkheim on politics and power

A despotic ruler is one who rules according to his or her unregulated will. According to Durkheim a despot is like a child he has a child weakness because he is not master of himself. Durkheim argues that

"self-mastery is the first condition of all true power of all liberty worthy of the name. One cannot be master of himself when he has within him forces that by definition, cannot be mastered." (Durkheim E. 1925 p 45).

For this reason he said that some political parties that are too strong and do not take account of strong minorities cannot last. It will not be long to their downfall because of their excessive power that they establish because there is nothing to restrain them, they result to violent extreme which are self destroying.

When a party is too strong, it escapes itself and is no longer able to control itself because it is too powerful. He says it is not possible for us to control ourselves through our own efforts, without some external pressure. So the capacity for self-control is itself one of the chief powers that education should develop.

Durkheim believe that in order to set limits ourselves, we must feel the reality of these limits.

"Someone who was, or believed himself to be, without limits, either in fact or by right, could not dream of limiting himself without being inconsistent it would do violence to his nature". (Durkheim E. 1925 p 45).

Durkheim believe that there is one association that among all the others enjoys a genuine pre-eminence and that represents the end, par excellence, of moral conduct. That is that is the political society, that is the nation conceived of as a partial embodiment of the idea of humanity. (Durkheim E.1925.p 80).

Political society does not represent family members where the sentiment of solidarity is derived from blood relationship nor does it represent little groups of friends and companions that have taken shape outside the family through free selection. According to Durkheim

"the bonds uniting the citizens of a given country have nothing to do with relationships or personal inclinations" (Durkheim E 1925 p 23). [Not p.23]

Therefore there is a great distance between the moral state in which the child finds himself as he leaves the family and the one toward which he must strive.

Durkheim on education

According to Durkheim education is especially urgent today in our life. To him

"anything that reduces the effectiveness of moral education, whatever disrupts patterns of relationships, threatens public morality at its very roots" (Durkheim E. 1925a p 3).

For twenty years, France had been providing a religion-free education in its publicly funded schools. This meant, children were sent to school for a moral education which was not "derived from revealed religion". Instead, it rested "exclusively on ideas, sentiments, and practices accountable to reason only".

This change had disturbed traditional ideas and old habits, and posed new problems.

"It is in our public schools that the majority of our children are being formed. These schools must be the guardians par excellence of our national character. They are the heart of our general education system. We must, therefore, focus our attention on them, and consequently on moral education as it is understood and practised and as it should be understood and practised." (Durkheim E. 1925a pp 3-4).

The school is there to establish discipline - And, according to Durkheim, discipline is not just a constraint "necessary when it seems indispensable for preventing culpable conduct" (Durkheim E. 1925a p 43). It is not something to be used just to stop the school descending into chaos. It is much more important than that.

Discipline, in itself, is a factor of education. It builds moral character. There are essential parts of moral character which can only be built through discipline. We need discipline to be able to teach our children to control and limit their desires. It is by limiting his, or her, desires that a child learns to define what he or she is seeking. Durkheim says that limiting our desires, and defining what your goals are, is the way that we achieve happiness and moral health.

Morality is basically a discipline and Durkheim says that all discipline has a double objective. On the one hand, discipline promotes a preference for the customary. On the other hand, it imposes restrictions that regularise and constrain.

"It answers to whatever is recurrent and enduring in men's relationships with one another" (Durkheim. E. 1925a p 47).

As the school is the first place a child to learn how to deal with life in future, then discipline in the classroom is very essential because if the teacher does not correct on that child misbehaving the other may think that it is ok for them to do the same, which can lead to disruption in the classroom.

Therefore the idea is to transform the confused. The whole idea of discipline is to see morality clearly as it is. To show everyone what is moral, even in the midst of the kind of diverse and confused ideas that surround moral issues in practice. This cannot be done by simply substituting our own conceptions of what is right for the ideas of the child. Everything we do in the school should be aimed at the children learning together what morality really is. This is where the teacher's authority is and why he or she should exercise power.

The school prepares children for society, and so morality is where education must begin and where it must always end.

Kerri Bowles

In the first parts of his book, Durkheim discusses the fact that there are two stages of childhood that we go through. The family and elementary school. These are institutions and are both very important, if not, absolutely vital to being prepared for adult life. If we think about it, and as most sociologists would agree, primary socialisation takes part in the family and in elementary school. It is where we learn the ways in which to behave and how to conduct ourselves to expected norms and values of society. Both is where we learn from a young age that there are people that tell us what to do and if we do not do something, they have the power to punish us. For example, in a family situation, the parents are the authority figures that hold the power and will punish us if we do something wrong. Durkheim's text centres a lot on morality. Morality simply being knowing the difference between right and wrong. He argues that morality has been or should be instilled in us by the time any child leaves elementary school and if it has not, it probably never will be.

"On the other hand, if, beyond this second period of childhood i.e., beyond school age - the foundations of morality have not been laid, they never will be. From this point on all one can do is to complete the job already begun, refining sensibilities and giving them some intellectual content i.e. informing them increasingly with intelligence. But the ground work must have been laid." (Durkheim 1961 page 18)

From this we can see that Durkheim feels that basically if you do not have the right start to education, you will not have the morality needed to get you through life that others will have if they have been through school. If we take this idea of morality and use it in relevance to authority and power, we can see that it is important. If you do not have morality, it may mean, (in the most basic of terms) that you do not know the meaning of right or wrong then you will find yourself going against authority and the rules and boundaries that are put in place. If we think about what our early family life and early school life teaches us, we can see how important it is to us in later life.

From a very early age we are taught what we can and cannot do. In school we are taught how to get along with others and that we have to obey the rules otherwise there will be consequences. I feel that this is a clear link to the issues of authority and power in a very basic way illustrated by Durkheim. In school we are taught basic norms and values and this is the behaviour we must carry out to be able to get along in society.

"In the first place, there is an aspect common to all behaviour that we ordinarily call moral. All such behaviour conforms to pre-established rules. To conduct one's self morally is a matter of abiding by a norm." (Durkheim, 1961 page 23)

Again this is another example of how we should conduct ourselves morally. Set norms and values are what keep society 'stable' He picks up on an interesting point slightly further on in his book. He uses the example of transients and I feel it is a good example of how society has many different aspects to it.

"This is why transients and people who cannot hold themselves to specific jobs are always suspected. It is because their moral temperament is fundamentally defective- because it is most uncertain and undependable." (Durkheim 1961 page 27)

Here, Durkheim is looking at a group of people who do not abide by a typical society's rules. In modern day there is a stereotypical view of transients, in today's society, they might be called 'gypsies'. Society does not approve and I wonder is it because they do not live in the same way as everyone else that it causes a threat?! I think that the answer is 'yes'. Because this group of people live differently we see them as a threat because they have different norms and values, they are seen not to obey society's authority figures such as the police. They may have their own 'laws' to abide by because they have created their own mini society.

"Indeed, in refusing to yield to the requirements of regularized conduct, they disdain all customary behaviour, they resist limitations and restrictions, and they feel some compulsion to remain 'free'." (Durkheim 1961 page 27)

This extract demonstrates exactly why transients are found threatening. They do not stay in the same place and they resent limitations and restrictions set out by society and the law.

Durkheim on the stages of childhood and beyond
By Dina Ibrahim

Durkheim in his writings argues that in order to solve the problems with moral education in the childhood period, it is essential to distinguish between the stages of when the child starts forming their moral character. He divides these stages into two; the family and the school.

The following diagram illustrates how the two stages, family and school, contribute to the child's moral development. These stages, according to Durkheim, work in co-ordination with one another.

At the first stage of childhood , the child's mind is still underdeveloped and lacks the intellectual foundation necessary for the complex ideas. This is the stage when the family is the essential context of the child's development.

The foundations of forming morality are laid in the second stage of childhood. This is the stage when the school is the essential context of the child's development. It provides the environment in which the child can learn the morals and values of the society. This needs to happen outside the family. At this stage, the child becomes more initiated into wider society than he or she could be in the family.

In the diagram, I have placed family and school in a larger black circle, which represents the whole of society. Family and school are part of society, but they also lead the child into society. The diagram shows the school at the heart of society, because it provides the society with moral, social beings. The school is the fundamental institution to deliver the common rational beliefs of the unified society we live in.

According to Everett Wilson,

"for Durkheim, the school had a crucial and clearly specified function: to create a new being, shaped according to the needs of society. While this might seem restrictive and repressive to child- centered educators, Durkheim argues that the very reverse is true. Only by imposing limits can the child be liberated from the inevitable frustrations of incessant striving". (Wilson. E. 1973, p.xv)

This explains that Durkheim believes, the school provides a systematic teaching to the child about their cultural heritage which helps them to achieve a clear sense of identity and personal fulfilment. This he thought was important because it will teach the child his duty towards his society and creates a moral being that is less individualistic. The point I am grasping from this is that, the function of the school has to play the role of spiritual institution on the modern era. This can also provides the child with the ability to reason and make logic of his own surrounding. This skill of reason in turn will provide the state of civilisation and knowledge, which is proven to be the crucial weapon on human development.

This diagram also demonstrate that the school is the back bone of one's survival. This means if the school was to deliver a rational and common values that fits all back grounds, will attract the family as will as the wider society to inject the same values. This explain why Durkheim has made an emphasis on secular education in school because it can fit with the modern globality will live in now.

The family

The first stage of childhood is where the child is entirely dependent and only associate with his parents. At this stage the child's mind is still underdeveloped, therefore he lacks the intellectual foundation necessary for the relatively complex ideas and sentiments which undergird our morality to develop.

The role of the family at this first stage is to ensure that the child is evoked by the cultural aspects which are the basic to morality and in its turn shapes the simplest personal relationships. Here the child starts to understand the first feelings of solidarity.

"By virtue of its natural warmth, the family setting is especially likely to give birth to the first altruistic inclinations, the first feelings of solidarity; but the morality practised in this setting is above all a matter of emotion and sentiment. The abstract idea of duty is less important here than sympathy, than the spontaneous impulses of the heart." (Durkheim, 1925, p.147)

The morality practiced in the family are matter of emotions, not reason. Reason teaches the child to respect the rule; he must do his duty because he feels obliged to even though the task may seem hard. This is where the school comes in.

The school

Durkheim argued that school is the most important foundation of morality. If the child did not develop the main ideas of morality at school, he or she would not be able to build on the capacity, after this stage, to a more intellectual content that increases their intelligence. The school stage is where the child starts to leave the family circle and become more initiated with wider society.

"This we call the second period of childhood; we shall focus on it in discussing moral education. This is indeed the critical moment in the formation of moral character. Before that, the child is still very young; his intellectual development is quite rudimentary and his emotional life is too simple and underdeveloped". (Durkheim. E, 1925, p 17).

Durkheim sees this stage of elementary school as the foundation of forming morality. He argued that if the child did not fully grasp these ideas and sentiments they would never be able to built on from there.

"... if, beyond this second period of childhood, i.e., beyond school age - the foundations of morality have not been laid, they never will be. From this point on, all one can do is to complete the job already begun, refining sensibilities and giving them some intellectual content". (Durkheim. E, 1925, p 18).

After this stage the child starts to develop the ability to have more intellectual content to their morality, which increases their intelligence. (Durkheim. E, 1925, pp 17-19).

Durkheim puts a great duty on the school on delivering morality to the child because it provides the child with the skills and trains him or her towards the demands of wider society. He also argued the school environment provides the spirit of association and grouping and collectiveness. This habit of collectiveness the child develops and it survives (is maintained) beyond the age of school.

Durkheim argues that it is important for the educator to carefully observe the capacity of the child's mind in order for the influence to be effective. What the teacher should do is carefully select the amount of material that is given to the children so as not to overwhelm them. At every stage they should be given a defined, small number of sentiments, elements of culture and customs. (Durkheim. E, 1925, p 145).

Further stages of development: society

In this section I have to put in words how I believe Durkheim explains the role of society.

My image for Durkheim's idea is that society is the father of all individuals. How it sets its values and morals is similar to how the family functions. Society plays the essential part of ensuring that each one of its children (institutions) whether its educational or any other is fulfilling its roles fully.

Durkheim discusses the different societies that we think about

"... we have talked of society only in a general way, as if there were only one. As a matter of fact, man always lives in the midst of many groups. To mention only the more important, there is the family in which one is born, the nation or the political group, and humanity. ... Family, nation, and humanity represent different phases of our social and moral evolution, stages that prepare for and build upon one another. ... The family involves the person in an altogether different way and answers to different moral needs, than does the nation... Man is morally complete only when governed by the threefold force they exercise on him." (Durkheim. E, 1925, pp 73- 74).

Societies nowadays are all integrated with one another and they all are part of each other, due to globalisation and factors of development, such as communication and travel. This seems to be anticipated in Durkheim's integrated approach to society.

"... to the extent that societies advance and become centralised, the general life of society - that which is served by all its members... - continually preempts more of the individual's thought and energies... The centre of gravity of moral life, formerly in the family, tends increasingly to shift away from it. The family is now becoming an agency secondary to the state." (Durkheim. E, 1925, pp 74-75).

The statement I believe Durkheim is using, is on putting duties on society, because without ensuring that all institutions work along one another it will not be possible for one body to transform and reform and prevent the break down of society.

Further stages of development: politics

In regard to politics, Durkheim mainly considers the role of the nation state. The state represents the supporting bone of society - its backbone. If society is the father, then I think of the state as his wife and the mother of its institutions. We live in a sychronised way in modern society in which state and society are like our family.

If for no other reason than that society becomes increasingly big, the social ideal becomes more and more remote from all provincial and ethnic conditions and can be shared by a greater number of men recruited from the most diverse races and places. As a result of this alone, it becomes more abstract, more general, and consequently closer to the human ideal. (Durkheim. E, 1925, p 81).

But also society is made of a set of the individuals that add up to form it. As adults, these individuals become citizens and should be politicians. As politicians they should fulfill the needs of society and ensure the well being of its institutions. This cannot be achieved through enforcing false ideas and beliefs which attempt to justify injustice and inhumanity action. Instead they should ensure and support the growth and development of these institutions, in order to provide a harmless civilised society.

For morality to have a sound basis, the citizen must have an inclination toward collective life. It is only on this condition that he can become attached, as he should, to collective aims that are moral aims par excellence. This does not happen automatically; above all, this inclination toward collective life can only become strong enough to shape behaviour by most continuous practice..... The nature of political life is such that we take part in it only intermittently...... we are not directly involved in its activity. Among events at the national level, only the most considerable have repercussions that reach us. ( Durkheim. E, 1925, pp 233).

This task can only be achieved by educational institution through it education system, because education is the only common language that unites the global of modern societies.

In discussing personal self-control we have seen Durkheim make a comparison with politics

"A despot is like a child; he has a child's weaknesses because he is not master of himself. Self-mastery is the first condition of all true power, of all liberty worthy of the name. One cannot be master of himself when he has within him forces that by definition, cannot be mastered." (Durkheim, 1925, p.44)

In despotism (the total power of one ruler) Durkheim argues that the self become dependent on the external forces and it is a matter of luck how well the sovereign has self-mastered their own limits. Power is the skill of mastering the self. At a personal and a political level, the more one develops the understanding of the self the greater the ability to overcome the evils of omnipotence. In politics and at a personal level we need an external restraint to help us develop our internal restraint.

Secular morality

The main argument Durkheim present in Moral Education is to build a system within schools that is completely rational which exclude all principles derived from revealed religions (Durkheim E. 1925, p. 19). Even though it will all be built from religion we should apprehend morality in itself and in its genuine nature stripped of all religious symbols. This rational aspect of morality should be based on the analysis of main forces to all moral life of today as well as of yesterday. In this Durkheim sees morality as system of rules of actions that predetermine conduct these morals state, how one must act in given situations and behave properly as a result to obey conscientiously. Finally it is important that one work on how to adapt them to the social conditions of today, in order to avoid the risk of morality depending upon reason, which can provoke the development of individualism and weaken the concept of collectiveness.

"There are certain common qualities in the morality of the Middle Ages and that of our time. On the other hand, just as society, while retaining its identity nonetheless evolves continually, morality undergoes a parallel transformation. To the extend that societies become more frequent and more significant. thus we could say, a while ago, that our main task today is today is to create morality". (Durkheim E. 1925, p. 106).

Ellis - books and articles

Ellis - weblinks

Focusing on Harriet Martineau's article "The Hanwell Lunatic Asylum" (Martineau, H. 1834), I will provide an account of the work of Mr and Mrs Ellis in a larger establishment than the Tukes' Quaker asylum, but run on the same principles.

In describing the system that the Ellises established at Hanwell, and previously at Wakefield, Harriet Martineau speaks of the "true method of managing lunatics, - treating them as nearly as possible like rational beings" and says "It is nearly twenty years since Doctor and Mrs Ellis began to treat lunatics as much as possible as if they were sane"

This principle, of absorbing unreason into reason as it were, is what I will examine here, showing how it was carried out in the different features of the Ellis system, comparing that with the Tukes' system and examining Foucault's claim that it is a new form of violence as well as the original claim that it was a way of liberating people from insanity.

According to Martineau, Hanwell is an example of how the insane are to be treated; again moral treatment outweighs moral principle, [What do you mean?] (Martineau, 1837, paragraphs 15 and 18?]

The success of Hanwell contradicts the common notion of mental illness, particularly with regards to how it is to be treated.

Comparison of the confinement and treatment of rich and pauper lunatics. (Martineau, 1837, paragraphs 2 to 5).

Poor have no control over how they are treated and stigmatised, however, in the case of the rich lunatic.

Insanity and women; and women within the family, (Martineau, 1837 paragraphs 13 and 16)

Family hand over responsibility of insane to institutions with great consequences for the insane. To be insane is to bring shame upon the family and according to Martineau, secrecy of insanity within the family is the beginning of bad practice, (Martineau, 1837 paragraphs 6, 7 and 10)

Even those who are spared the Asylum are subjected to a life of 'nothingness' within the family.

Reasons why according to Martineau the perception of madness is neither to be questioned nor challenged, (Martineau, 1837 paragraphs 6 and 7).

(More to be covered)

Engels - books and articles

Engels - weblinks

In The Dialectic of Sex, Shulamith Firestone argues that before we can change a situation we must know how its problems have arisen and through what institutions. Women can learn a lot by examining succesful analyses of past events, even though not accepting everything they say. The main example she gives is that of Friederich Engels' The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels, F. 1884)

She thinks most will be learnt by studying Engels analytic method and applying it in a new way. The method, she says, is dialectical and materialistic

Dialectical

Materialistic

Eysenck - books and articles

Eysenck - weblinks

Mentioned under Bentham and Freud

Filmer - books and articles

Filmer - weblinks

Filmer - life and works

Filmer - childhood

Filmer - authority and power

I am exploring the concepts of power and authority in the political theories of Robert Filmer, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Emile Durkheim. My review focuses on Robert Filmer's writings. I contrast Filmer's ideas with those of Rousseau.

Sir Robert Filmer (1588-1653) was a conservative English political thinker. Rousseau was a radical French thinker. Both argued that authority and power are not the same thing, and tried to show where authority comes from. Filmer derived authority from God. Rousseau derived authority from the general will. Both theorists thought that those in power could lack authority, and believed they could show why. Durkheim has features in common with both theorists.

When the parliamentary forces were in power, after the defeat of the king, Filmer denied their authority and refused to take an oath of allegiance (reference). He was imprisoned. [Give detail]

Filmer applied social theory to politics, and claimed that rulers have fatherly power over their subjects in the same way that a father has power over his family. Filmer quoted the Bible frequently; he approached scriptures making this the fundamental foundation to his argument. Using the book of Genesis, Filmer applied the story of creation to show what he considered gave authority to power. [But you will also need Filmer's arguments from the nature of things if you are to compare him to Durkheim]

I am examining the perspective of authority and power in the work of three writers. My principle writer is Robert Filmer, a Conservative political thinker of the 17th century, who I will compare and contrast with the 19th century liberal, John Stuart Mill and Roger Scruton, a present day Conservative theorist.

Power and authority are not the same. I will look at how each author relates one to the other. I will take Filmer as my model. In Observations Concerning the Original of Government upon Mr Hobbes' Leviathan (Filmer, R. 1652), Filmer outlined his bible based view that the lineage of power comes directly from God. That is, power has authority only because it derives from God.

Filmer argues that man has authority over women and children. [Where from?]. Within the structure of the family, a hierarchy of male dominance presides. [What are you saying about "the first progenitors"?].

Filmer expands on these ideas in his work Patriarcha or the Natural Power of Kings (Filmer, R. 1680). Here he states

"all kings be not the natural parents of their subjects, yet they all either are, or are to be reputed, the next heirs to those first progenitors, who were at first the natural parents of the whole people, and in their right succeed to the exercise of supreme jurisdiction; and such heirs are not only lords of their own children, but also of their brethren, and all others that were subject to their fathers."

So, although kings are not usually the real fathers of their people, they have a metaphorical parenthood. And although they may not literally be descended from Adam and Eve, they are to be treated as if they were, and "in their right succeed to the exercise of supreme jurisdiction". Rulers derive their authority from their real or reputed descent from the original father to whom God gave authority, and from their metaphorical parenting of their subjects.

This, in essence, supports the concept that there is a natural ruling class, at the top of a social structure in which every one has a position ordained by God. Authority is vested in the higher classes who have a moral responsibility towards those below them

John Stuart Mill, in Principles of Political Economy - With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy, Book 4, Chapter 7' (Mill, J.S. 1848), outlines two opposing theories of the relationship between the classes. The theory of dependence and protection is the conservative theory that corresponds to Filmer's. He contrasts this with his own theory of self-dependence. Mill argued that it was not in the best interests of the poor to have the higher classes dictate all aspects of life to them. Mill believed that rather than the presumption that the poor were beyond rational thought, they were in fact best placed to make the decisions that directly affected them, and that the role of the ruling class should be one of guidance and assistance.

Mill was also revolutionary in questioning society's perception of women as second class citizens. That they were categorised together with children and the insane, Mill saw to be a ludicrous anomaly. [You need to relate this to authority and power]

Also to use: Mill, J.S. 1869 The Subjection of Women

Roger Scruton's work The Meaning of Conservatism (Scruton, R 1980) seeks to develop a definition of conservatism, distinct from liberalism, but that encompasses new found freedoms and choices. Scruton's conservative theory (transcendant) is based upon the structure of family as a template for society. That bonds with our parents are established because as children we are placed in their care. Likewise we look to the governing body to protect us and guide us as a parent would, and that the rights we have are given to us by the society we belong to.

Firestone - books and articles

Firestone - weblinks

I am comparing the social significance of sex in the theories of Shulamith Firestone, and Sigmund Freud. I will do so through the eyes of Shulamith Firestone in her book The Dialectic of Sex. The Case for Feminist Revolution (Firestone, S. 1970).

In this essay I will look at the issue Sex from the perspective of Shulamith Firestone and Sigmund Freud. Both of the theories were different from each other. Shulamith Firestone is approaching to the subject from different perspective and Sigmund Freud is approaching the subject from another perspective. When we hear the word Sex, different meanings come to our mind. Sex can be the biological distinction between male and females, or it can be sexual relationship between two persons having sexual intercourse or intimate relations. I argue that the biological distinction between genders is closer to what Firestone writes about and sexual intercourse or love relations closer to what Freud writes about.

I analyse Firestone's own theory of the "sex/class" conflict separate from her criticisms and descriptions of Freud. I will show what her theory is and the social significance she attaches to it.

I will then what she calls "Freudianism: The Misguided Feminism", showing how she describes it and its social significance.

Life and literature

Shulamith Firestone was born in Ottawa in 1945. According to the "Author Biography" on her publisher's website

"She grew up in the Midwest and attended Yavneh of Telshe Yeshiva, Washington University, and the Art Institute of Chicago, from which she received a bachelor of fine arts in painting. She was a founder of the women's liberation movement and editor of Notes, a journal of radical feminism. She lives in New York City."

She was part of the New York red stocking movement (Producers of the "Red Stocking Manifesto?), which saw women as the oppressed class exploited as sexual objects, breeders, domestic servant and cheap labour.

In 1968 she was a member of "New York Radical Women, 799 Broadway, Room 412, New York City, 1003" and made three contributions to their "Notes from the First Year", published in June 1968:

Aquinas

Bentham

Blake

Comte

Dewey

Durkheim

Ellis

Engels

Eysenck

Filmer

Firestone

Fletcher

Foucault

Freud

Fromm

Gobineau

Godwin

Goffman

Gumplowicz

Hitler

Johnson

Kant

Laing

Mead

Owen

Parsons

Piaget

Rousseau

Mary Shelley

Skinner

Tuke

Watson

Weber

Wollstonecraft

Jock Young

Links to
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Michel Foucault is a French Philosopher who was born on October 15, 1926 in Poitiers, France and died on June 25th 1984.

He has explained how his childhood provided his interest in history, in the relation between the self and society, and in protected spaces.

October 1936 10 years old: "We did not know when I was ten or eleven years old, whether we would become German or remain French. We did not know whether we would die or not in the bombing, and so on."

Foucault was a student at the École Normale Supérieure (elite French University) after the war. He graduated in 1950. His tutor was the French marxist theoretician, Louis Althusser.

1950 Foucault joined the Communist Party of France

From 1951 to 1955 he taught psychology at the École Normale Supérieure. (By the invitation of Louis Althusser)

1953 Foucault left the Communist Party

Foucault's first book was Maladie mentale et personnalité (Mental Illness and Personality), published in 1954: Revised and retitled in 1959 as Maladie mentale et psychologie (Mental Illness and Psychology).

Foucault's second book (1961), known in English as Madness and Civilisation, is his first well known one. According to Clare O'Farrell, it has a similar content to Maladie mentale et psychologie (O'Farrell, C. 1989)

1963 Naissance de la clinique

1966 Les Mots et les Choses

22.2.1969 Qu'est ce qu'un auteur? (What is an Author?)

March 1969 L'Archéologie du savoir (The archaeology of knowledge). Includes Foucault's use of the word discourse.

2.12.1970 Inaugural Lecture: "The Discourse on Language" at the Collége de France.

January 1971 Foucault began teaching at the Collége de France, where he occupied a chair in the "History of Systems of Thought" especially created for him. He taught there for the rest of his life apart from a sabbatical in 1977.

8.2.1971 Manifesto of the Le Groupe d'information sur les prisons signed by Foucault and others.

November 1971 Discussion on Dutch television with Noam Chomsky

7.11.1973 to 6.2.1974 Weekly lectures in Paris on psychiatric power.

February 1975 Surveiller et Punir - Observe and punish - Discipline and punish

1976 Histoire de la sexualité 1 - La Volonté de savoir (The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: The will to know). English translation 1978 (The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction).

1984 Histoire de la sexualité volumes 2 and 3.

25.6.1984 Death of Michel Foucault

We constantly have to question our function of countervailing power

1.6.2011 Thirty years ago, the first cases of AIDS were reported in the United States... A sad anniversary of a disease which swept away ... valuable people. Among these, the philosopher Michel Foucault. A year ago, Daniel Defert spoke at a convention of aid on the illness of his friend and spoke of how the ideas developed by the philosopher had deeply impregnated the French association "AIDES"

Foucault's work explores patterns of power within a society, and how power relates to the self. His approach is usually historical, attempting to show that everyday ideas about reality, like reason and madness, change in the course of history. Foucault created new concepts for understanding many things as power relations, including not only prisons and the police, but also the care of the mentally ill and welfare.

Looking back on his work, in a May 1982 interview, Foucault said that he had been exploring the relation between reason, knowledge, truth and power. His thesis might be stated as knowledge gives power, although it is not the same as power. (external link) - (external link). This part of the 1982 interview shows that he is not identifying reason and knowledge with power, although he is relating them.

Foucault: ... You must understand that this is part of the destiny common to all problems once they are posed: they degenerate into slogans. Nobody has said "Reason is power." I do not think anyone has said knowledge is a kind of power.

G.R. It has been said.

Foucault: It has been said but you have to understand that when I read -- and I know it has been attributed to me -- the thesis, "Knowledge is power," or "Power is knowledge," I begin to laugh, since studying their relation is precisely my problem. If they were identical, I would not have to study them and I would be spared a lot of fatigue as a result. The very fact that I pose the question of their relation proves clearly that I do not identify them.

[Taken from an external link]. - (external link)

In Madness and Civilisation, Foucault focuses on the ways in which state power, and what he (later) calls "discourses" (the shape that reason or knowledge take within a culture), work to constrain people.

Foucault's first well known book, English title: Madness and Civilisation, was published in 1961 as Folie et dé raison: Histoire de la folie l'áge classique. [Madness and Reason. History of madness in the Classical Age]. The Classical Age is the 17th century when, Foucault argues, state power carried out a general confinement of social misfits. Foucault argues that the modern (scientific) discourse about mental illness was made possible by this general confinement, and that it separates the non-mad from a direct relationship with madness.

In Madness and Civilization, Foucault divides the history of madness into four different periods: the medieval, the renaissance and the classical and modern eras. Each has its own dominant reason, and each its own relation with unreason.

Looking back on this from his later theory, we can say that each period displays a particular 'regime of truth' (Foucault, M. 6.1976) or a specific set of discourses (Foucault, M. 22.2.1969).

The following quotations from (Foucault, M. 6.1976) may explain what he means by a "regime of truth" (he also speaks about a "regime of power"

truth isn't outside power, or lacking in power... Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it includes regular effects of power.

'Truth' is to be understood as a system of ordered procedures for the production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements.

'Truth' is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it. A 'regime' of truth.

The general meaning of discourse is dialogue or conversation. Foucault uses it to describe whole structures of thought within which discussion takes place. The idea is that there are structures of thought that are not rigid dogmas, but which guide the thinker and, at the same time, close off options.

Foucault argues that our ideas (discourses) about insanity and the principles which underlie and symbolise it, are cultural creations which have changed through history. Discourse is a body of language and representation which forms the foundation of consciousness and knowledge. Knowledge is created by creating language about a given topic. This body of knowledge is unified by common assumptions, (Abercrombie 2000, p.99).

According to Foucault, knowledge and power are interrelated, and you cannot understand one without reference to the other. Through power and discourse, people dominate towards others within society. It is through language people gain power. For example, people who have knowledge within any given area or on a specific topic, reinforce that power through language, which in return reflects knowledge and power. Therefore, being recognised as having knowledge is a source of power, and it is this knowledge which allows the individual to speak with authority. (O'Donnell, 2000 p.118)

In Madness and Civilisation, Foucault looks at the history of madness and how it relates to the history of civilisation. Civilisation is usually seen as the progressive improvement of the human condition, but Foucault argues that it is not what it appears.

In the third of his four periods, the "classical", Foucault says madness was reduced to silence by an "act of force".. He describes general "houses of confinement" built in 17th century France. Within months of the Paris house being established, one in every hundred people in Paris were housed there. The inhabitants of the houses of confinement were any persons considered, by the government, to be social outcasts. They had nothing else common with each other, apart from being considered to be unwanted in mainstream society. They were social failures and so were locked up. They included the poor, the unemployed, and the insane.

"From the middle of the 17th century, madness was linked with this country of confinement, and the act which designated confinement as it's natural abode" (Foucault. M. 2004:36)

All the social failures were mixed in together. Foucault says they were all "mingled in... unreason". Here we get a glimpse of what he means by unreason. It is what the powerful established society rejects as unreasonable:

" In the classical period, indigence, laziness, vice, and madness mingled in an equal guilt within unreason; madmen were caught in the great confinement of poverty and unemployment"

Foucault refers here to the foundation of the Hopital General in Paris, which he dates as 27.4.1656. He takes this as the main example and symbol of the creation of institutions for discipline in several countries of Europe in the 17th century. Ackernecht's (1959) (ch.4 p.29) description of 17th century institutional developments is a summary of Foucault

"The absolutist governments of the mid-seventeenth century decided to resolve their social crisis by incarcerating all the poor. In Paris this occurred in May 1657. The men were taken to the Bicetre, the women to the Salpetriere. In France these pauper prisons were deceitfully called "Hopital general"; in Germany, more truthfully, "Zuchthaus" [discipline- house]; in Great Britain "workhouse."

There was no distinction made between the people locked inside. It was homeland to the poor, to the unemployed, to prisoners, and to the insane. All these categories were regarded as the same at the time. So madness belonged to social failure.

Whatever the words sound like, the Hopital General was not a medical establishment, but rather a semi-judicial structure. Foucault says:

"In its functioning, or in its purpose, the Hopital General had nothing to do with any medical concept. It was an instance of order, of the monarchical and bourgeois order being organised in France during this period." (Foucault, M. 1967 p.40)

The purpose of the creation of the Hopital General was of preventing, "mendicancy and idleness as the source of all disorders." (Foucault, M. 1967 p.47)

Foucault relates the power of confinement to general political power. He says that

"the Hôpital Général is a strange power that the King establishes between the police and the courts, at the limits of the law: a third order of repression."

"From the very start, one thing is clear: the Hopital General is not a medical establishment. It is rather a sort of semi judicial structure, an administrative entity which, along with the already constituted powers, and outside the courts, decides, judges, and executes" (Foucault. M. 2004:37)

Foucault on Madness

Caroline Wambua on Foucault's concepts:

From the first chapter of Foucault's Madness and Civilisation, I have extracted four concepts of madness that fit my argument that the line between sanity (reason) and madness (unreason) is very thin; and that all human beings are mad, and it is only the degree that differs. I call these madness as human weakness, as freedom of expression, as unfettered truth and as dreams and illusions.

Madness as a human weakness:

Madness has been classified as a level of human weakness, "unreason". In this classification everyone can be said to be have unreason, to be unreasonable, to be at a certain level of insanity or madness, to harbour a given level of madness within them.

Foucault argues that the "middle ages" gave "madness a place in the hierarchy of vices". But it was just one amongst many. Then:

"In the Renaissance, Madness leaves this modest place and comes to the fore... Madness now leads the joyous throng of all human weaknesses... The absolute privilege of madness is to reign over all whatever is bad in man" (Foucault, M. 1967, p.24)

Madness as freedom of expression:

Madness can be articulated as freedom to express oneself. Foucault quotes from a play:

"We owe the invention of the arts to deranged imaginations, the caprice of Painters, Poets and Musicians is only a name moderated in civility to express their madness" (Foucault, M. 1967, p.29).

When we see a piece of art that we are unable to decipher, what comes to our mind? Is it what possessed the artist - where was his mind or what came over it - when did that given work?

I would interpret Foucault as suggesting that when the works of artists are too abstract for us to understand, it shows their state of mind when they did it - a free state. Thus any form of expression that cannot be understood is not madness, but in it is an extreme form of expression; expression without reservation, expression beyond comprehension, lacking reason - unreason.

Madness an unfettered truth:

Foucault also says:

"Madness deals not so much with truth and the world, as with man and whatever truth about himself he is able to perceive" (Foucault, M. 1967, p 27)

Thus, I imagine a man who is mad to express himself truthfully - with no uncertainty or fear of what others may think or perceive of him. He expresses himself as he perceives issues without sifting or shame, regardless of whether his words or actions may be shameful, disgusting, offending - He is being true to himself.

Madness as dreams and illusions:

Foucault asserts that:

"In a general way... madness is not linked to the world... but rather to man, to his weaknesses, dreams, and illusions" (Foucault, M. 1967, p 26).

Foucault compares madness to dreams - internal thoughts, imaginings, ideas. Only that in the case of the mad, they do not have to be asleep like the rest of us to have them, hence the reason Foucault adds illusion, fantasies, daydreaming to this - as one can day dream or fantasise at any given time, however in the case of the mad, they see this as truth, they do not differentiate between dream, fantasy, world from reality. In the same token, unlike us who keep it under/quiet, they instead live it, speak it, etc.

Surveiller et Punir - Observe and punish - Discipline and punish

Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1977), was first published in 1975 as Surveiller et Punir: Naisance de la Prison. One might think that this should be translated "Inspect and Punish: Birth of the Prison", but Foucault himself chose the English title.

Surveiller et Punir: Naisance de la Prison relates in both birth (naissance) and superintend-inspect (surveiller) to Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon; or the Inspection-house. Foucault sees Bentham's theory as the birth of the modern prison (the theory came before the practice). Panopticon (derived from Greek) means "all-seeing". Its meaning in English is conveyed by "Inspection House". Bentham used the words for his plan for a circular institution in which all the inmates cells could be seen from the centre, where the inmates knew anything they did could be seen, but could not see if they were being seen. When Foucault wrote about Bentham in French, he translated the word "inspect" as "surveiller", which now means to supervise or have authority over, but comes from a word (veiller) for staying awake to keep guard whilst others sleep.

Discipline and Punish outlines Foucault's thought on how the elite in society dominate and control the rest of society. There are many kinds of institutions where this is done, confinement is a main theme of the institution and is made to appear a natural theme of society. Foucault argues that prisons, schools and workhouses act as machines for transforming and controlling people. Foucault argues that observation can be used as a form of punishment: Being observed constantly can make you feel self conscious making your behaviour physically and mentally change. Foucault relates this to the prison.

Discipline and Punish focuses on western forms of social control in various institutions including the prison, army, factory and the hospital. It outlines the way society uses forms of discipline to control the most basic elements of human life: space and time, in order to discipline individuals who deviate from the norm, Foucault strongly believes total institutions play a big role in oppressing people's behaviour and true identity.

Foucault outlines in Discipline and Punish the ways in which discipline was used to install useful social qualities into the prisoner as an attempt to reform the criminal upon his release and would, as a result of this, be less likely to re-offend. Supervision and surveillance was used to monitor the progress of prisoners.

I will be basing my work manly on the chapters Docile Bodies and The Means of Corrective Training and analysing how Foucault understands observation and surveillance is used as a form of power and disciplineupon the individual. Foucault states how the personal space and time of individual is taken away, he discusses how this form of discipline isexercised in many different institutions stripping the individual of his individuality:

"_constant supervision, the presence of supervisors, the elimination of anything that might disturb or distract; is a question of constituting a totally useful time_ Time measured and paid must also be a time without impurities or defects; a time of good quality, throughout which the body is constantly applied to its existence." (Foucault, M, 1991, p150)

Foucault argues that the prison was introduced at the end of the 18th century to reduce the crime rate, however the prison has failed in doing so. So why has the prison not been replaced with another system that actually reduces crime? Foucault's theory suggests that the reason prisons are still around is because they are used by the ruling class to lock away people who pose the threat of revolution.

Binary Division

In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1977) Foucault argues that

"all the authorities exercising individual control function according to a double mode; the first one being the classification by a binary division and branding, such as mad/sane; dangerous/harmless; normal/abnormal and the second one beings that of coercive assignment of differential distribution, so who he is; where he must be; how he is to be characterised; how he is to be recognised; how a constant surveillance is to be exercised over him in an individual way." (Foucault, M. 1977 p.-)

Both these methods are very hard to bring about fairly, since you have to make assumptions about people, who you do not know. I find it to narrow to do a division between, mad and sane. Because there are many people in between, so how do you classify them.

"A whole set of techniques and institutions for measuring, supervising and correcting the abnormal brings into play the disciplinary mechanisms to which the fear of the plague gave rise. All the mechanisms of power that, even today, are disposed around the abnormal individual, to brand him/her, are composed from those two forms that they distantly derive." (Foucault, M. 1977 p.-)

Foucault says that Bentham's Panopticon is the "architectural figure" of this binary discipline. Bentham puts the principles that had already developed into a building.

Foucault was a philosopher and historian of systems of thought. I have seen him identified with structuralism or post-modernism and post-structuralism. But, reading between the lines, his ideas and concepts suggest to me that he would not have enjoyed being labelled, or put into boxes. To have put himself into a certain box, in academic terms, would have meant going against his own ideas or thoughts. He thought that if you become wrapped into a set of 'truths' of a specific knowledge or theory, you cease to learn - as you think you know the answers. Then you have imprisoned yourself by taking these ideas as true or common knowledge. I sense if he was to let himself be portrayed under a certain terminology he would also then be caught up into a discourse of a certain set of language that is unified by common assumptions or beliefs within an academic context (Foucault, M. 1980 Power & Knowledge, Chapter 6).

Foucault thought across disciplines. He was a creative thinker whose thought went through the boundaries. With respect to institutions, he shares something here with my other two authors: Jeremy Bentham and Erving Goffman

Anna Freud - books and articles

Anna Freud - weblinks

Sigmund Freud - books and articles

Freud - weblinks reason & unreason and childhood and symbols and sex

6.5.1856 Sigmund Freud born to German speaking Jewish parents in Freiberg, Moravia. Then in the Austrian Empire. (Now part of the Czech Republic).

1860? (aged four) family moved to Vienna, the capital of the Austrian empire, where Freud remained until 1938

Although he had originally wanted to study law, Freud actually went on to pursue a career in medicine attending Vienna University in 1873. From here he became engrossed in research in to the central nervous system.

In 1880 Freud translated John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women into German. Mill argues that the relations between men should not be based on power and hierarchy, but on equality and reason. (see dictionary). In later comments, Freud says that "women are different beings - we will not say lesser, rather the opposite - from men". Mill, he thought, had ignored love and desire and the practical necessities of family life in his efforts to base relations between the sexes on reason.

Freud was awarded a degree in medicine in 1881 and, after graduation, he spent several years working in Vienna as a practical psychologist [??] and a lecturer in psychology [??].

In the winter of 1885/1886, Freud studied under Charcot in France. He then (1886) established a private practice in Vienna specialising in treating nervous disorders.

1886 Freud married Martha Bernays, granddaughter of the chief rabbi in Hamburg. They had six children.

1895 Anna Freud, the youngest child, born. She also became a psychoanalyst.

1895 Freud and Joseph Breuer Studies on Hysteria

Freud worked with another psychologist [??] Josef Breuer to produce Studies on Hysteria in 1895. [See Freud 1910, lecture one]

From this, Freud decided to move beyond the investigation of neurological- physiological causes of mental disorders and focus purely on the psychological causes of such disorders, coining the term Psychoanalysis.

Dr Joseph Breuer (1842-1925) and his patient Bertha Pappenheim or "Anna O" (1859-1936) invent the "talking cure".

Freud does not argue for the centrality of sex in Studies on Hysteria. He said later (1909)

"I was converted to it when my experience was richer and had led me deeper into the nature of the case."

Breuer used hypnosis with his patients. Freud found he was ineffective as a hypnotist and developed psychoanalysis based on lying a patient down on a couch and sitting behind them whilst allowing them to talk about dreams and childhood memories.

late 1895 "Freud arrived at the view that unconscious memories of sexual molestation in early childhood were a necessary precondition for the psychoneuroses (hysteria and obsessional neurosis), now known as the seduction theory." [Wikipedia]

1897 Emergence of Freud's new theory of infantile sexuality

Freud published what is regarded as one of his most important works, The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900.

Analysed his own dream. Example

"In the dream I see the chemical formula of" Trimethylamin ... "And where does trimethylamin, thus forced on my attention, lead me? To a conversation with another friend, who for years has been familiar with all my germinating ideas, and I with his. At that time he had just informed me of certain ideas concerning a sexual chemistry, and had mentioned, among others, that he thought he had found in trimethylamin one of the products of sexual metabolism. This substance thus leads me to sexuality, the factor to which I attribute the greatest significance in respect of the origin of these nervous affections which I am trying to cure."

The sexual content of The Interpretation of Dreams brought him notoriety, which was to grow worse. Anna Freud (his daughter) writes of "outbursts of indignation" when Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality was published in 1905.

1902 Appointed as a professor?

1905

September 1908 English edition of Iwan Bloch's The Sexual Life of Our Time In its Relations to Modern Civilisation London: William Heinemann (Medical Books Ltd). Only available to the legal and medical professions

Psychoanalysis began to gain international reputation and, in September 1909, Freud and his colleague Carl Jung lectured in the United States. Freud's lectures were published, in English, as The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis in 1910. The first of his five lectures discusses the work of Breuer and Freud's concepts of the unconscious mind, reminiscences and conversion. The second lecture discusses the work of Charcot and Freud's concept of repression. The third lecture discusses symbolism and Freud's concept of resistance. The fourth lecture discusses the sexual development of children and The fifth lecture discusses what cure might be.

Lecture 4: "psychoanalytic investigations trace back the symptoms of disease with really surprising regularity to impressions from the sexual life"

1913 Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics

"We should certainly not expect that the sexual life of these poor naked cannibals would be moral in our sense or that their sexual instincts would be subjected to any great degree of restriction. Yet we find that they set before themselves with the most scrupulous care and the most painful severity the aims of avoiding incestuous sexual relations. Indeed, their whole social organisation seems to serve that purpose or to have been brought into relation with its attainment."

In 1910 an International Psychoanalytical Association was founded.

Totem and Taboo (1913) - Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego 1921 - The Future of an Illusion (1927), and Civilization and Its Discontents (1930) are works on anthropological, sociological or cultural scale.

June 1938 Sigmund Freud and his family fled their home in Vienna to escape the Nazis. They settled in Hampstead, London, where Freud wrote a summary of his theory, An Outline of Psychoanalysis. He died in September 1939.

Freud's final publication was An Outline of Psychoanalysis

Freud and reason & unreason

See the word madness and Griesinger's ideas on dreams and their relationship to madness and hallucinations. Also reason The alternative words for rational and irrational may also help.

My review of Sigmund Freud's work will focus on the model of reason and unreason (mental health and neurosis) that he developed. I will show how the neurological explanations of mental illness developed into an analysis of symbols (dreams). Freud's model will be compared to that of Eysenck, who re-instated neurology in the study of rational and irrational behaviour, and Goffman, who developed the theories of symbolic interaction.

At medical school in Vienna, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was attracted to the laboratory and scientific side of medicine rather than clinical practice. He spent seven instead of the usual five years acquiring his doctorate as he became deeply involved, from 1876, in researches into the central nervous system. He received a grant to pursue his neurological studies abroad. He spent four months at the Salpetriere Clinic in Paris. Studying under the neurologist Jean Martin Charcot.

Here Freud first became interested in hysteria, and Charcot's demonstration of its psychological origins.

Freud soon devoted his efforts to the treatment of hysterical patients with the help of hypnosis, a technique he had studied under Charcot. Joseph Breuer, an older colleague who had become Freud's friend and mentor, told Freud about a hysterical patient whom he had treated successfully by hypnotising her and then tracing her symptoms back to traumatic events she had experienced at her father's deathbed. Breuer called his treatment `Catharsis' and attributed its effectiveness to the release of `pent-up emotions'.

Freud's experiments with Breuer's technique were successful, demonstrating that hysterical symptoms could constantly be traced to highly emotional experiences which have been `repressed' that is excluded from conscious memory.

At the age of 39 Freud first used the term `psychoanalysis', and his major lifework well underway. At about this time Freud began his own self- analysis, which he perused primarily by analysing his dreams. As he proceeded his personality changed. He developed a greater inner security while his at times impulsive emotional responses decreased. A major scientific result was The Interpretation of Dreams (1901). In this book he demonstrated that the dreams every man, just like the symptoms of hysterical or an otherwise neurotic person serve as a `royal road' to the understanding of unconscious mental processes which have great importance in determining behaviour.

Freud and childhood

See general biography and literature review

When most people think of Freud they think of his work with adults, especially women, and his work on dreams and free association. We are looking at the relevance of his work to childhood and to the education of children. Freud tended not to work directly with children, but to theorise about them on the basis of his adult patients' reminiscences. The behaviourists , John Watson and Rosalie Rayner, did carry out experiments on children. Samantha will begin with Watson and Rayner's experiment with the baby Albert, and relate that to what he said about Freud. In considering why Freud considered love rather than fear as the basic instinct, she will look at his theory of the elements of personality: the id, the ego and the superego; and his theories of the Oedipus and Electra complexes.

Gloria will argue that the main difference between Freud and Watson and Skinner is that the behaviourists believed psychology should not be a science of the mind, but a science of behaviour. So Skinner and Watson thought that the childhood is affected by behaviour, whilst Freud focused on the child's mind and believed that during growing up, the child will be affected by his or her personal thinking.

After talking about Skinner and Watson, I look at the psychosexual stages of development of Freud. In contrast to Skinner and Watson, Freud believed that child development is about the mind and that, through psychoanalysis, the mind can be studied scientifically. Freud has five stages to childhood. Children in different stages have different development both mentally and physically. An important part of Freud's thinking is the Oedipus complex and his belief in the sexual thinking of children. This complex is a natural aspect of childhood. It occurs in both sexes and there are differences between boys and girls. Boys develop a sexual attraction to the mother and want to replace their fathers, girls would also desire to possess the father and replace the mother.

See general biography and literature review

Freud and sex

I am examining why is sex of social significance to Freud and I will start by investigating what he means by civilisation.

Freud believes that human beings are aggressive and egotistical, and have goals and desires that are not always conducive to the needs of civilisation. As a result, civilization, or its culture, inhibits instinctual drives, which results in guilt and unfulfillment.

What are his views on sex. Parent prototype for future relationship. Superego self regulates an individuals behaviour.

How do the two relate (think about the superego) and in what ways are they are similar

I will start my research by reading the fourth lecture in his 1909 lectures on psychoanalysis (Freud, S. 9.1909/1910) and by reading Civilisation and its Discontents (Freud, S. 1930).

Freud argued that the foundations of behaviour are unconscious and closely related to what he called "sex". These foundations underlie, and override, reason.

He argued that the central processes in our judgments are unconscious and there fore the idea of reason within our actions cannot be relied on. That when we give reasons for our action these are often untrue as all behaviour is actually unconscious. That we need to interpret human behaviour in terms of the hidden drama that Freud discovers within the human unconscious. Freud likens this drama to that of Greek mythology as can be seen in his terms for the various complexes described in his study of psychoanalysis. Furthermore Freud argues that the performance of this drama occurs mostly within our childhood and that this constructs our character. It is not the physical i.e. Genitals that give us our perception of male and female personalities but the roles we play within this drama. Making the distinction between male and female a central effect on the content of our minds. Roberts, A. 2.1994 Freud

Freud and sex through the eyes of Shulamith Firestone
Draft by Diren Yilmaz

Shulamith Firestone argues that Freudianism and feminism have common roots. They developed at the same time and were responses to "sexual oppression and repression". (Firestone, S. 1970 p.50). It seems to me that Firestone means Freud was mainly about sexual repression and feminism mainly about sexual oppression, but that we should relate the two in some way. I will explore how she relates Freud to feminism, starting with her analysis of Freud.

Firestone's description of Freud's theory:

Firestone says that

"Freud grasped the crucial problem of modern life: Sexuality"
(Firestone, S. 1970 p.49)

In fact, she says, "Freud's achievement was the rediscovery of sexuality" (Firestone, S. 1970 p.50) [My emphasis]

He was able to re-discover it because it had been repressed during the Victorian period:

"Both Freudianism and Feminism came as reactions to... the Victorian Era, characterised by its familycenterdness, and thus its exaggerated sexual oppression and repression" (Firestone, S. 1970 p.50)

Firestone attempts to summarise Freud on sex in one paragraph

"Freud saw sexuality as the prime life force; the way in which this libido was organised in the child determined the psychology of the individual (which, moreover, recreated that of the historic species). He found that in order to adjust to present civilisation the sexuate being must undergo a repression process in childhood. While every individual undergoes this repression, some undergo it less successfully than others, producing greater (psychosis) or lesser (neurosis) maladjustment, often severe enough to cripple the individual altogether" (Firestone, S. 1970 p.50)

Erich Fromm - books and articles

Fromm - weblinks

Comparing the social significance of sex in the theories of Erich Fromm and Sigmund Freud

Erich Fromm was born in Frankfurt on March 23 1900 and died in Muralto Switzerland on March 18 1980. He was the only child from an Orthodox Jewish family. Fromm's education began in Germany where he was introduced to Freud [This needs developing]

Fromm he studied two semesters in Frankfurt jurisprudence in 1919, he moved to Heildelberg and study sociology with Alfred (Max Weber's brother) completing his PhD in Sociology in 1922 and his psychoanalytical practice in 1930. [Something here can relate this to the question]

In 1934, he moved to USA [explain why, and its relevance to the question] and worked in several main Universities (Columbia University 1935-1939, University of Michigan 1945- 1947, to mention some). He became an American citizen in 1940.

His works include:

Escape from Freedom, published in the USA in 1941. This was republished in Britain in 1942 with a different title: The Fear of Freedom. Fromm, as we said, had escaped from Nazi Germany. His book is called Escape from Freedom because it is about the psychological mechanism that led to people opting to dominate and be dominated, instead of opting for freedom. As in all his books, he is concerned with society and politics as much as with philosophy and psychology.

Fear of Freedom argues that freedom has a negative and a positive side:

"freedom from the traditional bonds of medieval society, though giving the individual a new feeling of independence, at the same time made him feel alone and isolated, filled him with doubt and anxiety, and drove him into new submission and into a compulsive and irrational activity" (Fromm, E. 1942, page 89)

This dilemma is central to Fromm's explanation of why societies sometimes opt to escape from freedom.

Man for Himself: an enquiry into the psychology of ethics, published in the USA in 1947, can be considered a continuation of The Fear of Freedom. The two books express Fromm's theory of human nature.

The Art of Loving, published in the USA in 1956, recapitulates and complements the theoretical principles of human nature found in the two other books .

In The Fear of Freedom, Fromm argues that, although physiological conditioned needs, like hunger, thirst, the need of sleep, are compelling, the need to be related to the world outside oneself is just as compelling and necessary

He says:

"When a man is born, the stage is set for him: He has to eat and drink, and therefore he has to work; and this means he has to work under the particular conditions and in the ways that are determined for him by the kind of society into which he is born." (Fromm E. 1942, p.14)

But also:

"Although there are certain needs, such as hunger, thirst, sex, which are common to man, those drives which make for the difference in men's characters, like love and hatred, the lust for power and the yearning for submission, the enjoyment of sensuous pleasure and the fear of it, are all products of the social process." (Fromm E. 1942, p.9)

Fromm's concept of social character is the sum of the character traits typical of all human beings who live in a given society. This is first used in The Fear of Freedom. It is a key concept to understand the way Fromm relates the individual to society.

He explains how he considers more difficult to overcome loneliness and isolation than the fact of find oneself physically lonely, Fromm refers to this by arguing how a person that is completely insolated could lead him to mental disintegration as well as physical starvation, but on the other hand if a person is found physically alone for many years, a person would still be able to relate to ideas, values and several social patterns giving him the sense of community and belonging.

The need to avoid "moral isolation" - to relate to one's society and culture

"is.. rooted.. in the very essence of the human mode and practice of life." (Fromm E. 1942, p.9)

With the beginning of capitalism, Fromm argues, that societies began to move. This movement brought the end to fixed economies that wore considered natural.

Under capitalism, the individual found himself alone. Everything started to depend on his own efforts and not on the security of traditional ideas. Fromm says that modern society affect the individual in two ways:

1. He becomes independent, self sustained and critical

2. He also becomes isolated, alone and afraid.

According to Fromm, the most decisive moment in history is the identification of "self" as opposed to "nature". At this point people become responsible for their own fate - At this point they become afraid - the "fear of freedom" begins at the point of recognizing ones own responsibility for one's own fate. (See chapter 2: The Emergence of the Individual and the Ambiguity of Freedom)

Fromm criticises Freud for reducing "the field of human relationships" to something like "the market" in sexual relations: "an exchange of satisfaction of biologically given needs" (Fromm E. 1942, p.9)

To these ideas Fromm adds how not only sexual and economic repression had been affected the individual, however, the explains the importance of the suppression of spontaneous feelings, therefore of the truly development of a authentic personality. The suppression of spontaneous feelings, and there by of the development of genuine individuality, starts very early, as a matter of fact with the earliest training of a child. (Fromm E. 1942: 208)

Fromm's explains how not only society but more importantly the parents act as agents of society and suppress the child's ability for spontaneity and independence. When the child begins to grow, because of the forces of the parents he begins to feel less and less capable to stand for his own and begins to seek help, in this case the help is been given by his parents and to the parents the child becomes `him'; as Fromm calls it.

Nevertheless Fromm explains the consequences that these actions could affect the child's life, not only in the immediate future but in the long run, the child will transfer these feeling to someone else; a friend, a husband, a teacher.

Fromm begins to explain how he understands the importance of social classes within a society, and how these classes have specific character and its different ideas develop and become more powerful. He explains:

"Ideas can become powerful, but only to the extent to which they are answers to specific human needs prominent in a given social character" (Fromm E. 1942, p.242)

Giddens - books and articles

Giddens - weblinks

Gilmour - books and articles

Gilmour - weblinks

Goffman - books and articles

Goffman - weblinks

Life and works

Erving Goffman was a Canadian born USA sociologist. He was born on 11.6.1922 in Manville, Canada and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 19.11.1982. He was the son of Max and Anne Goffman, Jews from the Ukraine.

Goffman's books show how symbolic interaction theories can be used to analyse everyday life. He mainly used ethnographical methods of research, in particular participation and observation or field-work

1945 Goffman graduated from the University of Toronto (Canada)

He then went to the University of Chicago (USA) where he took his masters and doctorate.

1949 Passed his masters degree at Chicago (USA) with a thesis on "Some Characteristics of Response to Depicted Experience" (Listed in Angelica Schuyler Choate's bibliography)

Goffman's field was Sociology and Social Anthropology. For his doctorate (1953), he undertook field work in the Shetland Isles of Scotland from December 1949 to May 1951, producing the data on social interactions on which he constructed his book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life in 1959.

May 1951? Goffman moved to Paris where he spent a year preparing the first draft of his doctoral dissertation. (Manning)

University of Chicago 1952-1954

University of Chicago, Division of Social Sciences assistant, 1952-1953, resident associate, 1953-1954.

July 1952? Goffman married Angelica Schuyler Choate (nicknamed Sky) (Born Boston 1.1.1929 - Died 1964

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) uses his 'dramaturgical' concept of the self and how human beings manipulate or 'stage manage' their interaction with each other. Working from his symbolic interactionist perspective, he looks closely at individual identity, group relations and the meaning of information and environment.

Macionis and Plummer (2002 p.162) say that Goffman's method was that "observing life closely on those islands, he started to develop a framework for seeing social life as a kind of drama. Just like people on a stage, people in everyday life could be seen as actors playing out roles and giving impressions to others that enabled the others to make sense of what is going on".

National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Md., visiting scientist, 1954-1957

From Autumn 1954 to the end of 1957 Goffman was a visiting member of the Laboratory of Socio-environmental Studies of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland and did some brief studies of ward behaviour in the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

From 1955 to 1956, Goffman did one year's field research in St Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, DC. This lead to the publication of Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates in 1961.

When Goffman went to the hospital, he wanted to observe, but, in order to do is work, he did not want people, staff or inmates, to know that he was observing them.

[Needs to say what he worked as and how he observed]

October 1956, Goffman makes a presentations based on the idea of the asylum as a 'metabolic process' at a Princeton conference on Group processes. Yves Winkin 1999

University of California 1958-1968

Assistant professor, University of California, Berkeley, 1958 to 1959, Associate professor, 1959-1962, Professor of sociology, 1962-1968.

1959 books and articles

1959 Goffman published his first book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This book includes his famous dramaturgical perspective looking at face to face interaction and symbolic interactionism. Goffman believed that individuals put on a 'performance' or a 'front' in order to present a certain image of themselves to others in society. He uses the theatre as a metaphor to portray this example, like actors in a theatre. We use our body to manipulate or put on a performance to impress others. (Katerina)

1961 books and articles

1961 Goffman published his book Asylums. This includes essays based on the social situations of mental patients and other inmates. Goffman speaks of individuals in these institutions and how patients are stripped of their self identity. He argued that as patients they are unable to express their self through the use of their body, for instance they are not able to choose the clothes they wear. (Katerina)

In one of the essays in Asylums, Goffman first defined his concept of a "total institution":

"a place of residence and work where large numbers of like- situated individuals, cut off from the wider society, for an appreciable period of time, together lead an enclosed , formally administered round of life".

1963 books and articles

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) and Asylums (1963) are two of the three best known Goffman books. The third is Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, published in 1963.

In Stigma Goffman talks about 'stigmatised' individuals in society. He uses the term 'stigma' to "refer to an attribute that is deeply discrediting". Some examples of these include alcoholics, drug addicts and homosexuals. Goffman talks about the relationship between the self and the body of these individuals and how some stigmatised individuals are able to conceal their illness, e.g. individuals who have a mental illness.

1964 Angelica committed suicide by jumping off the bridge right after she was released from a mental institution.

"In March of 1964 a friend of Erving sent a dreadful message. Schuyler had killed herself. Erving and I had been somewhat estranged but I phoned and wrote and tried everything I could think of that I thought would help him. As if anything could. I think perhaps it was bringing up his son that saved him, but I don't really know. How could anyone live through that. I knew how he had helped Schuyler when she had a breakdown - there is that extraordinary paper when he describes how the afflicted one enters the room and the carer (he doesn't use that word) looks quickly around to make sure the scissors are out of sight." (Elizabeth Bott Spillius 3.18.2010 in the Goffman archives)

1967 Interaction Ritual. Essays on Face-to-Face Behaviour

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 1968-1982

Benjamin Franklin Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1968-1982.

1969 Strategic Interaction

1971 Relations in Public: Microstudies of the Public Order

1974 Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organisation of Experience

1979 Gender Advertisements

1981 Forms of Talk University

President American Sociological Association 1981-1982

19.11.1982 Died of stomach cancer in Philadelphia.

Goffman: Theatre

I am examining the theatrical imagery in the theories of Erving Goffman and George Herbert Mead.

My key author is Goffman and, in his work, I focus on an analysis of his first book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. In which Goffman uses the theatre as a metaphor for the reality of self and explains the concepts of masks, roles, stage management, audience...

Goffman takes George Herbert Mead's idea about the self and interaction and recreates the ideas in terms of a theatre.

This theory shaped the way Goffman looked at the Self. He believed that the Self was something socially constructed, as did Mead and other interactional sociologists. He thought that the Self, like the mind was something shaped by what a person sees, hears, learns and believes. When looking at the Self, it has to be an individualistic approach; people differ and their characters change. Therefore Goffman argues when looking at the Self we have to look at its 'possessor'. He believed that although the Self is inside a body, the personality inside is not the 'Self' but the mind. The Self becomes apparent though interaction between the possessor and their audience.

Goffman believed that the Self was established through performances. The actor wants to create him or herself to gain a profitable reaction.

In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman devotes different chapters to different aspects of a theatrical performance. It is these concepts, which I will now develop. These are:

• The basic performance (Chapter one)

• Impression management (Chapter six)

• The notion of teams (Chapter two)

• Regions and region behaviour, (Chapter three)

• Discrepant roles (Chapter four)

• Communication out of character (Chapter five)

Performance

Goffman believes that in order for a performance the to be successful the audience must take seriously what they see before them. The audience needs to believe that the actor actually possesses the skills and talents his requires. In an actual performance, Goffman argues that is the audience that benefit.

Goffman describes two types of performer: the sincere performer who believes in their own performance, believing that the impression they give is the reality, and the cynic performer who knows what they are performing is only an act. He describes the cynical performer as gaining

"unprofessional pleasures from masquerade, experiencing a kind of gleeful spiritual aggression from the fact that he can toy at will with something his audience must take seriously" (Goffman E. 1959 p.29)

Goffman uses the example of the doctor who gives his patient a placebo knowing it will not work but uses it anyway because the reaction from the patient is more pleasurable that way. (Goffman E. 1959 p.29)

Goffman suggested the two types of performer the sincere and the cynic, with the cynic, Goffman says the actor is putting on a mask to create a new character. As Park says, people are everywhere playing a role; it is the roles that help us to create our friends and how we know each other. "It is in these roles that we know ourselves" p30 (Park, RE Race and culture Glencoe Illinois: the free press 1950 p249)

Goffman also recognises that the original cynic may fall victim to the cycle of disbelief to belief, eventually accepting the role they create and becoming that Self. This is seen in his example of the 'raw recruit' who follows the rules of the army only to avoid punishment but eventually follows the rules because his fellow officers will respect him. P31 This is reflected in the idea of the person who takes a lower position in a job just so that eventually they will gain the higher position by proving their loyalty to the company. They deferred their true values until the time was right to display them. The actor goes between sincerity and cynicism.

Goffman labels the performance as 'front'. He explains it as " the expressive equipment of a standard kind of intentionally or unwittingly employed by the individual during his performance" (Goffman E. 1959 p.32)

Goffman states that the performance doesn't begin until the actor is upon the stage and the performance ends when they leave the stage. He does accept that in certain circumstances the performance continues into a different setting, his examples being a funeral cortège, parades and carnivals. (Goffman E. 1959 p.33) Goffman allows this to happen because of his concept of 'impression management' this is the attributes an actor needs to show in order to successfully stage a character (Goffman E. 1959 p.203)

Impression Management

Within impression management, Goffman identifies the potential performance destroyers. The flaws and slip-ups that can break a performance. Firstly he emphasises the need for 'expressive responsibility' having control over what you do and say and how your body acts, we have often heard of slips of the tongue, which cause a performance to be less sincere.

These he calls 'unmeant gestures' (Goffman E. 1959 p.203) by committing an unmeant gesture the actor can not only discredit their own performance but those of further performances and leave the audience with the wrong impression. This can also happen in an area that Goffman calls 'Backstage'. Namely the actor's private quarters. The bedroom or bathroom perhaps. Sometimes an audience member will intrude into the backstage, for example a postman who catches the glamorous housewife without her make up. These "inopportune intrusions' as Goffman calls them p204 can also lead to the performance weakening. The Self that the housewife is trying to project: Glamorous and high maintenance is destroyed because she has been seen without her 'mask'.

Goffman also highlights 'faux pas', where an actor intentionally contributes to the performance but has misread the audience. The result, often from a bad joke or little sarcasm's is a deadly silence or an insulted audience member. Here Goffman mentions the need for the actor to investigate their audience, to gain knowledge of what is appropriate for the next interaction, so that the audience respects the actor.

Creating a scene is another flaw, the unintentional outbursts witnessed by the audience such as a pubic argument between actors can as Goffman suggests "destroy or seriously threaten the polite appearance of consensus" (Goffman E. 1959 p.205). The effect of this is bringing the backstage view to the front stage so that the audience can witness it. This often happens in court cases when the prosecution cross-examines the victim. (Goffman E. 1959 p.206)

Goffman also identifies 'dramaturgical loyalty' this works on the idea of 'teams'. The team consists of the actor or group of actors. The actors have to accept each other's performances and not reveal secrets of the team. Goffman states the importance of team relations is to stop revealing the true reality of the performance.

" Prevent the performers from becoming so sympathetically attached to the audience that the performers disclose to them the consequences for them" (Goffman E. 1959 p.208)

Another way to ensure the loyalty towards the performance is to select the audience. Goffman suggests the example of filling station managers whose shift patterns regularly change to avoid attachment to customers. (Goffman E. 1959 p.209)

Another attribute for impression management is 'Dramaturgical Discipline'. This is where the actor, although showing emotional involvement in their performance must remember not to be overcome by it. (Goffman E. 1959 p.210) An emotional actor may make mistakes and not amend them. Goffman describes a person that can successfully hold its discipline as having 'self control'.

"A performer who is disciplined, dramaturgically speaking, is someone who remembers his part and does not commit unmeant gestures or faux pas in performing it." (Goffman E. 1959 p.210)

Dramaturgical circumspection is the thought and preparation that goes into the performance. The foresight to determine the best cause of action to help the performance.

"Preparation in advance for likely contingencies and exploiting the opportunities that remain" (Goffman E. 1959 p.212)

For example knowing the beginning and end of a performance. The actors can relax and reduce their guard after a performance because the audience is no longer present. Goffman's example of this is in surgery. The surgeons can create the illusion of confidence in front of the patient knowing when they are under anaesthetic they wont be aware of any discrepancies in the performance. (Goffman E. 1959 p.213)

Another aspect of circumspection is to control which audience sees the performance. Selecting the audience who complement the performance. Certain audiences will give special attention to a favourable performer (module readerp5)

"The circumspect performer will also attempt to select the kind of audience that will give minimal trouble" (Goffman E. 1959 p.213)

Goffman suggests controlling the size of the team and audience. A smaller audience is easier to persuade, there are less people to appeal to. However, sometimes a performance requires a large team, like a football team needs eleven players to function. He also realises that a human performance is more expressive and emotive than a prop that is why they are used. (Goffman E. 1959 p.214)

Goffman suggests that circumspection requires controls to be enforced on every aspect of the performance. The length, the size and even the setting. This is because there are many channels by which secrets can be revealed, such as information. Any circumspect actor has to consider how much information the audience already has. In a job interview the interviewer already your profile, therefore this must be considered during the performance. (Goffman E. 1959 p.216)

"The interviewee is likely to feel, and with some justice, that his every action will be taken as highly symbolical" (Goffman E. 1959 p.219)

This is not to say that a performance can never be relaxed. The 'mask' can be removed, however there is still a mask remaining which continues the impression even if the circumspection is weaker. Therefore a successful performance must display the attributes of loyalty, discipline and circumspection. Impression management is basically there to safeguard a performance and its performer. (P5 module reader)

Teams

The concept of teams is a collection of actors working together to reflect the interest of each other and enhance each other's performance. "In short, 'team' to refer to any set of individuals who co-operate in staging a single routine." (Goffman E. 1959 p.85)

A good team has an understanding with each other and knows what is appropriate and when. An ignorant team member can cause embarrassment for the rest of the team, therefore careful selection is needed. Team members are required to stop other members becoming 'self absorbed', (believing in their own performance) Team members have to be prepared to take on any role even if it is not complementary to them. The secretary in the office, although normally an equal, becomes the lower employee to show a high level of formality in front of clients. P85

Teams stick together because they feel a 'mutual dependence' for each other (Goffman E. 1959 p.88). Members of the team create group 'cohesion'. What one actor needs the other can provide and vice versa. Team form membership with each other, a team member doesn't have to have had a long stranding relationship with other members, members can be accepted straight away, as with work colleagues.

Protecting a reputation is a key aspect of being in the team. (As shown in impression management) Therefore being part of a team requires circumspect planning. The members need to have airtight performances; to do this each performer must share information with others. Goffman suggests,

"To withhold from a team mate information about the stand his team is taking is in fact to withhold his character from him". (Goffman E. 1959 p.94)

A team also requires 'professional etiquette'. (Goffman E. 1959 p.95) This is professional respect for one another. Neither teammate will disrespect or discredit the others performance in front of an audience.

A team could be argued as a kind of secret society with exclusive membership, according to Goffman,

"A team, as used herein, is the kind of secret society, even an exclusive one" (Goffman E. 1959 p.108)

Region and Region Behaviour

The concept of region is partly the setting, but mainly all areas visible to the audience. The area the audience can see is called the 'Front region'. P109-110 The region behaviour required here is what Goffman calls 'decorum'. P110 Goffman argues that decorum is needed because; even though the actor may be in the background they are still visible to audience members who can judge them. "Performers can stop giving expressions but cannot stop giving them off" p111 Anything the actors do in the front region can detract from the main performance and exclude other team members. Goffman uses the example of foreign refugees who wish to speak in their own language. Small talk in the work place was allowed, but not in their language because other team members cannot understand. P111

The 'back region' is the area off screen where the audience cannot see. It is separated by a screen so it is there waiting to help but still cannot be seen. P115 the back region is for performers only, here they can relax the performance. The back region is important because it hides the tools of the performance. The make up, the costumes and the props. These if seen would reveal the secrets of the performance, therefore they must be kept away.

A third region is 'outside'. This relates to the areas, which are not in the front or back area. The outside area is the area kept away from both of these. A person in this area is called an 'outsider'. P135

Discrepant Roles

A part of the performance is to have a role, the director, and actor, back stage helper. Discrepant roles are the less obvious roles, the ones the audience cannot determine. Discrepant roles are needed because of the secrets that teams possess. Dark secrets. Strategic secrets, inside secrets, entrusted secrets and free secrets. The people who learn about these secrets hold discrepant roles; the role is what they are then put into. Goffman identifies the three main roles in a performance: those who perform, those performed to and outsiders. Discrepant roles are those who blur the other roles. Firstly the 'informer', the trusted member of the team who actually reveals the secrets to the audience. Secondly, the 'shill'. A team member who pretends to just be a member of the audience, but is actually recording their responses to report back. Thirdly the 'mediator'. A member of two teams who gives each team the impression of favouritism whilst really is revealing to them each other's secrets. The mediator is really, according to Goffman a 'double shill'.

Another role is the 'spotter' who is actually outside the team and is a specialist audience member. They watch performances with a trained eye to reveal mistakes.

Communication out of character

The concept of communication out of character addresses the way actors perform out of character. This takes place when the audience is no longer present and the actors can relax. What often happens here is that the actors ridicule the audience if they had caused problems or discuss how they feel the performance went. P169 This is not revealed to the audience because it is part of the secrets the team keep.

Goffman's book Asylums. Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates (1961) includes four essays that collate his findings from spending a year with mental patients (who he refers to as inmates) at St Elizabeth's Hospital in America from 1955 to 1956.

Goffman's first paper "On the Characteristics of Total Institutions" will be used to focus on the nature of total institutions and the characteristics of institutionalisation. In this first essay, Goffman illustrates the social implications on the inmates; he looks at the actual experience of an inmate in an institutionalized environment.

Although Goffman uses a mental institution for his research, he also uses examples of prison inmates as another example of involuntary membership to an institution.

Goffman says (Goffman, E. 1961 p.16) that the total institutions of our society can be listed in five main groups according to their purpose:

• for persons felt to be both incapable and harmless

• persons felt to be both incapable to looking after themselves and a threat to the community

• to protect the community against what are felt to be intentional dangers to it

• to better to pursue a task, and justifying themselves only on these instrumental grounds (army barracks, ships)

• retreats from the world - often serving also as a training stations for the religious

Goffman says that the central feature of Total Institutions is a breakdown of the barriers ordinarily separating sleep, play and work. These activities are normally carried out in different places, with different people, under different authorities and with "an over-all rational plan". In a Total Institution, everything is done in the same place under the same authority. Goffman adds that

"each phase of ... daily activity is carried on in the immediate company of a large batch of others, all of whom are treated alike and required to do the same thing together ... all phases of the are tightly scheduled, with one activity leading at prearranged time into the next, the whole sequence of activities being imposed from above by a system of explicit formal rulings and a body of officials ... [and] the various enforced activities are brought together into a single rational plan purportedly designed to fulfil the official aims of the institution." (Goffman, 1959 p.17).

One of the main characteristics in Total Institutions, according Goffman, is the difference established between staff and inmates.

"Inmates typically live in the institution and have restricted contact with the world outside the walls. The staff often operates on an eight-hour day and is socially integrated into the outside world" (Goffman, 1959 p.18).

In his second paper The Moral Career of the Mental Patient, Goffman uses the term career to explain the life course of an inmate through a process of three key stages; the pre-patient phase, the inpatient phase and the ex- patient phase (Goffman, E. 1961 p.122)

"The moral career of a person of a given social category involves a standard sequence of changes in his way of conceiving of selves, including, importantly, his own" (Goffman, E. 1961, p.154)

This concept is somewhat restricted to inmates of involuntary institutions and therefore will not be used as extensively as the first essay.

Goffmans third essay 'The Underlife of a Public Institution' focuses on the attachment and commitment that is expected from an inmate and identifies that there are general features of an individuals involvement in an institution,

"Every organisation involves a discipline of activity, but our interest here is that at some level every organisation also involves a discipline of being-an obligation to be of a given character and to dwell in a given world" (Goffman, E. 1961:171).

In the last of Goffman's papers "The Medical Model and Mental Hospitalization", the focus comes from a more medical perspective as to how an inmates situation is communicated to them by the staff and to what end this medical relationship contributes to the inmates sense of self and identity within their social situation,

"the nature of the patient's nature is redefined so that, in effect if not by intention, the patient becomes the kind of object upon which a psychiatric service can be performed" (Goffman, E. 1961:330).

As this last essay focuses on inmates of medical institutions, it will not feature largely in the main analysis of alternative communities.

Total institutions in this instance are relevant to alternative communities as they are defined as somewhere that encompasses everything that its members do such as: where and how they live, work, play and sleep on a daily and routined basis,

"The individual and his self is, that he is to himself what his place in an organisation defines him to be" (Goffman, E. 1961: 280)

Goffman: Surveillance

My third author will be Erving Goffman and I will be using the book by Erving Goffman Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates focusing particular attention to the chapter on "The underlife of a public institution", and using the ideas of Goffman on how patients dodge observation and surveillance.

Asylums by Erving Goffman first published in 1961 is a collection of four essays which explore the ways in which the mental asylum seek to reform their inmates into the socially accepted vision of the norm, Goffman labelled mental asylums as mental institutions. Erving Goffmans primary methodology that led to his book Asylums was an ethnographic study using observation to collect his research. The book focuses more on the experience of the inmates and staff then to justify or explain the system.

Goffman places the study of society at the centre of his work, he believes the relationship between the individual and society is based both on a voluntary agreement as well as an inevitable necessity, he also believes that the relationship between the individual and society is permanent and there is no way of avoiding it. Individuals find ways to adapt to repressive societies as a way of `coping' with their misfortune.

I will be focusing my work on the chapter `The underlife of a public institution' which explores how inmates deal with being under observation constantly and how any form of activity that is not known to the staff is viewed as an achievement. I will focus my work mainly on how `free places' (places not under surveillance) are part of the hospital underlife. Goffman explains how `free places' are where inmates can be free from the control and surveillance of the staff, `free places' were also given as rewards to inmates for good behaviour. These free places, which are not really `free', are a way of forming the false reality that they are not `locked-up' that they still have their privacy and are still in control:

"All of these places seemed pervaded by a feeling of relaxation and self-determination_" (Goffman, E, 1991, p206)

Joseph Arthur Gobineau - books and articles

Gobineau - weblinks

Wiesenthal S, 1997, 'Joseph Arthur Gobineau' http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/pages/t026/t02612.html

Sorokin P, 1928, Contemporary Sociological Theories Harper & Row, 1928, USA

William Godwin - books and articles

Godwin - weblinks

William Godwin was a radical English political theorist who developed the ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau. He was born in 1756 and died in 1836. In 1797 he married Mary Wollstonecraft. In this review I will focus on Godwin's ideas about authority and power and I will relate these to those of Rousseau and Wollstonecraft.

By the time he was 37, Godwin had written Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its influence on Modern Morals and Happiness, which was first published in 1793. (Godwin, W. 1793). In this, Godwin gives eight principles that he believes are the key to understanding the rationale of society. These are the reasons why society operates as it does. Rather than just outline the principles, I will focus on their relationship to authority and power. This means looking at his idea of government. Authority is more than power, it is the right to enforce obedience. So I will look at the moral justification for government in what Godwin writes.

According to Godwin, there are two main reason why political structures are established. The first is that human beings desire pleasure or happiness. Godwin shares the utilitarian view that we associate with Bentham.

The most desirable state (that brings the greatest happiness) is being in society. Human vices in society are the second reason for government. Violence between the members of society leads to the demand for order. "Government... was forced upon mankind by their vices"

I will relate Godwin's views on authority and power back to Rousseau's The Social Contract, published in 1762 (Rousseau, J.J. 1762). In this, Rousseau wrote "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains... How did this change come about? I do not know. What can make it legitimate? That question I think I can answer".

In January 1792, before Godwin published Political Justice, Mary Wollstonecraft published Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wollstonecraft, W. 1792), the first chapter of which contains a discussion of the moral basis of authority and power and how it evolves.

Elizabeth Grosz - books and articles

Grosz - weblinks

I relate the theorists Freud, Goffman and Meade to the recent work of Elizabeth Grosz on the concepts of self and body.

I examine Goffman and Meade's theories of self and Freud and Grosz's theory of the body image, seeking to trace the connections between the theories of self and the theories of bodies and body images.

I will outline the theorist's key relevant theories first then talk about how they may link together.

I will also look at the Price and Shildrick's text book - Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader (Price, J. and Shildrick, M. 1999)

Erving Goffman was a social interactionist who was well known for his theory on human interaction. Goffman wrote how that every bit of human behaviour is significant in the strategy and tactics of social struggle. Goffman believed that we are all players and behave in certain ways to get certain behaviours from other people, that we act a certain way in public and he studied people and the personas and behaviour they displayed in public. This is a "self" that they show.

Goffman seems to have two theories about self which seem to contradict each other, on one hand he has the theory that the self is an entirely social entity and has no personal core to it. But he then says that the image of self is an unsocialised part that makes an individual behave in ways that fit in with social norms in society. Goffman says that individuals are not completely influenced by society because they are able to manipulate and structure the impressions of themselves, which they portray in public situations being an actor as such. Yet Goffman also argues that as individuals we are not able to choose our personas and impressions, that we can only really portray images that are socially accepted. images that are constrained to fill roles, models and relationships according to the social order of things.

Ludwig Gumplowicz - books and articles

Gumplowicz - weblinks

Sorokin P, 1928, Contemporary Sociological Theories Harper & Row, 1928, USA

Durkheim, E. 1885c "Gumplowicz, Ludwig, Grundriss der Soziologie" Revue philosophique 20: 627-34

It was within the Sociologistic School that Ludwig Gumplowicz wrote about the individual and society.

Gumplowicz believed that the focus of sociology should not be the individual, but should be the society or group which they inhabit.According to Gumplowicz, individuals are nothing more than the parts which make up a society or community

In support of his belief, Gumplowicz stated that

"the real elements of a social process are not separate individuals but social groups"

Gumplowicz argued that societies and communities have the ability to enlighten sociologists about the behaviour of individuals and the societies to which they belong. It is these entities which should be studied in depth.

Gouges - books and articles

Gouges - weblinks

Halevy - books and articles

Halevy - weblinks

Hayek - books and articles

Hayek - weblinks

Hegel - books and articles

Hegel - weblinks

Hitler - books and articles

Hitler - weblinks

Life and Mein Kampf -

My essay explores the idea of community in the theories of Adolf Hitler and sociologists of his time. Franz Neumann has stressed the pragmatic, ideological nature of Hitler's thought. However, Hitler's ideas have a relationship to the sociology of his time, and I will explore this in my examination of Max Weber and two of the authors discussed in Pitirim Sorokin's Contemporary Sociological Theories: Arthur de Gobineau and Ludwig Gumplowicz.

I relate Weber's ideas on struggle, communalisation and social action to Hitler's ideas on race, struggle and community. I then relate Hitler's ideas to those of Gobineau and Gumplowicz on race and inequality and the individual and community.

My literature review will focus on Hitler's book Mein Kampf.

Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Austria. After refusing to join the Austrian army, he moved to Germany. He became involved in politics at an early age after a failed career as an artist. At the end of the first world war, Hitler joined the German Worker's Party which provided a platform for him to express his hatred for the Jews.

Hitler recounted a story that while living in the barracks of the army at the beginning of his political career, he used to give bread to the mice living in his room and watch them enjoying the food. Hitler felt that he had suffered from deprivation throughout his life and so could relate to the pleasure that the mice were experiencing through his generosity. (Hitler extracts - 1.9.10). This could be related to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and the survival of the fittest in that Hitler claimed that the struggle for existence was a fundamental feature of life.

Gumplowicz's theory could also be related to Darwin's theory in that he argued that communities would struggle against each other.

A failed attempt to take over government by force led to his imprisonment and it was in prison that he wrote the first volume of Mein Kampf in 1925. The second volume of Mein Kampf was published in 1927

After his release, Hitler returned to politics and became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. His party, The National Socialist Party, gained few votes in the election of 1928, but after the Depression, it won the vote of the middle classes. By 1932, the Nazi party was the largest political party in Germany capturing the majority of votes via a promise of a 'National Awakening' for Germany (Wistrich R., 1997)

Mein Kampf sold few copies before Hitler's rise to power, however once he was in power, it sold millions of copies and was translated into eleven languages. Hitler promised the extermination of the Jews, Slavs and Communists who were, in Hitler's opinion, subhuman races. Hitler believed Germany would achieve world domination after the eradication of these peoples and that the country would become a 'pure' race of Aryan people. (Grobman G, 1990) Hitler argued that 'Germany will either be a World Power or she will not be at all.' (Theimer, W. 1939 - Hitler extracts - 2.14.37)

Hitler argued that the creations of art, science and technology were all due to the Aryan race. He therefore argued that

"this very fact admits of the not unfounded inference that he alone was the founder of all higher humanity, therefore representing the prototype of all that we understand by the word 'man'" (Hitler A, 1925, p.263).

Hitler argued that the desire for community is an evolutionary development of the higher organisms, strongest in the higher races.

"Among the most primitive organisms the instinct for self-preservation does not extend beyond the care of the individual ego." (Hitler A, 1939 p.??)

At this level, Hitler argued, there is no need to establish communities, even in the form of a family unit. To care for a spouse or off-spring would excessively extend the self-preservation instinct. The primitive organism puts its energy into the present moment, not the future.

The desire for self-preservation is extremely important to humans and animals. Egotism, according to Hitler, is an intrinsic characteristic. Hitler argued that

"the animal lives only for itself, searching for food only when it feels hunger and fighting only for the preservation of its own life. As long as the instinct for self-preservation manifests itself exclusively in such a way, there is no basis for the establishment of a community; not even the most primitive form of all, that is to say the family." (Hitler A, 1939, p.269 - 1.11.44)

" all occurrences in world history are only the expression of the races' instinct of self-preservation, in the good or bad sense." (Hitler A, 1939, p269)

Hitler does argue however, that once individuals have set aside their own selfish needs and made sacrifices for their own network of family, communities are able to become established. According to Hitler, even

"the lowest species of human beings give evidence of this quality only to a very small degree, so that often they do not go beyond the formation of the family society." (Hitler extracts)

However, the biological drive to mate extends the struggle for survival beyond the individual:

"the readiness to fight for one's own ego has to be extended also to the mate. The male sometimes provides food for the female, but in most cases both parents provide food for the offspring. Almost always they are ready to protect and defend each other; so that here we find the first, though infinitely simple, manifestation of the spirit of sacrifice. As soon as this spirit extends beyond the narrow limits of the family, we have the conditions under which larger associations and finally even States can be formed." (Hitler A, 1939 p.270)

Hitler believed all humans are capable of showing this 'spirit of sacrifice' by extending care to family members and setting aside their personal and work interests. However the Aryan race demonstrates this quality to the highest order. The Aryan race displays an unrelenting eagerness to dedicate themselves to the wider community. If duty called (eg war), the Aryans would sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the community (Hitler A, 1939 1.11 Race and People) .

According to Hitler, the Jews are the opposite of the Aryan race. He believed no other race had been so dedicated to their own self-preservation than the Jews (Hitler A, 1939 1.11 Race and People) .

Hitler stated that

"posterity will not remember those who pursued only their own individual interests, but it will praise those heroes who renounced their own happiness." (Roberts A, 1999)

Hitler believed there were three racial groups. The first being the "founders of culture", who were the Aryan race, the second being the "bearers of culture" and the third being the "destroyers of culture" who were, in Hitler's opinion, the Jews. (Hitler A, 1939 p.263)

Hobbes - books and articles

Hobbes - weblinks

[An entry to be made]

Hobhouse - books and articles

Hobhouse - weblinks

Richard Hooker - books and articles

Hooker - weblinks

Hume - books and articles

Hume - weblinks

Suzie and Jean Johnson - books and articles

Johnson - weblinks

Suzy Johnston wrote 'The Naked Bird Watcher'(2002). She wrote passionately of her own accounts of her life, thoughts, feelings and emotions as a manic-depressive biopolar (see Johnston, 2002,). Johnston described her self to have been a tom boy as a child, she would play football and ride bycichels. She lived at her family home, with her mother Jean, her father Alan, and her two brothers Ollie who is older and Kit who is the youngest member. After completing her schooling she headed of to St Andrews University (see Johnston, 2002, p21). Suzy loved being at university, she made new friends, and got on well with her studies. St Andrews had a strong alcohol culture and Suzy enjoyed being part of it (see Johnston, 2002, p21-26). However, slowly she began to feel low within her self, as in depressed. She did not know what was happening to her? Or what it was? And why she was feeling as low as she was feeling? Further and furthermore she sank into depression, trying to convience her self to 'snap out of it', but was not able to (see Johnston, 2002, p21-43).

Kant - books and articles

Kant - weblinks see notes

Immanuel Kant (1724 -1804) lived in Königsberg East Prussia, which he rarely left during his eighty years of life. It is alleged that his daily walks were so punctual that the people of Königsberg set their watches by them and that the only time he missed his daily walk was when he became absorbed in reading Rousseau's Emile. Kant had a picture of Rousseau in his room. The story has another variation. According to this, the only time he missed his daily walk was when he heard about the French Revolution

Kant is well known for his philosophies of knowledge (pure reason) and morals (practical reason). However, he was also a political philosopher. In my essay I shall compare Kant to the two theorists Durkheim and Rousseau on the political themes of authority and power.

I will argue that, for all three theorists, power comes with authority

Kant argued that the state would have authority if it is governed according to the rule of the law.

Kant published his Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. This dealt with the problem of how we can understand science and human experiences

Kant also wrote Critique of Practical Reason (1788), whereby the individual is the legislator of the moral law through their own pure practical reason. However, if practical reason expresses that the individual ought to do something under the moral law, they have to follow it through. It is what Kant calls a Categorical Imperative

In correlation to this is his work on Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of morals (1785) our minds structure our experience of the world.

Rousseau and Kant both developed the ideas that we call enlightenment ideas. An aspect of this was the idea that a knowledge of science involves learning to develop your own ideas. What we could call "thinking for oneself". This means relying on the authority of reason rather than the authority of those in power.

In 1784, Kant wrote What is Enlightenment?. This essay focused on man and his inability to make an understanding without direction and guidance from another. This is immaturity self-incurred. "Have courage to use your own reason" (Bobbs-Merrill 1963 pg3). This advice applies to everyone in society as all individuals owe it to themselves to make their own directions in life thus making their own reasons of morals to follow. I will relate this to Rousseau's arguments in Emile and The Social Contract and his concept of the general will. I will then look at the use Durkheim makes of Rousseau and Kant, and consider what relation this has to Durkheim's perception of authority and power and how they relate to individual autonomy and moral imperative.

Kuhn - books and articles

Kuhn - weblinks

Jacques Lacan - books and articles

Lacan - weblinks

Laing - books and articles

Laing - weblinks

I am exploring reason and unreason as it is described in Laing and Esterson's Sanity, Madness and the Family, Volume 1: Families of Schizophrenics. In this I am focusing on one family: the Danzigs Family ((Laing and Esterson 1964 pp 95-117). I will compare this to the accounts in Suzy Johnsons' The Naked Birdwatcher and Jean Johnsons' Treading on Eggshells.

Laing argues that reason and unreason are not what they appear to be in respect to people we regard as insane. He claims that 'insane' statements by mentally ill people are statements that make sense if correctly interpreted. In particular, he claims the thought processes that psychiatrists call schizophrenic are due to a particular form of self contradictory dialogue within the patient's family. (Roberts, A. 2.1994, Laing).

I will use Laing's concept of ontological security as a tool to explore reason and unreason in relation to the Danzig and Johnson families.

Psychosis is a psychiatric term for severe mental illness in which the chief symptom is a distorted perception of reality. Distortions may include delusions and hallucinations. There may also be hyperactivity or complete social withdrawal. Psychosis is divided in two categories: schizophrenia and manic-depression.

I examine two published accounts of patients diagnosed psychotic. The first, Sarah Danzig, was diagnosed schizophrenic. The second, Suzy Johnson, was diagnosed as manic-depressive. In each case, the patient is considered in the context of her family. Laing and Esterson argue that the Danzig family undermined Sarah's sanity. Suzy Johnson says that her family supported her.

Laing and Esterson (1964) spent five years researching families of schizophrenic patients. Their book Families of Schizophrenics (1964) contained eleven accounts of families of female patients in a mental hospital. Families and patients were studied in their own homes as well as in the hospital. ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.1)

One per cent of the population are diagnosed with schizophrenia ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.3), there is no clear cut way in suggesting how individuals become to be schizophrenics. It can be suggested that it is genetically inherited, however, there is no general agreed 'answer' if you like, among psychiatrists, of how people become schizophrenics ( Laing and Esterson 1964 pp 1-3)

In his first book The Divided Self (1960), Laing argued that families are sources that inflict patterns of attitude and behaviour to their children's personality, of which influences, disorder, conflict and misery. Follows with disturbance and abnormality in the individual's behaviour. The result produces psychotic illness, specifically 'schizophrenia' ( Fletcher, R. 1988 p 27-29).

According to Laing, therefore, families of schizophrenic can either inflict the illness or make make more of the illness than it really is.

Simultaneous contradictory messages

Laing argued that Sarah was caught in a web of mystification (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p104, 105). I look here at the form of the mystification.

Sarah's family try their hardest to preserve Sarah's trust in them. In order to do so, they unwittingly give her contradictory messages. These are to sustain her trust in them when she feels she has cause to distrust them. There are contradictions in the dialogue which Sarah responds to in a way that preserves what matters to her. These responses become symptoms of her illness. Her family use her illness as a tool to keep her in the dark from actual facts. Sarah is mystified and she and others are led to believe she is more ill than she is (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p104-105).

The contradictory dialogue Laing refers to is a double message from her parents. We can see this by looking at one of the symptoms of Sarah's illness:

"She said that: 1. The Ward Sister was withholding letters from her and failing to pass on telephone messages from her mother. She knew the letters from her mother were being withheld because her mother was writing to her every other day. She knew that her mother was writing to her every other day because she was her mother's child, and her mother loved her." (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p97. Esterson 1970 p.6)

The telephone messages are important to Sarah because they confirm that "she was her mother's child, and her mother loved her". Another symptom of her illness was the fear of being abandoned by her mother

"She said that: 3. She was afraid of being abandoned in hospital and never getting home again. She did not say who would abandon her, but the heart of her fear was that she would be cut off from her mother." (Laing and Esterson 1964, p97. Esterson 1970 p.6)

What Laing and Esterson see happening is Sarah receiving two contradictory messages from her family, that she cannot cope with rationally:

1. A verbal message that she is loved and that the telephone messages are the evidence of that love.

2. A reality message that does not receive telephone messages, which is a denial of the love that the verbal messages convey

"In the first family session the issue of her fear of being abandoned was raised. Her parents and brother reassured her that they had telephoned every day, and had left messages for her. This was not in fact so. They told her that she was ill, that they only wanted her to stay in hospital for her own good, not because they wanted to abandon her. They loved her and wanted her back home." (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p97. Esterson 1970 p.6)

Sarah's response

This is also an example to what Laing says about, statements of the insane makes sense if they are correctly interpreted. Sarah's response to the contradiction is to preserve what matters to her: Belief in the love of her mother. She does this by acusing the ward staff of witholding the telephone messages from her - And this is taken as a symptom of her illness.

By arguing that statements of the insane makes sense if correctly interpreted, Laing and Esterson are not saying that the 'insane' are 'sane' and that everyone else is wrong or 'insane'. Thay say

"From the clinical psychiatric viewpoint, Sarah Danzig began to develop an illness of insidious onset at the age of seventeen. She began to lie in bed all day, getting up only at night, and staying up thinking or brooding... Whe she was twenty-one her illness took a sudden turn for the worse. She began to express bizarre ideas, for instance that she heard voices over the telephone and saw people on television talking about her."

Although Sarah is ill, not everything about her claims is unrelated to reality, as the example above shows.

They argue that

"Much of what they [her family] called her illness consisted in attempts to discuss forbidden issues, comments on their attempts to keep her in the dark, or to muddle her, and angry responses to such mystifications and mystification over mystifications. She had been put in the position of having to try to sort out secrecy and muddle, in the face of being muddled up over the validity of trying to do so. With some justification, therefore, Sarah began to feel that they were in collusion against her." (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p.104 ).

The example of a forbidden issue is her father's "petty dishonesties" that she observes when working for him. Her father is "generally a meticulously honest man". To preserve this image of himself "as far as he could he enlisted his secretary, wife, and son" to defend him as meticulously honest and deny Sarah's observations.

"They said in effect: 'You are imagining that there is a flaw is in your father', and ' You are mad or bad if you imagine such a thing', and 'You are mad or bad if you do not believe us when we tell you that you are mad or bad to trust your own perceptions and memory" (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p104. Esterson 1970 p.13)

To discuss forbidden issues is for Sarah to discover she is in fact being mystified by her family. Laing is arguing that for Sarah wanting to discuss forbidden issues is her way of trying to unravel the muddle she is in. She is trying to view issues in the deep levels that she is in basing on her memory and perceptions, but she is not being allowed to do this because it relies on her family confirming her perceptions of the issues, but instead she is told she is 'ill'. Therefore, mystified to believe she is more ill than what she 'thinks' she is. Just so her family can preserve her trust in them (Laing and Esterson, 1964, p98, 104)

Family bonds

The two case studies I present are of a family where the mental patient's reason is (according to her psychiatrists) undermined by her family, and one in which the mental patient (according to her own account) is helped by her family to recover her reason. To put these in a theoretical context I will look at what Roger Scruton says about family bonds.

Scruton is a conservative critic of Laing. He argues that society exists through authority and power. He also argues that authority is based on a 'bond' between us and the authority. The model for this is the family.

The bond of love between us and our family is not something that we establish through reason. It is formed before reason. Scruton points out that none of us choose our parents. There is no contract between us. We owe them allegiance because they have power over us and because they care for us. Scruton argues that a child needs its parents' power. The child feels the parents' love through the power they hold over him or her. Love and power are linked; the child's love for it parents develops from its recognition of two things: its helplessness with respect to the parent and the parents concern for the child (Roberts, A. 2. 1994, Scruton)

There is plenty of evidence of Sarah Danzig's love for her parents. There is also evidence of their care for her. But what we need to add to Scruton's analysis of power and love is power and fear. Sarah is insecure in her parents' love.

In The Divided Self, Laing distinguishes between families that build ontological security and families that undermine it. Ontological security means being secure with one's own being. For example, feeling whole or complete with our selves and feeling alive and real. (See extracts)

Sarah Danzig and Suzy Johnson both lost their 'being' through their illnesses. They lost a touch with reality and became 'ontologically insecure'. But with Sarah, her family may actually create the insecurity that leads to schizophrenic symptoms. When she is mentally ill, her family further undermine her security. This may be because her family are, themselves, insecure. With Suzy Johnson, her family overcomes its insecurity in the face of Suzy's illness and by re-establishing the bond of family support, assists Suzy to rebuild her own ontological security.

Sarah Danzig

Sarah Danzig was diagnosed as a schizophrenic, her family consists of her mother father and brother John. Sarah's illness began at the age of seventeen. Sarah's family described it as, she would stay in bed all day and only get up at night. She would spend hours thinking and reading the bible, eventually Sarah lost interest in daily routines, and she increasingly became preoccupied with religious issues ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 94).

At that age she was attending a commercial college, her attendance was poor, her family described her as failing to complete the course, and also she would go in and out of jobs ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.95)

By the time Sarah reached the age of twenty one, suddenly her illness became worse, she would express out of the ordinary statements, for instance she claimed that she was hearing voices on the telephone and people on television were talking to her. She then started to rage against her family and just before she went into hospital for two weeks of observations, she had an outburst against her mum ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 95).

After she was back at home, she became withdrawn, quiet and lacked in concentration. For fifteen month she would claim bizarre statements, for instance, she claimed she was raped. She than took a turn for the worst and relapsed ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.95)

Although it is not clear at what age and when, Sarah went to work with her dad in his office, there too she persisted to claim bizarre statements, she said that people at the office were talking about her when she is not there, they were plotting against her, her letters were being torn at work and at home. She would complain to her father that his staff were incompetent, she would argue with them and her father, eventually Sarah refused to go back to work and decided to stay at home ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 96)

Sarah was asked to describe her behaviour in hospital ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 97). Sarah claimed that, the ward sisters were withholding letters from her, and not passing on messages, and that she knew her mother loved her and was writing and telephoning her everyday, but as stated the ward sisters were withholding everything from her. She added that her family wanted her back at home but the hospital were spitefully detaining her there. She said that she was afraid of being abandoned and kept in hospital. She emphasized with her mother and stated that her mother loved her and wanted her home, and that they loved each other. Although she was angry with her father, for wanting to keep her in hospital and that it was his fault for keeping her in there and that she was afraid of him ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 97)

At this point Sarah's family opinion of her behaviour will be quoted, they describe Sarah's behaviour in eleven different descriptions, they are as follows:

1. 'She had been saying for some months that telephone operators (or someone) had been listening in to her calls.

2. She believed that people in her father's office had been talking about her and did not want her to work there.

3. She believed that someone at the office intercepted and destroyed her letters, and that some of the staff were incompetent.

4. She believed that her parents and brother were talking about her.

5. She believed that they were keeping letters from her.

6. She was irritable and aggressive towards members of her family especially her father, towards whom she did not have the right attitude for a daughter. In particular she called him a liar, and said she no longer believed in him or trusted him.

7. She was very shy and self-conscious.

8. She did not mix with other people, but was quiet, withdrawn, miserable, and discontented.

9. She lay in bed all day and sat up into the small hours of the morning.

10. She lacked concentration and had been thinking too much.

11. She had been reading the bible a great dial'.

Insofar, Sarah's illness has been described, when it began, as in her behaviour before she was admitted into hospital and after. Lets look closely at the whole family now.

Through out the 32 hours of interviews with Sarah and her family, Sarah almost always complied with her family. In the first interview Sarah's thoughts or fear of being abandoned in hospital was raised, Sarah's family reassured Sarah by telling her that, 'they telephoned her everyday and left messages for her ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 97). However, it was emerged that, this was not true. Although she was told that she was ill, they would not abandon her, and that they loved her, the only reason they wanted her in hospital was so she can get better, and that they wanted her home. Her brother John, stated that Sarah would pretend to agree with the family so she can get out of hospital (Laing and Esterson 1964, p98). It was argued that mistrust with the hospital was necessary in order to maintain trust with the family. If Sarah was to mistrust her family impact of her illness could be worse (see Laing and Esterson 1964, p98).

Her family described Sarah's illness as in Sarah being, lazy, stubborn, sluttish, terribly impudent to her father, rebellious, obscene etc ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 98). The father was Jewish and had strict boundaries, it was expected that John and Sarah were to comply with their father's rules, for instance no smoking or going out on the Sabbath day ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p. 102). However, John and his mother would gang up on the father and argue with him, in order for John to establish his own way, and gain more freedom. However, when Sarah attempted to challenge her father, ironically both mother and John would protest against her doing so, her attempted rebellion was blamed on her illness.

At this point before going on lets bare in mind and refer to how the family described Sarah's behaviour before, and after she was in hospital, and also to what Sarah claimed when she was in hospital. When Sarah said that her family were telephoning her everyday, it was later emerged as her family were not calling her. The mother would tell Sarah that it was her father and John who wanted her in hospital, the mother however, stated to the interviewer, if Sarah's rebellion against her father persisted she would have to go back into hospital. What ever Sarah says against her father, both John and the mother would blame it on her illness ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.99). John would reassure Sarah that he did not want her in hospital but in her absence would stated that she should go back to the hospital. The mother would add that it was for the father's sake that Sarah was to be treated in hospital, in fact the father stated to both John and the mother that, if they would not leave Sarah alone he would move out of the house ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.99) However, all mother, father and the brother John were said to be ashamed of fear of scandal, over Sarah's illness. The mother later described Sarah's illness as being flooded, which compared to murder and kidnapping. Sarah was also described to be naive and lacking in discretion, when she went to work with her father in his office, she was asked to keep quiet about her illness? The staff resented Sarah as being the boss's daughter, they gossiped about her behind her back, but were nice to her face. Sarah felt their hostility, she discovered mistakes they were making and told her father. Sarah had her correspondence mislead, accidentally, when Sarah challenged the employee, they would regarded down to her illness, as if to say, it all in her imagination. When Sarah went to her father for support, he was more concerned about detaining Sarah so he would not have acknowledge to the staff of Sarah's mental illness ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.103). Her father would just tell Sarah that she is ill and no one dislikes her, Sarah would then call her dad a lair and become more agitated. She would also discover that he was involved in petty dishonesty at work, Sarah then lost trust in her father ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.104). It was emerged that Sarah's father was in fact listening to her telephone calls, intercepting her letters ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.106).

Laing argued what Sarah was unaware of, was, she was caught in a web of mystifications ( Laing and Esterson 1964 pp 104, 105). For instance, if we refer back to Sarah's claims when she was in hospital, all of what she has stated emerged to be true. But instead her family would dismiss it as Sarah is unwell. If we now refer to the 11 description of the family's views on Sarah's behaviour before she was admitted into hospital. For example, category, 1,2,3,4,5,6, emerged to be 'facts', Sarah was not imagining these factors, they emerged to be true, someone was listening to her telephone conversation, people in the office were gossiping about her, people in the office were intercepting her letters, some of the staff were making mistakes, her father, mother and her brother were all lying to her, when she challenges she is thought of not having the write attitude towards her father, and her family did talk about her behind her back etc.. ( Laing and Esterson 1964 pp 97-113). Laing (1964) argues Sarah is caught in a web of contradictions and mystifications, on one hand her family dismiss every protest or claim she makes that challenges their views and statements, by blaming her illness. On the other hand most of what Sarah claim is proved to be facts. Therefore, as the family persists on supplying Sarah with mystifying ideas that is idealised to Sarah of by blaming it on her illness, because most of what Sarah claims is an attempt to discuss forbidden issues. Therefore, she is mystified to believe, her challenges are lead by her illness ( Laing and Esterson 1964 pp 104, 105). Laing argues the family use Sarah's illness to justify their mystifications to Sarah, in case of creating a shameful scandal to other people. Mystifications has not only sustained Sarah but it blinded them to see by Sarah reading the bible she is trying to make sense of what is happening to her ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.116)

Are the Danigs family completely incapable of telling the truth to Sarah, incapable to understand or to emphasize with Sarah's illness or even her feelings? Are they making more of the illness then it is? What is her illness? It is schizophrenia, she hears voices in her head, she hallucinates, people in the television are talking to her ( Laing and Esterson 1964 p.95). However, before we argue further or answer these questions, lets explore the Johnsons.

Locke - books and articles

Locke - weblinks

Lombroso - books and articles

Lombroso - weblinks

Life and works

6.11.1835 Ezechia Marco Lombroso born in Verona. His father was Aronne Lombroso, a tradesman from Verona, and his mother was Zeffora (or Zefira) Levi from Chieri near Turin. At some time his Jewish name was changed to the Italian Cesare Lombroso.

1852 Enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Pavia, where he graduated in 1858.

"Lombroso first showed an interest in the poor, the marginalized and the insane in his youth, when, as a young doctor, he travelled through the Lombardy countryside distributing pamphlets, printed at his own expense, to the peasants who were victims of pellagra." (source)

1859 Lombroso an army surgeon.

"In 1859, he enrolled in the Military Medical Corps during the campaign against banditry and was invited to Calabria for three months. Here Lombroso studied the Calabrians, their language and folklore. His interest in crime dates from 1864, when he studied the soldiers' tattoos and the obscene tattooed phrases that distinguished "the dishonest from the honest soldier"". (source)

1866 Lombroso visiting lecturer Pavia

"The time has come when the immediate business which lies before everyone who would advance our knowledge of mind, unquestionably is a searching scrutiny of the bodily conditions of its manifestations in health and disease" (Henry Maudsley in Body and Mind)

10.4.1870 Married Nina De Benedetti. They had five children including Gina, the second child, who wrote her father's biography.

1871 Cesare Lombroso was the director of the insane asylum at Pesaro from 1871 to 1878

1872 papers on the establishment of Criminal Lunatic Asylums in Italy

November 1872 Giuseppe Villella died in an Italian prison, Cesare Lombroso performed an autopsy on his body and discovered an abonormality in his skull. He wrote later:

"The sight of that fossette suddenly appeared to me like a broad plain beneath an infinite horizon, the nature of the criminal was illuminated, he must have reproduced in our day the traits of primitive man going back as far as the carnivores."

1876 L'uomo delinquente studiato in rapporto alla antropologia, alla medecina legale, ed alle discipline carcerarie (The criminal man studied in connection with anthropology, forensic medicine and penology)

1878 Professor of legal medicine and public hygiene at Turin University

1893 Donna criminale, la prostituta e la donna normale (Criminal woman, the prostitute, and the normal woman)

1895 English translation (USA) The Female Offender by Cesare Lombroso and Guglielmo Ferrero, with an introduction by W. Douglas Morrison, Her Majesty's Prison, Wandsworth. Illustrated. New York. D. Appleton and Company. 1895

1896 Professor of psychiatry at Turin

1897/1898 Italy "is at the head and front of all studies connected with criminal anthropology, and ... all cognate sciences connected with crime and the criminal". (Helen Zimmern. "Criminal Anthropology in Italy" Popular Science Monthly 1897/1898)

1898 Lombroso established "the Museum of Psychiatry and Criminology" at Turin. (website)

1900 Gina Lombroso married Guglielmo Ferrero

1906 Professor of criminal anthropology at Turin

19.10.1909 Died in Turin

1911 Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso Briefly summarised by his daughter, Gina Lombroso Ferrero, with an introduction by Cesare Lombroso. New York and London

" With regard to insane criminals, it must be remembered that every form of mental alienation assumes a specific criminality." (Lombroso Ferrero 1911)

1915 Cesare Lombroso. Storia della vita e delle opere, etc. by his daughter, Gina Lombroso Ferrero, Torino, 1915. viii and 446 pages

Cesare Lombroso's Criminal Man and Criminal Woman analysed by Cristina Garcia

Introduction

This essay focuses on a textual analysis of the relationship between madness and crime in relation to Lombroso's books Criminal Man, and Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman. These two books were first published in Italian in 1876 and 1893. There were several subsequent editions and Mary Gibson, and Nicole Hahn Rafter have recently produced translations into English based on all the editions. The translation of Criminal Woman appeared first in 2004, followed by Criminal Man in 2006.

We will find various topics that appear to identify the relationship between madness and crime, and we will relate this to Lombroso's theory that there are born criminals. In the first edition of Criminal Man, Lombroso draws attention to the similarity of abonormalities in criminals and the insane, but comments that

" most of the insane are not born so, but become mad, while criminals are born with evil inclinations."

My introduction is a summary of my conclusions from the textual analysis that follows it.

According to Lombroso, the insane and criminal man resembles similar characteristics; both groups behave irrationally owing to their emotional impulse, and lack of morality. Insanity and crime appears to spring out from the same root, i.e. the insane and criminal man suffers from the same "cerebral afflictions", and they both resemble similar emotions. They are also liable to commit crimes owing to them going through a mental impairment. Lombroso says that the characteristics of criminal man and of criminal woman resemble those of primitive man and that, owing to this resemblance, criminal man, and criminal woman behave in a savage, animalistic and criminalistic way. Lombroso claims that criminal man and woman are at an early stage of evolution, and they lack rational thinking. He further claims that criminals are more or less similar to the zoological world; criminals commit crimes owing to be driven by passions i.e. they attack for greed, ambition, love and jealousy, and these factors also relate to those of animals.

In the theory of "born criminals", Lombroso claims that some humans born with "evil inclinations" and apparently, this makes them a criminal. The theory further explores the "physical and psychological anomalies" that characterise criminals. By the term "anomalies" is meant physical and psychological abnormalities found in both insane and criminal man. Lombroso refers to these anomalies being similar to primitive people and to animals and even plants. According to Lombroso, these "anomalies" indicate that the most dangerous criminals resemble "savage, atavistic, and animalistic characteristics"; hence, having an "ape-like forward thrust of the lower face" predominately found amongst the "black American and Mongol races and, above all, prehistoric man much more than the white races." (Lombroso 2006 p.49)

According to Lombroso, the anomalies show that the most dangerous criminals are atavistic: That is throwbacks on the evolutionary scale. Features in the skull of criminals and insane people that "suggests not the sublimity of the primate, but the lower level of the rodent or lemur, or the brain of a human fetus of three or four months" (Lombroso 2006 p.48)

In relation to the psychological "anomalies", Lombroso claims that both insane and criminals, lack sensitivity to pain. This becomes evident when both groups go through the process of tattooing. (Lombroso 2006 p.63)

Lombroso also stresses that other psychological "anomalies found in the insane and criminal man are as follow: they present emotional imbalance, malevolence, and they lack remorse. These anomalies become evident when both groups have the capability of eating and dancing around their victim's dead body." (Lombroso 2006 p.82)

The theory of "born criminals" embraces a biological, psychological and sociological approach to the causes of madness and crime. In relation to the biological approach, Lombroso claims that criminality is a disease, and so it requires clinical examination. (Lombroso 2006 p.43)

According to Lombroso psychological approach, he highlights that that both insane and criminal man lack sensitivity to pain, they are selfish, and both groups are prone to unstable passions. (Lombroso 2006 p.69)

In relation to the sociological approach, Lombroso argues that the consumption of alcohol just like drugs leads to insanity and criminality (Lombroso 2006 p.122)

Lombroso says that the insane and criminals appear to differentiate in some respect: the insane hardly shows a tendency to orgies and gambling the insane surpasses the criminal in the fact that they begin to hate those who are kindest to them. The insane prefers to be alone, whereas the criminal seeks for companionship.

Lombroso's book Criminal Woman brings in sex and prostitution. The conclusions with respect to madness are much like those in Criminal Man . In this part of my textual analysis, however, I noticed the distinction between simple atavism and degeneration. By the term "degeneration" it is meant an illness that is either inherited or acquired. According to Lombroso, degeneration makes the individual live in a state of decay, and gradually the individual recedes backwards on the evolutionary scale.

Outline

A clarification of the relationship between insanity and crime needs to be established in accordance to Lombroso's theory "born criminals". This essay aims to present a textual analysis of Lombroso's most vital topics whereby the relationship between madness and crime is revealed.

The first part of the essay seeks to find the relationship between madness and crime in Lombroso's book Criminal Man (2006). The following topics are studied: Anthropometry and physiognomy, tattooing, emotions, religion, education and language, insanity and crime, suicide, criminals of passion, recidivism, morality, crimes amongst plants and animals.

The second part of this essays looks at Lombroso's book of Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman. (2004). The following topics are looked at: Anthropometry and physiognomy, tattooing, menstruation, crimes of passion, sensitivity, affection, feelings, the females born criminal, the born prostitute, and madness.

In the third part of this essay, you will find a critical evaluation, and the reasons why his theory is criticized.

Textual Analysis

CRIMINAL MAN

Lombroso's theory "born criminals" is associated with "anomalies", by using the term "anomalies" it is meant physical and psychological abnormalities found in both insane and criminal man. According to Lombroso, these anomalies were similar to primitive people, animals and plants, which showed that the most dangerous criminals were atavistic, and throwbacks on the evolutionary scale. Lombroso applies a biological determinism to his study of "born criminal" thereby conducting several scientific studies in order to detect madness and crime. According to Lombroso through out post-mortem and anthropometric examination the "born criminals", the insane and the law- abiding man could be anatomically identify. According to Lombroso having a "receding forehead, asymmetrical ears, large jaw bone, small cranial capacity", and other physical impediments show that the insane and criminals resemble the characteristics of primitive man; and owing to these impairment, the behaviour of insane and criminal man is animalistic, criminalistic, and savage. The behaviour of both groups goes against the collective sentiments of the wider society

Lombroso focuses on the difference between the criminal man and the normal law-abiding man. He goes about analyzing skulls, physiognomy, tattoos, emotions, religion, education, and language. Lombroso finds in his analysis that the criminal evince the characteristics and behavioural patterns of the primitive man, in contrast to the law-abiding man. He goes on by doing a close analysis based on 66 criminal skulls, and concludes that the cranial circumference of the criminal man is small, in fact abnormal. (Lombroso 2006 p.45)

He further compares two skulls, one that belonged to the thief Villella aged 70, and the other skull belonged to an ordinary man. He describes Villella's skull as a "median occipital fosseta", and according to Lombroso, this type of skull is "abnormal" and indicates a sign of "atavism" in contrast to the ordinary skull that has a "bony crest at the base, and shows normality". (Lombroso 2006 p.48)

Lombroso further says that the criminal man has a "small cranial capacity, cranial thickness, receding forehead, wormian bones, ape-like forward thrust of the lower face, large wisdom teeth, and large jaw-bone" and so on". According to Lombroso these characteristics are predominately found amongst the "black American and Mongol races and, above all, prehistoric man much more than the white races". (Lombroso 2006 p.49); if the criminal man resembles the physical characteristics of the primitive man, then that is to also say that the criminal man resembles the behaviour of primitive man.

Anthropometry and physiognomy

Lombroso conducts a study based on the anthropometry and physiognomy of 832 criminal cadavers from different Italian regions. (Anthropometry deals with the scientific measurements of the human body, whereas physiognomy deals with facial characteristics). The above-mentioned criminal cadavers vary from soldiers, thieves, forgers, rapists, murderers, etc. Lombroso concludes that criminal man appears to be taller and weighs less than the ordinary man. The height varies according to the type of criminality, e.g. murderers, and robbers appear to be taller than thieves, forgers and rapist. (Lombroso 2006 p.50)

In relation to the physiognomy, Lombroso claims that criminal man possesses animalistic facial characteristics, eg. habitual murderers have a "hawklike nose, dark plentiful hair, and canine teeth" and other criminals, such as gang leaders, often have an angelic look with delicate features; Lombroso argues that these features could be misleading, and that such individuals lack intelligence. Lombroso concludes that the physiognomy of criminals depends on the type of crime they commit. (Lombroso 2006 p.51); Lombroso is trying to emphasize that criminal man resembles the characteristics of primitive man, who in those days were at an early stage of evolution, and their characteristics resemble an animalistic look. Lombroso is also trying to emphasize that some criminals may resemble delicate physical features but they could mislead our judgment.

Lombroso further highlights that the muscular strength of criminals depends upon their crime eg. prisoners such as rapists, who are supposedly haunted by destructive spirits, pretend to be weaker than thieves and forgers; in reality rapists are strong. (Lombroso 2006 p.53)

Tattooing

Lombroso continues with the study of tattoos amongst soldiers, criminals, and prostitutes; Lombroso emphasizes that tattoos relate to primitive habits, and that those people who undergo the process of tattooing i.e. sailors, soldiers, peasants, shepherds, and workers resemble the habits of primitive man. (Lombroso 2006 p.58)

Furthermore, Lombroso stresses that tattoos amongst criminals express insensitivity to pain, and tattooing show shamelessness, especially when tattoos are done in sensitive areas such as the sexual organs. (Lombroso 2006 p.59)

Lombroso finds that the reasons of tattooing vary from (a) religion (b) imitation (c) laziness and (d) vanity. Lombroso puts an emphasis on 'vanity' and highlights that vanity is a strong sentiment that drives the individuals in going through tattooing. Lombroso claims that vanity appears to have an effect on the behaviour of criminals' thereby inducing them to act "strangely". He further claims that vanity lives amongst all social layers, and amongst animal kingdom. (Lombroso 2006 p.61); from the aforementioned it could be argued that Lombroso is trying to stress that vanity is a strong sentiment that impairs rational thinking, thereby inducing human nature to loose sense of rationality and to act strangely.

Lombroso presents that "atavism" exerts an influence on the insane and criminal man, thereby inducing both groups to go under tattooing. However, Lombroso finds that the insane man are rarely "atavistic" (Lombroso 2006 p.62); In the light of the above statement it can not be avoided to pinpoint that if "atavism" has an influence in leading the insane, and the criminal man to go under tattooing, how can the insane rarely be "atavistic" when "atavism" has an influence on his behaviour.? It could be argued that Lombroso statement of "atavism" appears to be contradicted.

Furthermore, Lombroso claims that both groups "experience forced internment, strong emotions, and long periods of enforcement." (Lombroso 2006 p.62); it must be stressed from the afore said that there seems to be a relationship between madness and crime. The insane and the criminal man appear to resemble similar emotions, emotions derive from the mind, and they express themselves through physical actions. Some emotions are rule by certain passions. In the case of two murderers (given as an example by Lombroso) who for a long time hated each other and during an exercise they both fought each other aggressively. (Lombroso 2006 p.63); it cannot be avoided to pinpoint that the afore given example shows that these criminals lacked sensitivity to pain, and they lack rational thinking.

Lombroso highlights that criminals appear to lack moral sensitivity e.g. Prison inmates celebrate violence, for instance, they talk about hanging as being an entertaining story; another example given by Lombroso is of a prisoner who ate a man's calf and later wrote poetry (Lombroso 2006 p.64). The behaviour of these people shows a lack of moral sensitivity, and that they are cold-minded. The acts of these criminals indicate signs of mental impairment.

Emotions

Lombroso says that Criminals such as murderers have excessive vanity, i.e. murderers have the belief that they are superior to other types of criminals such as thieves; according to Lombroso, this excessive vanity leads criminals to behave in a bizarre way to the extent of violating the law. Two examples presented by Lombroso demonstrate the aforesaid (1) a prisoner killed an inmate for refusing to polish his shoes. (2) a murderer killed three rich women because he wanted to become famous. (Lombroso 2006 p.66); Lombroso's afore given examples appear to relate to the present criminal life style. For example, when analyzing youth offending behaviour from a psychological perspective, one may find that vanity often leads youths to violate the law because youths want to fight for competency, and they want to come across as untouchable given the impression as being next to God. In simple words, offending behaviour is often driven by certain passions i.e. vanity, anger, hate; such passions express themselves through physical action.

Lombroso further establishes that criminals after having satisfied their vanity seek pleasure in drinking and gambling, and that those who come from alcoholic parents have a tendency to commit crime. (Lombroso 2006 p.67); In the light of this statement alcohol can be considered to be a drug and that has a strong effect on the mind thereby causing disturbance and damaging the brain cells. Alcohol often urges people to cross over societal boundaries, and when used in great quantities the result could be catastrophic that would lead into temporary or long-term madness; it is justified to say that those who consume great quantities are more likely to engage in criminal activities.

Lombroso argues that criminals appear to resemble the insane in similar emotional characteristics "In many of these characteristics, criminals resemble the insane, who also exhibit not only violent and unstable passions but also insensitivity to pain, an exaggerated egoism..." Lombroso further claims that the insane and criminals appear to differentiate in some respect, the insane hardly shows a tendency to orgies and gambling the insane surpasses the criminal in the fact that they begin to hate those who are kindest to them. The insane prefers to be alone, whereas the criminal seeks for companionship. (Lombroso 2006 p.69)

Religion

According to Lombroso criminals lack morals; they look at God not as an upholder of peace and justice, rather, as a criminal guardian angel. Lombroso did a study of 102 criminals and found out that 31 of them had religious tattoos; although it shows some type of religious devotion, it is nothing more than an insult to morality. (Lombroso 2006 p.70)

Lombroso highlights that criminals lack logic and prudency, and their passions blind them to the extent of even allowing themselves to be caught by the authorities. Furthermore, Lombroso stresses that although criminals appear to be clever, in effect, they are inept, yet they may succeed in their criminal activities owing to their repetitive actions. (Lombroso 2006 p.72)

Education and language

Lombroso argues that although criminals succeed well in their evil doing, in reality they are very illogical, and succeed due to their habitual activities. He also claims that criminals are imprudent and illogical because they boast about their crimes. (Lombroso 2006 pp 72-73)

Lombroso argues that criminals speak "jargon", a distinctive private language. According to Lombroso, this language appears to relate to primitive tongues, thereby making criminals imitating the habits of primitive man. Lombroso also says that criminals speak a distinctive private language to avoid been understood by the authorities. (Lombroso 2006 p.77)

Lombroso conducted a research on the handwriting of criminals with the intention to identify their psychological state. Lombroso's analysis the signatures of murderers, he found traces of trembling hands. Lombroso interpreted this finding as a sign of "alcoholism or nervous disease". (Lombroso 2006 pp 111-112); In the light of the aforesaid, one could argue that there is a relationship between insanity and crime because sufferers of nervous diseases lack the ability to distinguish right from wrong, thereby making them more likely to incline in irrational behaviour.

Insanity and crime

Lombroso conducted a study of 290 criminals and found that many of them suffered from "cerebral afflictions" and that cerebral afflictions have a link to madness and crime. Lombroso finds sufferers of epilepsy, imbecility, delirium tremens, facial convulsions, continual headaches, and a few others suffer with utter madness. Other criminals were found to have neuropathic diseases, degeneracy of the temple arteries, unequal pupil size, and frequent indication of incipient paralysis. (Lombroso 2006 p.81); cerebral afflictions appear to common amongst the insane and criminal man. These cerebral afflictions make the insane and criminal man more vulnerable to engage in offending behaviour.

Lombroso further reveals that many criminals have insane relatives, and that the cause to madness and crime is either provoke by abnormalities of the head, alcohol, and trauma. (Lombroso 2006 p.81. It could be argued that madness could be inherited, and offending behaviour could be acquired either from childhood traumas or even from the consumption of alcohol.

Lombroso suggests that criminals and the insane appear to suffer from diseases such as meningitis, sleep-walking, and "cerebromalacia" meaning the softening of the brain. Lombroso claims that a large number of insane people resemble the physical abnormalities to those of criminal man i.e. darkened skin, wandering eyes, headaches, and physical arrested development. Lombroso says that both groups are emotionally unstable manifesting love towards children, lovers, and friends, and very little love to their family; the insane and criminal man are cold people, when committing their crimes they do not show any sense of remorse. (Lombroso 2006 p.82).

Lombroso claims that the insane criminal man are liable to commit crime; both groups are capable of preparing alibis, and that they are not as irrational as they appear to be. Both groups know what is punishable; when presented in court the insane criminal plead not guilty, and pretend madness. Lombroso says, "There are cases in which madness appears to be nothing more than just a criminal tendency." (Lombroso 2006 p.83)

However, there appears to be a contradiction in relation to the insane criminal been a rational being and to even be capable of preparing alibis, and pretend madness. Lombroso now claims that when the insane criminal is presented to court, they are assured of their innocence, they claim to have committed an unlawful act on the basis of self-defense, and they expect to be rewarded for doing so. (Lombroso 2006 p.84); It could be argued that the insane criminal fails to understand whether their behaviour goes against societal boundaries; the insane criminal is exposed to a daily struggle to comply with the dictates of society. The insane criminal struggles to distinguish right from wrong; in effect, they do not distinguish whether their behaviour is unmoral, or if their behaviour goes against the law.

Lombroso claims that the insane and criminal man appear commit crimes when they are young; they get accustomed to committing crimes which leads them to recidivism; they are confronted with many obstacles that make their efforts difficult to come to terms with society to do well, yet they find it easy to do wrong. (Lombroso 2006 p.272); the transition from childhood to adulthood is a slow moving process full of confusion. During this process, youths are seeking an identity, and to do so they must socially interact with those who particularly share the same interests, values and beliefs. Youths is expected to be an age of deviance, whereby youths engage in offending behaviour because they want to come across as powerful, and untouchable. During the transition from childhood to adulthood, young people are going through a state of confusion, and this is owing to the fact of hormonal changes. After this transition, some youths may grow out of offending behaviour, and other youths will grow a tendency to offending behaviour.

Lombroso adopts a socio-psychological analysis in relation to both insanity and crime; he looks closely at suicide, criminals of passion, recidivism, morality, and crime amongst plants and animals.

Suicide

Lombroso suggests that suicide is a crime of passion impelled by uncontrollable emotions occurring frequently amongst the insane and criminals. (Lombroso 2006 p.104); it could be argued that suicide is a mental illness that is accustomed by excessive stress, depression and so on; this mental illness induces sufferers to feel worthless and consequently leading them to take their own life away.

Criminals of passion

Lombroso claims that criminals of passion are driven by an emotional impulse; they commit unlawful acts because they are full of vigor, or they have a nervous temperament; they display exaggerated affection and sensitivity to other people, and before and after their crimes they overreact to the point of madness. Lombroso suggests that crimes of passion are more likely to be committed by the young. (Lombroso 2006 p.105)

Lombroso further claims that criminals of passion differentiate from the common criminals; criminals of passion commit crimes in the name of offended honour, love, jealousy, and politics. They confess their crimes as a notion of remorse, on the other hand, the common criminal commits crime because they are what Lombroso refers to as "primitive, and ignoble people". He further claims that the common criminals are led to commit crimes by nurturing feelings of lust, or alcoholic anger and so on. (Lombroso 2006 p.106)

Recidivism

By using the term, "recidivism" it meant a tendency to commit crime. According to Lombroso, some people get use to the feeling of committing crimes, and others commit crime because they are "born criminals". He further suggests that a high proportion of criminals commit crimes because they want to go to prison in order to have an easy life, ie. 'Free accommodation'. Lombroso claims that other criminals do not want to think twice of their criminal actions due to the fact of needing to stay in prison and recover from the orgies that had damaged their health. Furthermore, Lombroso argues that education in prison is another factor of the causes of resorting to recidivism; supposedly, education equips people with new techniques of committing crimes effectively and in a less dangerous fashion. (Lombroso 2006 p.108)

Morality

Lombroso says that there are similarities and differences in relation to morality amongst the insane and criminal man. According to Lombroso a small number of people are born evil or immoral; they have acquired a disease that in effect modifies their character in becoming cold and senseless, and rarely feel a sense of remorse. Furthermore, he says that both groups make excuses by saying that they were impelled to commit crimes because they were unable to fight back. The insane and the criminals come to their senses after they have committed crimes, and see with a clear mind the differentiation between right and wrong. Lombroso says that emphasizes a distinction between the insane and the criminals; the insane adopt an attitude of the repenting sinner when they appear in court, whereas the criminals adopt a bitter attitude when they appear in court. (Lombroso 2006 p.110)

Crimes amongst plants and animals

Lombroso adopts a Darwinian approach towards his study of crime amongst plants and animals. He argues that the plant "cephalotus follicularis are murderers"; whenever an insect lands on its leafy disc, the plant immediately snatches the insect and causes its suffocation. (Lombroso 2006 p.167)

Lombroso claims that crimes committed by humans; correspond to those committed by animal kingdom. i.e. animals kill for food, so do the humans when going through poverty. (Lombroso 2006 p.168); from the afore mentioned, it could be argued that the law of nature is based on fighting for survival, in order for nature to survive they must kill for food. Therefore, it is wrong to label plants and the animal kingdom as 'criminal beings'. Both plants and animals do not share the mentality of human beings; instead, animal kingdom and plants come from the wild world thereby lacking rational thinking. Furthermore, human beings find themselves in uncomfortable situations whereby stealing or killing is necessary for their own survival i.e. in extreme cases of war, environmental disasters, or poverty, human beings must somehow find a way of survival.

CRIMINAL WOMAN, THE PROSTITUTE, AND THE NORMAL WOMAN.

This part of the essay presents a textual analysis of Lombroso's book "Criminal woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman."(2004). This textual analysis will illustrate some of Lombroso's topics of discussion whereby the relationship between madness and crime is revealed.

Anthropometry and physiognomy

Lombroso conducts a study that concludes that the cranial capacity of the criminal woman is inferior to the capacity of prostitutes and the normal (law-abiding) woman. (Lombroso 2004 p108); it has been pointed out that the criminal woman resembles the abnormalities of the criminal man. (Lombroso 2004 p114)

Conducting a close analysis on 'Table 17, pathological Anomalies.' it cannot be avoided to pinpoint that the physical and mental abnormalities of the criminal woman and of prostitutes present characteristics that make both groups distinguished from one another, i.e. "virile type of face, anomalous teeth, receding or narrow forehead, cranial depression and so on." (Lombroso 2004 p115)

In various studies of the brain, Lombroso finds that the brain of female criminals and prostitutes show signs of malformation; half of the brain shows convulsion meningitis of the base, cerebral apoplexy and so on. (Lombroso 2004 p119)

From the previously mentioned, it cannot be avoided to pinpoint that the physical abnormalities found in both female criminals, and of prostitutes are similar to those of primitive man, i.e. having a "receding forehead".

Lombroso conducted a post-mortem examination of criminal woman, and found "serious macroscopic lesions of the central system and its involucra, such as thickening of the spinal dura mater; abscess on the cerebellum; meningoencephalitis; cerebral apoplexy; syphilis; endocranial abscess; paralysis of all the extremities of the last month of life; meningitis of the base; and soft, mother- of -pearl-coloured tumor under the arachnoid." (Lombroso 2004 119). From the aforesaid it could be argued that such cranial abnormalities are a sign of insanity, thereby inducing people to behave irrationally, and in struggling to differentiate right from wrong.

Lombroso highlights that criminal women and prostitutes have darker hair than the law-abiding women. (Lombroso 2004 p123); and that white hair is common amongst criminal woman who according to Lombroso, are almost "criminaloids" by this term it is meant offenders that exhibit several abnormalities, and are more or less "atavistic" (Lombroso 2004 p125)

Lombroso says that the wrinkles of mature criminal woman are similar to those of the witches and unpleasant old woman. Prostitutes are free of wrinkles and supposedly, criminal woman is unpleasant looking. (Lombroso 2004 p124)

Lombroso illustrates that hair mole, pubic hairiness cracks on the mouth, enlargement or lack of nipples, over-developed clitoris, and extreme development of the inner labia; are characteristics of "degeneration". By the term "degeneration" it is meant an illness that is either inherited or acquired. According to Lombroso, degeneration makes the individual live in a state of decay, and gradually the individual recedes backwards on the evolutionary scale. (Lombroso 2004 p131-132)

Lombroso further presents a close photographic analysis of criminal woman and they vary from killers, to prisoners. He concluded that criminal woman have unpleasant facial characteristics, wild expression, wrinkles, big jaws, a deep set of eyes, black hair, an asymmetrical face, thin upper lip and so on. Other criminals have a pleasant physiognomy, erotic appearance, abundant black hair and bright eyes; Lombroso claims that such people are not free from "degenerative traits". (Lombroso 2004 p135-140)

Lombroso claims that Prostitutes appear to look pleasant at first sight with attractive characteristics, but they are young and hide their ugliness with make-up thereby imparting a false sense of beauty. In spite of that appearance they have characteristics of the criminal woman that exhibit traces of insanity and crime. This is strongly believed by Lombroso. (Lombroso 140-143)

Lombroso claims that

"Female criminality increases with the march of civilization. The female criminal is an occasional criminal, with few degenerative characteristics; little dullness, and so on; her numbers grow as opportunities for evildoing increase." "Atavism ... explains why prostitutes have more regressive traits than do female criminals"... "Primitive woman was rarely a murderer, but she was always a prostitute"

Civilization gives women opportunities to do evil deeds. Lombroso says that the prostitute woman, in contrast to the criminal woman, is more "atavistic", in effect more criminalistic, savage and animalistic, thereby making criminal woman resemble similar habits to those of primitive woman. (Lombroso 2004 148);

In the light of his statement, it could be argued that civilization appears to predispose an urge to crime. i.e. the media creates needs, and as human beings we struggle to see past the illusion that the mass media creates. For example, the mass media advertises material goods as envious entities that one-must posses in order to be up to date with the fashion industry, however, if one struggles to obtain these material goods, automatically he/she will feel socially excluded. In simple words, the approach of civilization and the advancement of technology have brought a psychological effect on people's lives.

Tattooing

Lombroso suggests that tattooing is not common among criminal woman, and that tattooing amongst the insane woman is highly common. Lombroso claims that tattooing amongst prostitutes is also high, especially amongst the lower class. According to Lombroso, their tattoos vary from having names and initials, transfixed hearts, the head of a man, mottoes, and their own names. Lombroso claims that tattoos are commonly used on the breast, shoulders, and genitals, and that tattooing on the genitals appears to be more common among lesbian women. Prostitutes also more commonly use tattooing because according to Lombroso they resemble "atavism."(Lombroso 2004 p151-153)

Menstruation

Lombroso claims that several studies reveal that criminal woman present early menstruation, and that many prostitutes started sexual activity at an early age ,and that they present irregular menstruation. He concluded that both criminal woman and the prostitute commit certain crimes such as shoplifting during their period. (Lombroso 2004 p159-160) from the aforesaid, Lombroso does not appear to clarify whether an early start of sexual activity induces women to prostitution, or whether menstruation leads to offending behaviour.

Crimes of passion

In various studies conducted by Lombroso, he concludes that crimes of passions appear to be more savage amongst criminal woman than to the ones committed by criminal man. Lombroso also says that crimes of passion are common amongst young women, and that violent passions are more likely to lead to insanity than to suicide or crime. (Lombroso 2004 p201-212); from the afore mentioned it could be argued that an excessive emotional impulse has an impact on the mind, thereby making sufferers go through a transition of confusion, and irrationality. Such feelings can often lead the individual to take their own life away.

Sensitivity, affection, feelings

Lombroso finds that women who commit crimes of passions are very affectionate; they become an example of motherhood and they can be a good wife. (Lombroso 2004 p202). Lombroso also says that criminal woman and prostitutes have a strong vitality and their morality is quite low. (Lombroso 2004 p162)

It has been suggested by Lombroso that maternity causes insanity; women are driven to insanity owing to their domestic problems that eventually result in killing their children. Lombroso highlights that crime is often driven by passions; and that crime in itself is pathological. (Lombroso 2004 p204- 205). From the aforesaid, it could be argued that those driven by passions are more or less likely to violate the law; at times 'passions' can blind people to the extent of leading them to pathological behaviour.

Lombroso presents a study based on the sensitivity to pain amongst prostitutes, and he concludes that they are insensitive to pain, and they appear to resemble the insensitivity of the male born criminal. He also highlights that lesbians are supposedly sensitive and this is shown by the fact that lesbians and their lovers reveal expose their wounds and do not complaint about them. (Lombroso 2004 p166-167)

The female born criminal

Lombroso argues that the female born criminals appear to show itself in two characteristics (1) they have the ability to specialize in a variety of crimes varying from poisoning to homicide. (2) The female born criminal resembles a diabolical cruelty, for example, in cases whereby criminal woman kills her enemies she finds pleasure in seeing the agony to the full taste of their death. (Lombroso 2004 p182)

According to Lombroso, the female born criminals have a passion to do evil, and they have a blind savagery. (Lombroso 2004 p186); there appears to be a relationship between insanity and crime, criminals appear to be blind by savagery. Thereby making them be more vulnerable to engage in offending behaviour. Criminals that are blind by savagery lack rational thinking that hampers them from differentiating right from wrong.

The born prostitute

According to Lombroso, the born prostitute appears to be morally insane, and they are full of darkened feelings i.e. jealousy, wickedness and so on. The born prostitutes are malevolent, and they engage in the profession of prostitution because they lack modesty and morality. (Lombroso 2004 p213)

Madness

Lombroso says that female criminals often engage into crime because they are driven by the feeling of revenge. According to Lombroso, the female criminals are also inclined to offending behaviour when their psychic centre gets irritated. (Lombroso 2004 p186)

Lombroso finds that insane illness amongst criminal woman vary from depression, paranoia, suicide, delusions, foolish behaviour, and lack of morality and so on. (Lombroso 2004 p228); it is evident from the aforesaid that Lombroso points out that those who engage in crimes do so because they are insane; they lack morals and behave foolishly by going against the law.

According to Lombroso, one of his studies concluded that during the menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause, criminal woman inclines to insanity and offending behaviour.

He further found that women who have sexual aberrations could develop delirium, and delirium leads them to become insane and engage in offending behaviour. (Lombroso 2004 p228-229)

Critical Evaluation

Lombroso views of insanity and crime are based on the time and culture he habituated in; It is likely that during his time (late 19th century) some races may have been treated as "inferior", and a rapid migration was taking place. The behaviour of some cultures might have caused a social disturbance. Owing to this social disturbance, Lombroso may have become preoccupied, and intriguer to identify insanity and crime from a biological perspective.

However, the approach of civilization, and the advancement of technology has shaped our cultural perception. In 21st century insanity and crime is not studied on the basis of race, and gender.. Nowadays, Social scientists and criminologists look into different social, psychological and biological causes that might trigger insanity and crime, ie. poor parenting, child abuse, lack of education, coming from a deprived area, the consumption of illegal substances and so on.

In spite of Lombroso appearing to prejudice some races, and his work make come across as laughable and contradictory, Lombroso however, made a great contribution to the penal system. Lombroso highlighted that a great number of criminals have a mental disturbance, and allowing them to integrate into society could pose a threat on others. He further claimed that sentencing them on the basis of a common crime will just be unfair. Lombroso emphasized the importance of establishing criminal insane asylums, and that way the insane criminal will be treated in accordance to his illness. (Lombroso 2006 p.146)

It is important to take into consideration that Lombroso's writings were base on the studies that he conducted on certain criminals. Whereby, he found that all these criminals presented physical and psychological trades that distinguished them from the law-abiding man. However, that is not to imply that if the law-abiding man or woman presents any of the characteristics mentioned in the previous discussions i.e. "having a hawklike nose, or excessive vanity" that is not in any way implying that they have a potential tendency to criminality.

Why is his theory criticised

According to the editor, Lombroso's methodology shows inconsistencies i.e. In his study based on the cranial circumference of insane woman, prostitutes, and criminal woman, the results were wrongly added. Column 2, adds up to 85 instead of 86, and the total number of prostitutes adds up to 48 rather than 54. (Lombroso 2006 p55)

According to the editor, modern readers may find Lombroso's mixture of quantitative with qualitative data laughable and unscientific; his data appear unsophisticated and lack standardization. Despite the inconsistencies found in his methodology, Lombroso treated the data as equal, and according to Lombroso, the accumulation of his data gave him fruitful results. His work however, did not fall outside the framework of social research of his day. (Lombroso 2006 p9)

Lombroso delivers a positive recommendation to the penal policy by suggesting the importance of establishing criminal insane asylums. This could reduce the conflict between the public, and the criminal justice system. (Lombroso 2006 p84)

Lombroso considered other multi-casual causes that could trigger insanity and crime; eg. alcohol could damage the brain cells, and might instigate people in behaving irrationally. (Lombroso 2006 p122)

According to the editor, some commentators might argue that Lombroso's ideas are racist. In spite of that, many of his views were base on humanitarian impulses, and they were acceptable in his time. (Lombroso 2006 p5)

Macaulay - books and articles

Macaulay - weblinks

Macionis and Plummer

weblinks

[Hemma Mandalia] I am exploring the themes of deviance and the response to deviance in Macionis and Plummer's textbook on "Sociology - A Global Introduction", and other works by Ken Plummer, and relating this to the theories of Emile Durkheim on crime, on punishment and on suicide. I will make particular reference to Durkheim's work on Suicide, which was published in 1897. At that time, suicide was a crime.

I will be looking at deviance and the responses to deviance in two particular situations: sexuality and suicide.

Kenneth Plummer (born 1946) was, for a period, a lecturer at Middlesex (now University), but has mainly taught at Essex University). He has a special interest in humanistic methods and theories and in their application to the area of sexuality. His books include Sexual Stigma (1975). He uses concepts and ideas of deviance and sexuality drawn from an interactionist perspective.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) was one of the first sociologists. His theories on crime and deviance were central to his idea of how society works. Throughout his work, his one major theme is that society is real and the reality of society is the subject matter of sociology. His study of suicide was part of his effort to prove the reality of society.

Macionis and Plummer's textbook will be used as the backbone of the research. I will use it to explore different perspectives on deviance in contemporary sociology. As I am looking at Ken Plummer's work, I will treat the (joint) textbook as if it was his.

Ken Plummer comes from a Symbolic Interactionist background. He classifies Durkheim as a functionalist. So I I will be exploring how symbolic interactionism relates to functionalism with respect to deviance and society's response to it.

As a start to this project I made a spidergram of themes that appeared significant in Macionis and Plummer. On the basis of this, I made the following plan:

Outline of analysis of Macionis and Plummer

1) What is deviance?

2) What kind of theorists are they?

2a) Labelling theory -- Plummer -- stigma

2b) Plummer classifies Durkheim as a functionalist - Explain

2c) Plummer classifies Durkheim as a functionalist - Discuss

3) Looking at what themes belong where and how much they cross over

3a) Moral boundaries - Classification as good or bad

3b) Moral boundaries - Crime and progress is about establishing new moral boundaries.

Will root what Plummer says in Durkheim's work, with quotations.

4) Need for deviance in society

4a) Durkheim - with quotes to illustrate

4b) Plummer and labelling theory. Compare with Durkheim

What is deviance?

Deviance, as defined by Macionis and Plummer, is the "recognised violation of cultural norms", meaning, it is deviation from the cultural norms making it not unlawful, but culturally unacceptable. (Macionis and Plummer, 2002, p.- - 2005 p.428).

What kind of theorists are they?

Labelling theory -- Plummer -- stigma

b) Macionis and Plummer categorise Durkheim as a functionalist

[You need to explain what they mean by a functionalist]

Discuss idea that Durkheim is a functionalist

Looking at what themes belong where and how much they cross over

Macionis and Plummer discuss various themes in their textbook of sociology relating to deviance. Many of these contrast with and many are similar to those that Durkheim looks at.

Here I am looking at which of the themes I identified in my spidergram belong with symbolic interactionism or labelling theory and which belong with functionalism and, also, where themes are related to both perspectives.

Moral boundaries - Classification as good or bad

One of Durkheim's themes is the need for deviance in society in order to establish society's moral boundaries. Deviance raises the question of what is acceptable in society and so establishes or revitalises society's underlying rules.

Need for deviance in society

Macionis and Plummer state that Durkheim believed

"there is nothing abnormal about deviance; in fact it performs four functions essential in society" (Macionis and Plummer, 2002, p.418 - 2005 p.445).

Plummer and labelling theory. Compare with Durkheim

A way in which Durkheim's and, Macionis and Plummer's work comes together, is through the realisation that suicide is highly social and coming from interactionist perspective Macionis and Plummer views on society are also on a social scale. Example being, Plummer's individual work on homosexuality and deviance as a reaction (Plummer, Sexual Stigma, 1975, p19).

Malthus - books and articles

Malthus - weblinks

Marcuse - books and articles

Marcuse - weblinks

Marx - books and articles

Marx - weblinks

Marx and Engels: Life and works 1818 - 1820 - 1824 - 1830 - 1834 - 1835 - 1837 - 1838 - 1839 - 1840 - 1841 - 1842 - 1843 - 1844 - 1845 - 1846 - 1847 - 1848 - 1849 - 1850 - 1851 - 1852 - 1853 - 1854 - 1855 - 1856 - 1857 - 1858 - 1859 - 1860 - 1861 - 1862 - 1863 - 1864 - 1865 - 1866 - 1867 - 1868 - 1869 - 1870 - 1871 - 1872 - 1873 - 1874 - 1875 - 1876 - 1877 - 1878 - 1879 - 1880 - 1881 - 1882 - 1883 - 1884 - 1885 - 1886 - 1887 - 1888 - 1889 -

5.5.1818 Karl Marx born in Trier The son of the lawyer Heinrich Marx and his wife Henriett, nee Pressburg.

28.11.1820 Engels born in Barmen. The son of a leading cotton manufacturer and importer of Barmen-Elberfeld in Rhenish Prussia.

26.8.1824 Marx's father (himself baptised as early as c. 1816) had his children Sophie, Karl, Hermann, Henriette, Luise, Emilie and Karoline baptized Protestants.

1830 French revolution [Marx identified with finance capital]

1834 League of the Just formed by German refugees in Paris.

15.10.1835 Marx enroled at University of Bonn.

Mid October 1836 Marx spent his summer vacations in Trier. Secret engagment to Jenny von Westphalen, daughter of Government Counsellor Ludwig von Westphalen.

Mid October 1836: Marx travelled to Berlin.

22.10.1836 Marx enrolled in the Faculty of Law of Berlin University.

Engels worked as an office clerk in Barmen from 1837

From 1838 to 1841 Engels worked in an export office in Breman.

12.5.1839 Rising of the French secret societies in which they and the German League of the Just were defeated.

7.2.1840 In London, the legally functioning German Workers' Educational Association was founded. It still existed in 1845. In London, and to a lesser degree in Switzerland, German workers had the benefit of freedoms of association and assembly.

1841

Feuerbach: The Essence of Christianity. Looked at from a Hegalian perspective, Christianity is a necessary phase of human culture whose essance is to understand human potenial in a heavenly rather than an earthly form. Marx greeted warmly.

6.4.1841 Marx submitted his doctoral thesis on "The Difference Between Democritean and Epicurean Natural Philosophy" to Professor Bachmann, the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Jena.

15.4.1841 Marx received his doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Jena.

Engels served for a year as an army volunteer from 1841 to 1842.

24.12.1841 Instruction on Censorship issued by Prussian Government

Marx and Engels 1842

1.1.1842 Rheinische Zeitung für Politik, Handel und Gewerbe founded (A daily paper based at Cologne).

10.1.1842 Marx sent his article "Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction" to Ruge for publication in the Young Hegelian journal Deutsche Jahrbücher für Wissenschaft und Kunst. Ruge could not publish it in this because of the censorship restrictions.

5.5.1842. Marx's first news article for Rheinische Zeitung. A series on the freedom of the press.
8.5.1842 Second article
10.5.1842 Third article
12.5.1842 Fourth article
15.5.1842 Fifth article
19.5.1842 Sixth article

Mid October 1842: Marx moved to Cologne.

15.10.1842 Marx editor of Rheinische Zeitung

[16.11.1842?] 24.11.1842 Marx briefly made Engels' acquaintance when the latter, enroute to England, called at the editorial office of Rheinische Zeitung.

FROM NOVEMBER 1842 TO SEPTEMBER 1844 ENGELS LIVED IN MANCHESTER.
In 1842, Engels joined Ermen and Engels a Manchester cotton mill which his father co-owned, staying there until 1844.

"While I was in Manchester, it was tangibly brought home to me that the economic facts, which have so far played no role or only a contemptible one in the writing of history, are, at least in the modern world, a decisive historical force; that they form the basis of the origination of the present-day class antagonisms; that these class antagonisms, in the countries where they have become fully developed, thanks to large-scale industry, hence especially in England, are in their turn the basis of the formation of political parties and of party struggles, and thus of all political history. Marx had not only arrived at the same view, but had already, in the _German-French Annuals_ (1844), generalized it to the effect that, speaking generally, it is not the state which conditions and regulates the state, and, consequently, that policy and its history are to be explained from the economic relations and their development, and not vice versa. When I visited Marx in Paris in the summer of 1844, our complete agreement in all theoretical fields became evident and our joint work dates from that time." (Engels,F. 8.10.1885)

" On his arrival in Manchester, Engels found it in ferment in consequence of the second great upheaval of the Chartist movement. As a republican- democrat he was drawn at once to the democratic-republican chartist movement, and through that movement came into contact with its socialist wing, and with the Owenite communist movement which more or less overlapped. As a student of commerce he was forced to study classic political economy. In association with the Chartists, Democratic-Socialists and Owenites he was attracted to the study of the critical conclusions drawn from that political economy by the political champions of the working class." Jackson, T.A. 1935 p.6

Marx and Engels 1843

Engels met Karl Schapper, Heinrich Bauer and Joseph Moll, in 1843. "the first revolutionary proletarians whom I met" ENGELS,F.8.10.1885

First weeks of 1843. Marx wrote articles on the economic distress of the Moselle vintagers. "Defense of the Moselle Correspondent: Economic Distress and Freedom of the Press".

February 1843 First edition of Ruge's Swiss journal Anekdota zur neuesten deutschen Philosophie un Publicistik. Contained Marx's article "Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction". It also contained an article "Luther as Arbiter between Strauss and Feuerbach", signed "No Berliner" sometimes credited to Marx, and an article by Feuerbach which, I presume, is the Feuerbach's "Theses" in the Anekdota referred to by Engels in his review of Carlyle (Written in January 1844)

14.2.1843 Bruckberg. Date and place on Feuerbach's preface to the second edition of The Essence of Christianity.

17.3.1843/18.3.1843: Marx formally relinquished the editorship of Rheinische Zeitung and published a "statement" that he has left the editorial board "because of the present censorship conditions."

[Rheinische Zeitung. This was suppressed by the German Government from 1.4.1843. Marx moved to Paris.]

Marx's Letter to Ruge Cologne, May 1843

19.6.1843: Marx married Jenny von Westphalen.

August-September 1843 Draft Programme of the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher

Marx's Letter to Ruge Kreuzenach, September 1843

Autumn 1843 Marx wrote "On the Jewish Question"

3.10.1843 Marx to Ludwig Feuerbach from Kreuznach,

Late October 1843: Marx moved to Paris; He lived at 38 rue Vaneau in the Faubourg St. Germain.

"On October 11 1843, 25-year-old Karl and 27-year-old Jenny arrived in Paris. Jenny was pregnant. They moved into 38 Rue Vanneau -- on the Left Bank. The house was considered an "experiment in living" by its other occupants: Herwegh, Maürer and Ruge."

Marx and Engels 1844

January 1844 Engels wrote his review of Carlyle's Past and Present

February 1844 Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher published. Included "On the Jewish Question" and "Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction" by Marx and "Outline of a Critique of Political Economy" by Engels.

"By the early months of 1844 [Engels] was certainly at work on the [his book about the Conditions of the English Working Class]"

Early months of 1844: Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of Marx written

March 1844: Marx and Engels, having both become contributors to Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher, enter into correspondence with each other. From March into the summer of 1844 - after his commitment to socialism as "full human emancipation" through the proletariate - Marx acted on the impetus to study economics that had come from his "Defense of the Moselle Correspondent". He studied and copied extensive excerpts from main writings of Engels, Say, Adam Smith, Ricardo, James Mill, and others. He corresponded with Engels about his "Outline of a Critique of Political Economy". Marx's excerpts from James Mill's "Elements of Political Economy", from the sections on money and consumption as involving production, stimulated him to write out his own views ["Money and Alienated Man" and "Free Human Production"]. EASTON and GUDDAT 1967 p.265

Between March and the summer of 1844, Marx became acquainted with Proudhon and associated with French workers and socialists.

1.5.1844: Marx's first child born -- his daughter Jenny.

July 1844: Marx made personal contact with Proudhon. He kept in contact with him through the rest of his stay in Paris and "in the course of lengthy, often all-night discussions infects" him "with Hegelianism."

August 1844-December 1844: Marx frequently met Bakunin.

September 1844 Marx and Engels meet in Paris. Spent 10 days with Marx (See end of 1st letter). Engels was leaving Manchester and on his way to Germany.

28.8.1844 to 6.9.1844: Engels, returning to Germany from England, called on Marx in Paris and spent 10 days with; it is during that period that their "agreement in all theoretical fields became obvious and our joint work dates from then."

Early October 1844, Letter from Engels (in Barmen) to Marx (in Paris). (First surviving) Includes intention to write a pamphlet of the feasibility of communism.

Most of the writing of The Conditions of the Working Class in England was done in the winter of 1844-5. Letter from Engels (in Barmen) to Marx (in Paris) 19.11.1844: I am buried up to my neck in English newspapers and books from which I am compiling my book on the condition of the English proletarians. I expect to be done by the middle or end of January, as I finished the most difficult job, the arrangement of the material, about one or two weeks ago.

Marx and Engels 1845

In 1845 Engels addressed communist meetings organised by Moses Hess and Gustav K”ttgen in Elberfeld.

2.1.1845: Together with Heinrich Burgers, Marx travelled via Liege to Brussels, where he was shortly afterwards jointed by his wife and daughter.

Late February 1845: Publication in Frankfurt of The Holy Family, or Critique of the Critical Critique. Against Bruno Bauer and Associates. By Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx.

Engels' preface to The Conditions of the Working Class in England dated Barman, 15.3.1845.

From 1845 to 1848 Engels lived in Brussels (with K. Marx) and, alternately, in Paris:

Early April 1845: Engels moves from Barmen to Brussels to be near Marx. It is at this meeting that Marx introduced him to "the materialist theory of history, worked out completely in its main lines." MEIAC<<

"When, in the spring of 1845, we met again in Brussels, Marx had already fully developed his materialist theory of history in its main features from the above-mentioned basis and we now applied ourselves to the detailed elaboration of the newly-won mode of outlook in the most varied directions. This discovery, which revolutionized the science of history and, as we have seen, is essentially the work of Marx -- a discovery in which I can claim for myself only a very insignificant share -- was, however, of immediate importance for the contemporary workers' movement. Communism among the French and Germans, Chartism among the English, now no longer appeared as something accidental which could just as well not have occurred. These movements now presented themselves as a movement of the modern oppressed class, the proletariat, as the more or less developed forms of its historically necessary struggle against the ruling class, the bourgeoisie; as forms of the class struggle, but distinguished from all earlier class struggles by this one thing, that the present-day oppressed class the proletariat, cannot achieve its emancipation without at the same time emancipating society as a whole from division into classes and, therefore, from class struggles. And Communism now no longer meant the concoction, by means of the imagination, of an ideal society as perfect as possible, but insight into the nature, the conditions and the consequent general aims of the struggle waged by the proletariat." ENGELS,F.8.10.1885

The Conditions of the Working Class in England was published in Leipzig, in the summer of 1845.

12.7.1845 to 21.8.1845: Marx and Engels made a study trip to England, where they made contact in London with the League of the Just and with Weitling.

September 1845: Marx's daughter Laura is born.

1845-1846 The German Ideology: Critique of Modern German Philosophy According to its Representatives Feuerbach, B. Bauer and Stirner, and of German Socialism According to its Various Prophets written, but not published. Marx and Engels began writing in November 1845 and continued on the project for nearly a year before it was abandoned unfinished OAKLEY, ALLEN 1983 p.33

December 1845: Marx has himself released from Prussian citizenship.

Marx and Engels 1846

Begining of 1846: Communist Correspondence Committee formed by Marx and Engels in Brussels.

31.3.1846 Personal letter concerning the Communist League, written by Wilhelm Weitling, to Moses Hess, the day after the meeting of the Communist Correspondence Committee. Present at this meeting were: Weitling, Marx, Engels, Philippe Gigot, Louis Heilberg, Sebastien Seiler, Edgar von Westphalen (Marx's brother-in-law), Joseph Weydemeyer, and Pavel Annenkov.

5.5.1846 Marx's letter written to Pierre Joseph Proudhon (in Paris), asking him to join the Communist League.

17.5.1846 Proudhon responded to Marx, he declined joining the Correspondence Committee since he opposed revolutionary methods and communism.

25.7.1846 Northern Star published a letter from the German Democratic Communists of Brussels congratulating O'Connor on his success at the Nottingham election. Signed Engels, Ph. Gigot, and Marx. The letter said that now the Free Trade principles of the middle class had triumphed,

"the ground is now clered by the retreat of the landed aristocracy from the contest; middle class and working class are the only classes betwixt whom there can be a possible struggle" HARRISON, S. 1974 p.133. More of the letter quoted.

15.8.1846: Engels moved to Paris in order to engage in propaganda and organizational work on behalf of the Brussels Communist Correspondence Committee.

Marx and Engels 1847

1847 Morgan's letters on the Iroquois published in the American Review

Early June 1847: First Congress of the League of Communists in London. For lack of money, among other things, Marx cannot travel to London and gets Engels (from Paris) and W. Wolff (from Brussels) to represent him. The Congress resolves to reorganize the League of the Just totally, to assume the name League of Communists and to prepare a Communist Creed for the next Congress.

June 1847 Engels first draft for a "Communist catechism"

Early July 1847: Marx's polemical pamphlet "The Poverty of Philosophy". A Reply to Proudhon's Philosophy of Poverty is published in 800 copies by C.G. Vogler in Brussels -- Marx's first economic essay to be printed.

September 1847 Kommunistische Zeitung published by League of Communists

23/24.11.1847 Letter from Engels (in Paris) to Marx (in Brussels) speaks about his draft of the "Communist Manifesto". (Principles of Communism)

"Second Congress of the Communist League held in London from November 29 to December 8, 1847. Marx and Engels took part.. On the instruction of the Congress Marx and Engels wrote the Manifesto of the Communist Party.." (SELECTED CORRESPONDENCE note 23)

29.11.1847 to 10.12.1847: Marx participated in the second Congress of the League of Communists in London, which adopts the programmatic and tactical principles championed by Marx and Engels in prolonged discussions, and instructed Marx to draft the Manifesto of the Communist Party.

Marx was delegate of a Belgium group called the "Democratic Association to promote Brotherhood among the Nations" ( Halevy Vol.4 p.203)

October 1847 Engels second draft for a "Communist catechism"

4.12.1847 Report of a speech by Marx, published in the Northern Star:

"Dr Marx, the delegate from Brussels, then came forward, and was greeted with every demonstration of welcome, and delivered an energetic oration in the German language." In this he called on the Democrats of Britain to help to establish "a congress of working men to establish liberty all over the world". He said that the Democrats of Belgium, whom he represented, felt that the Chartists of England were the real Democrats and that the moment they carried the six points of their Charter, the real road to liberty would be opened to the whole world. "Effect this grand object, then, you working men of England and you will be hailed as the saviour of the whole human race", said the speaker. HARRISON, S. 1974 pp 133-134.

11.12.1847 Northern Star report: Harvey's "Fraternal Democrats" had given an official reception in London for Marx. ( Halevy Vol.4 p.203)

Marx and Engels 1848

[1848 French revolution [Marx identified with capital]

24.1.1848 Resolution of Central Committee of the Communist League, sent to Brussels, for Marx, on 26.1.1848:

" The Central Committee hereby directs the District Committee of Brussels to notify Citizen Marx that if the Manifesto of the Communist party, which he consented, at the last Congress, to draw up, does not reach London before Tuesday, February 1, further measures will be taken against him. In case Citizen Marx does not write the Manifesto, the Central Committee requests the immediate return of the documents which were turned over to him by the congress. In the name and at the instruction of the Central Committee, (Signed) Schapper, Bauer, Moll." RIAZANOV, D. 1927 p.78

Late January 1848: Marx completed the manuscript of the Manifesto of the Communist Party and sent it to London to be printed. Late February 1848: The Manifesto of the Communist Party is published (in German) in London.

24.2.1848 Louis Philippe driven out of Paris and the French Republic proclaimed.

25.2.1848 Armed workers occupied the French Assembly demanding the right to work.

25.2.1848 to 3.3.1848 Marx took an active part in the preparations for an armed republican uprising in Brussels. He donated major sums of money to arming the local workers. He also participated in the preparations for an armed uprising in Cologne.

4.3.1848: Marx was arrested by the police at 1 a.m. while getting ready to leave; after several hours of detention, he was released and taken under police escort to the French frontier, when he immediately continued his journey to Paris.

10.3.1848 (circa): The central authority of the League of Communists constituted itself in Paris, elected Marx its President, Schapper its Secretary, and Bauer, Engels (then still in Brussels), Moll, Wallau and W. Wolff as members.

13.3.1848 People of Vienna broke the power of Prince Metternich. He fled the country.

18.3.1848 People of Berlin took arms. King surrendered to them after 18 hours.

10.4.1848 Chartists gathered on Kennington Common to prepare for a march to Parliament.

April 1848 A French Assembly was elected that was only interested in political (not social) reform.

From April 1848 to May/June1849 Marx and Engels worked for the Neue Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne

Quote from Engels somewhere! (On internet) "Those were such revolutionary times. "And at such times it is a pleasure to work in the daily press. One sees for oneself the effect of every word, one sees one's articles strike like hand-grenades and explode like fired shells." Frederick Engels

10/11.4.1848: On April 10, Marx arrived in Cologne with Engels and Ernst Dronke and at once assumed organization of a big daily, Neue Rheinische Zeitung, started by democratic and partially communist groupings.

During April/May 1848, Marx and Engels raised funds for it by selling shares, while drumming up talented correspondents and establishing contacts with democratic periodicals in other countries. As implied by its name, it was envisioned to continue the tradition of the Rheinische Zeitung, which Marx edited in 1842 and 1843. The Neue Rheinische Zeitung, despite its regional name, considered its audience to be all of Germany -- beyond the Rhine Province (which centred on Cologne).

May or June 1848. First copies of The Communist Manifesto circulating in Germany. RIAZANOV,D.1927 p.78

Neue Rheinische Zeitung - Organ der Demokratie
New Rhenish Gazette - Organ of Democracy

31.5.1848 the first issue of Neue Rheinische Zeitung published in the evening (dated 1.6.1848) -- with the announcement (repeated several times in subsequent issues) of the editorial committee below the masthead:
editor-in-chief: Karl Marx,
Editors:
Heinrich Burgers,
Ernst Dronke,
Friedrich Engels,
Georg Weerth,
Ferdinand Wolff,
Wilhelm Wolff.

Marx and Engels 1849

August 1849 Marx settled in London as a political refugee.

November 1949 Engels arrived in London. From 1849 Engels worked in his father's business in Manchester and supported Marx financially. Between December 1849 and November 1850, a series of articles, by Marx, in the Neue Rheinische Zeitung analysed political events in France from 1848 to 1850 in terms of class struggles

Marx and Engels 1850

December 1850 Napoleon 3rd (President) dissolved the French Assembly and restored universal male suffrage. His total power was then approved by plebiscite.

Marx and Engels 1851

Marx and Engels 1852

Marx and Engels 1853

Marx and Engels 1854

Marx and Engels 1855

Marx and Engels 1856

Marx and Engels 1857

Marx and Engels 1858

Marx and Engels 1859

Karl Marx's A contribution to the critique of political economy written. It was intended as the first volume of his work on Economics.

Marx and Engels 1860

Marx and Engels 1861

Marx and Engels 1862

Marx and Engels 1863

Marx and Engels 1864

First International Workingmen's Association established by French and English Labour leaders in London (dissolved 1876). Marx drew up its Inaugural Address - a much more moderate document than the Communist Manifesto

Marx and Engels 1865

Marx and Engels 1866

Marx and Engels 1867

Marx completed the manuscript of Das Kapital on 27.3.1867. At 2am in the morning of 16.8.1867 he wrote to Engels the he had "just finished correcting the last sheet (49th) of the book" and thanked Engels for enabling him to complete the "immense labour" of the book. In the third week of September 1867: Volume I of Das Kapital was published in a print run of 1,000 in Hamburg. It was not translated into English until 1887

Marx and Engels 1868

Marx and Engels 1869

In 1869 the "Eisenach Party" (SAP) [South German Party] was founded by Marx's German followers.

Marx and Engels 1870

1870-1871 Franco-Prussian war. The leaders of the Eisenach Party were imprisoned for opposing the war.

Marx and Engels 1871

Marx and Engels 1872

Marx and Engels 1873

Marx and Engels 1874

Marx and Engels 1875

1875 German social democrats (ADAV and SAP) merged on the basis of The Gotha Programme. This was more Lassallean than Marxist. Marx sent a private criticism and said that he would have to dissociate himself, but he did not - because the press perceived the Gotha Programme as "communist". The party became the SDP in 1890.

Marx and Engels 1876

Marx and Engels 1877

Morgan's Ancient Society published

Marx and Engels 1878

From 1878 to 1890 the Anti-socialist law prohibited socialist societies, assemblies and pamphlets. But the party was still able to take part in Reichstag elections - where it increased its representation in the (powerless) German national parliament.

Marx and Engels 1879

Marx and Engels 1880

Marx and Engels 1881

Marx and Engels 1882

Marx and Engels 1883

14.3.1883 Karl Marx died. At his death, a virtually unknown author in the English speaking world

Marx and Engels 1884

Engels: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State developed by Engels from notes by Marx. The Origin provides an overview of their historical materialism as they left it. Working on the theories of Morgan, they incorporate "Reproduction" into the material base, alongside "Production"

Marx and Engels 1885

Marx and Engels 1886

Marx and Engels 1887

Marx and Engels 1888

Marx and Engels 1889

My essay explores the idea of community in the theories of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in comparison with Emile Durkheim and Max Weber

I will begin by looking at what Marx and Engels say about community in their best known work: The Communist Manifesto (1848), where they write:

"The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors," and has left no other bond between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment." (Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1848. The Communist Manifesto: par. 1.14)

So Marx and Engels contrast feudal relations which bind people to their "natural superiors" with relations under capitalism which leave "no other bond between man and man than naked self-interest". The creation of capitalism has eliminated the community which everyone was a part of and where everyone shares important things with others. The only tie left between people is "naked self-interest" or the money link (cash nexus)

Marx and Engels explain the present stage of society (capitalism or bourgeois society) in terms of social relations which are based on exchange. The owners of the means of production (capitalists or bourgeoisie) have power because they have the capital to purchase labour from the people who have nothing to exchange but their labour power: the workers or proletariat.

Marx and Engels thought that the social relations under capitalism could not last. They argued that the workers were developing more communal relations (trade unions and cooperatives for example) and that, eventually, the mass of the people would revolt and establish a communist society.

"In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all." (Marx, K. and Engels, F. 1848. The Communist Manifesto: par. 1.14)

Marx stressed the importance of acknowledging the false idea which religion creates for people where they see a true community in which we are all equal in the eyes of god. Marx saw religion as an opiate, a drug which numbed the pain and oppression caused by capitalist society in order to make people feel as though they were worthy and would receive reward for their hard work which they provide for their community. Marx believes that when religion is no longer allowed to play the role of creating a 'false' idea of community for individuals, human being will then be apart of a genuine community where society and the economy is equal

George Herbert Mead - books and articles

Mead - weblinks

Life and works

The career of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) spanned forty years during which he published numerous articles and books in philosophy. After his death, many of these were published together as Mind, Self and Society (1934).

Mead's main contribution can be seen as his attempt to show how the human "self" is "not initially there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity" (Mead, G.H. 1934 chapter 18). What we call our self is something that develops in the process of social interaction using symbols. As a result theories based on Mead's were later called "symbolic interactionist".

27.2.1863 George Herbert Mead born,South Hadley, Massachusetts.

1884 George Herbert Mead wrote to a friend

"I have no doubt that now the most reasonable system of the universe can be formed to myself without a God." (See Aboulafia 2008)

Some of Mead's later work in social psychology expresses in secular (naturalistic) theories ideas previously expressed in theological terms. See, for example soul in Mind, Self and Society

Autumn 1887 MA began his MA in philosophy at Harvard University. During this academic year, he tutored the children of William James. At Harvard his main interests were Philosophy and Psychology. He studied with Josiah Royce, a major influence upon his thought, and William James. While majoring in philosophy, he also studied psychology, Greek, Latin, German, and French. [Received only a B.A.?]

Autumn? 1888 George Herbert Mead went to Leipzig, Germany to study with Wilhelm Wundt, from whom he learned the concept of "the gesture", a concept central to his later work. Mead "studied in Germany from 1888-1891, taking a course from Wilhelm Dilthey and immersing himself in Wilhelm Wundt's research." Aboulafia 2008

Autumn 1891 George Herbert Mead employed by the University of Michigan, where he met Charles H. Cooley and John Dewey, He taught both philosophy and psychology.

Autumn 1891 to Spring 1894 Mead worked at the University of Michigan.

1891 Mead married Helen Kingsbury Castle (1860-1929).

1892 George and Helen Mead's only child, Henry Castle Albert Mead, was born in Ann Arbor.

Chicago University 1894 John Dewey and George Herbert Mead start at Chicago University in 1894 Department of Philosophy founded with John Dewey as its first chairman from 1894 to 1904. Succeded by James H. Tufts, and subsequently George Herbert Mead. The "Chicago School of Thought" sought to furnish a reformulation of the basic commitments of pragmatism on a strict logical basis. (source)

1896 John Dewey: Evolution and Ethics. External link: Photograph of "The Chicago Philosophy Club 1896", shows, amongst others, George Herbert Mead and John Dewey.

1909 George Herbert Mead: "Social Psychology as Counterpart to Physiological Psychology"

March 1913 Mead read a paper on "The Social Self" at the Annual Meeting of the Western Philosophical Association,

1927 George Herbert Mead's course in Social Psychology on which students based Mind, Self and Society

25.12.1929 Mrs. Helen Castle Mead died. George Mead was hit hard by her passing and gradually became ill himself.

1930 George Herbert Mead's course in Social Psychology on which students based Mind, Self and Society

December 1930 Over three days, George Herbert Mead gave the Carus Lectures at a meeting of the American Philosophical Association in Berkeley

26.4.1931 Mead died (aged 68) in Chicago. - John Dewey's obituary. This is most of what Dewey said at Mead's funeral in Chicago on 30.4.1931

Although Mead never published a book, his students used their lecture notes and his articles to create the following:

1932 The Philosophy of the Present edited by Arthur E. Murphy.

1934 Mind, Self, and Society edited by Charles W. Morris;

1936 Movements of Thought in the Nineteenth Century edited by Merritt H. Moore

1938 The Philosophy of the Act, Mead's Carus Lectures of 1930, edited by Charles W. Morris.

Mead's Theatre Imagery

Much of Erving Goffman's theory is about the development of the self. This is one of the three levels of social reality (mind, self, society) analysed by George Herbert Mead. Of self Mead wrote

"the language process is essential for the development of the self. The self has a character which is different from that of the physiological organism proper. The self is something which has a development; it is not initially there, at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity, that is, develops in the given individual as a result of his relations to that process as a whole and to other individuals within that process. The intelligence of the lower forms of animal life, like a great deal of human intelligence, does not involve a self." (Mead 1934 par.18.1)

Mead's theory has mind, self and society "emerging" (developing) from the previous natural inter-actions (gestures) of animals. Animals play at fighting without actually doing so. The moves in this play-acting are what Mead calls gestures. A snap in the air without actually biting is like a symbol of the real thing.

We might think of fox cubs playing whilst the mother vixen looks on as a kind of animal theatre.

In human children, play acting goes further, and the roles are internalised so that a child can run through the play in his or her own mind. This is how the concept of self arises. The child learns to think about him or herself as if he or she were another person and to see how he or she interacts with other people on the stage of life.

Mead's theatrical imagery relates to role play, or ,as he calls it, the "genesis of the self"

In a child's early years it is often seen that the child plays in a character or role different to their own self, or they create imaginary companions. The child may adopt the roles of those familiar to themselves such as a parent, or a role they have been witness to such as a television or book character.

"He arrests himself as a policeman. He has a set of stimuli which call out himself the sort of responses they call out in others. He takes this group of responses and organises them into a certain whole. Such is the simplest form of being another to one's self." (Mead 1934 par.19.11)

They also use "props" to enhance the reality of the performance. A cat becomes a baby much to its dislike.

When playing alone the child may play a number of roles at one time, talking to themselves. Mead argues all of those actions and the responses from others are utilised by the child which they then use to build a self. Like Goffman, Mead relates the responses or the success of a "performance or role play" to building the self and self esteem.

When animals play they use the skills taught by their parents. For example, a cat learns to hunt and pounce, therefore when playing they often pounce on their opponent. However they do not take on a role, they do not pretend to be humans.

"But we do not have in such a situation the dogs taking a definite role in the sense that a child deliberately takes the role of another." (Mead 1934 par.19.11)

This is where the behaviour of humans can show that it has a Self that has consciousness, being 'self conscious'.

"Man's behaviour is such in his social group that he is able to become an object to himself, a fact which constitutes him a more advanced product of evolutionary development than are the lower animals. Fundamentally it is this social fact- and not his alleged possession of a soul or mind with which he, as an individual, has been mysteriously and supernaturally endowed, and with which the lower animals have not been endowed- that differentiates him from them." (Mead 1934 par.18.3 footnote 1)

Children, unlike animals take on roles around them; they look at other people and copy them.

Mead on the self and body

The development of self in the theories of George Herbert Mead has been outlined above. Here we look specifically at the relationship of self and body in his work.

Mead speaks of a parallelism between self and body. The self cannot exist without the body. However, the self gains distinction from the biology of the body. Unable to exist without the body, it uses certain parts of the body to generate thoughts, through the conversation of gestures.

In Mind, Self and Society (1934), Mead focuses on investigating how the evolutionary processes lead to the creation of human abstract thinking and morality.

Mead criticised Charles Horton Cooley's argument, which implies that the individual is born with consciousness, or, specifically, a consciousness of self - "the looking-glass self" as Cooley calls it. For Mead, consciousness is rather something that emerges in a human being with experience. Consciousness is understood as the human's awareness of being a distinctive, unique, and self-conscious individual. It leads to a development of one's personality and eventually a self. According to Mead, consciousness is similar to one's self, which means that we are not born with it, but it develops along with the experience we gain throughout our life (Mead, G. H. 1934, p.35). Mead argues that the emergence of the self is dependent upon the existence of the body. At the same time our "human" body needs the self in order to function properly.

Thus, it could be said that they are inseparable, except that the body can exist (but not as a "human" body) without the self. We might, therefore, consider these two elements as two separate and distinct components, but with a slight dominance, in Mead's analysis, of the body.

Mead makes a clear distinction between the self and the body by saying:

"The body can be there and can operate in a very intelligent fashion without there being a self involved in the experience" (Mead, G. H. 1934, p.136).

Thus, while the organism can maintain the 'basic' bodily functions without the presence of the self, the self could not possibly arise outside the organism, without the actual existence of the physical human body.

Robert Merton - books and articles

Robert Merton - weblinks

Life and works

1904 Aaron and Ida Schkolnickoff, poor Russian Jews, came to the United States and settled in a working-class district of Philadelphia

4.7.1910 Meyer Robert Schkolnick born. He became Robert King Merton

1927 to 1931 Merton at Temple University in Philadelphia. Became a research assistant to George Eaton Simpson who was preparing his Ph.D on The Negro in the Philadelphia Press.

"Under the leadership of Simpson" Merton attended the American Sociological Association annual meetings, where he met Pitrim A. Sorokin, the founding chair of the Harvard University Sociology Department. Merton then applied to Harvard and went to work as a research assistant to Sorokin (1931-1936) (Wikipedia}

1931 Merton receives A.B [??] from Temple university.

1931 Sociology department established at Harvard University under Pitirim Sorokin. Talcott Parsons became an instructor at Harvard.

1933 Merton was a postgraduate student and teaching assistant at Harvard.

1934 Merton: "Recent French Sociology" Social Forces 12, pp 537-545 and "Durkheim's Division of Labor in Society" American Journal of Sociology 40, pp 319-328.

Two critical reviews. Merton identifies what he sees as faults and fallacies and assimilates some of the ideas into frameworks with which he is more sympathetic. He represents Durkheim's anomie (from the Division of Labour) as corresonding to the war of all against all in Hobbes's state of nature. [Andrew] See Parsons and Merton's theory of anomie below.

1936 receives a Ph.D. From Harvard university. His thesis was published in 1938 as Science, Technology and society in 17th century England. Similar to Max Weber's claim on the link between Protestant ethic and the capitalist economy, Merton argued for a positive correlation between the rise of Protestant pietism and early experimental science.

Published 'The Unanticipated consequences of purposive social action'

1936 to 1939 Merton a tutor and instructor at Harvard.

1938 Thesis published as first book, Science, Technology and society in 17th century England.

October 1938 Robert Merton: "Social Structure and Anomie": American Sociological Review volume 3 number 5 pages 672-682. "There is a growing body of evidence, though none of it is clearly conclusive, to the effect that our class structure is becoming rigidified and that vertical mobility is declining." Included the first appearance of Merton's famous table of possible adaptations to cultural strain.

1939 to 1941 Professor and chairman, department of Sociology at Tulane university in New Orleans.

1942 to 1971 Associate director of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research. The director was Paul Lazarsfeld.

1948 Publishes 'self-fulfilling prophecy'

structural-functional analysis:

1948 Wrote "Manifest and Latent Functions", the first chapter of Social Theory and Social Structure (1949 and 1957) as

"an effort to systematise the principle assumptions and conceptions of the slowly evolving theory of functional analysis in sociology" (Biographical postscript 1957, p. 82)