1. Social Contract Theories : Antecedents to Classical Criminology

2. Renaissance…  Recall: Rediscovery of Greek Classics  Athens literature  Aristotle Science Logic Not Virtue though…

3. What is “rational”?

4. 15 th to 16 th Centuries…. Natural Science Shift away from purposive world view Individualism & wealth Breaking apart of ‘justice/moral’ from ‘power’

5. Mercantilism & Causation Accumulating wealth to grow in power The modern pursuit of power & profit requires a knowledge of reality that allows one to make predictions about future outcomes.

6. Modern Instrumental Rationality Control man/nature through science. Law becomes pragmatic: Contractual Territoriality Nation building Assumes: we can equally shape our destiny…

7. Critics…. Nature does not produce an ‘end’ (not teological) Science is a series of facts Evaluation of facts is still subjective (myth of objectivity) Science attempts to account for everything as a causal relationship

8. Remember Margarine? The problem with prediction… Also, if one could predict all events in reality (assuming perfect causation)… Is that not a kind of determination? No autonomy

9. Social Contract Theories Theoretical positions that explain social order in terms of a persons’ moral and political obligations, which depend upon a contract or agreement among people to form the society in which they live

10. Thomas Hobbes (1588 -1679) Radical Conservative Leviathan (1651)  Social order is created by humans  Monarchy should have absolute power  Sovereign state ruling over ‘equals’  Authoritative government & commodious living 

11. Hobbes State of Nature: Natural’ causes of conflict: 1. Limited material possessions 2. Distrust 3. Glory (power) Natural human condition: “ in a state of perpetual war of all against all” (Delaney, 2004:3) No morality & constant fear Rationality to seek Social Contract How does this assumption translate temporally?

12. John Locke (1632 -1704) Two Treatises on Government (1689) appropriation Right to self-preservation through private property appropriation* Authority of King: Protection of people’s property & well being.  Room for resistance …

13. Free will restricted only by God; precedes society & state. State of Nature: “perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others” (pre- political, but not pre-moral)  Peaceful  Conjugal Society Locke

14. Money leads to unequal possession of Earth Power granted to Civil Government by property owners and not majority Government has no rights, only responsibilities…

15. Jean Jaques Rousseau Social Contract (1762) “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” (49). How can we live together, free from coercion? Through the collective renunciation of the individual rights and freedom (“forced to be free”)

16. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 -1778) The Social Contract (1762) Generally peaceful ● Think wilderness ● Few conflicts ● Many resources Changes with population growth & civilization Communities/Leisure time ● Preferences ● conflicts

17. Rousseau: Ideal Society  Grew in relation to good governance  All members of society have an equal voice  People are equal to their occupation  No one is above the law  Rejected individual power in favor of collective  New members should not alter the state to their advantage  Preservation from conquest

18. The importance of Social Contract Theories…. “Contractual models have come to inform a vast variety of relations and interaction between persons, from students and their teachers, to authors and their readers.” Classical Criminology & Neo-Classical Crime Policy

19. Contemporary Critiques “…social contract theory is at least an incomplete picture of our moral and political lives, and may in fact camouflage some of the ways in which the contract is itself parasitical upon the subjugations of classes of persons.” (Friend, Ethnocentric View of Social Order

20. Group Work???

21. Thinking Exercise Think about your relationship to the university in terms of a social contract: 1.Is it Hobbesian or Locke/Rousseau inspired (or neither)? 2.Critical Thinking Break off in groups of 3-5 Discuss the purpose of the contract, authority, morality Discuss punishment How else could it be ordered (agreement/validity)?