Sociology of Law and Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Sociology of Law and Punishment - Essay ExampleNorbert Elias suggests that civilisation transform human habitus so that violence in all forms is gradually subjected to greater and more sophisticated forms of management and control. Decivilisation according to him, encompasses processes which produce an increase in violence and a breakdown in the stableness and consistency of social relations. What remains unexplored is the extent to which attempts to bring about civilisation, have revolved around essentially violent policies and practices (Robert van Krieken, Abstract, The British diary of Sociology, Volume 50 Issue 2).Nils Christie, in Crime Control as Industry, suggests that the spiralling prison populations, particularly in the United States, represent a move towards gulags western sandwich style, in much the same way that Zygmunt Bauman saw modernity itself as creating the possibility for the Holocaust. For Christie the current gulagisation of the West is not an aberration of mo dern society, but something that occurs of course within it. Pratts book suggests that man may be moving into an area of penal control that takes one beyond the gulag. The gulag it says may not be a sufficient modality of punishment to absorb the punitive sentiments of modern societies. What we find is the supplementation of modern penal sanctions by new forms of statutory and extra legal punishments. For Christie, there is hope, that at some point, good sense of the ordinary people will prevail and counter the trends that the forces of modernity made possible. It is argued that there is no integrity to human values and public sentiment unleashing them may only add to the spiral of penal control (Beyond gulags western style A reconsideration of Nils Christies shame control as industry, Abstract, Pratt. J).2.0 Introspection Elias offers a particular paradigm for sociological thought which opposes both the structural-functionalist and methodological-individualist tendencies in soc iology. The concept that he developed hoped to severe and unveil many of the central dilemmas in sociology, especially the opponents of action and structure, individualism and society.Elias Civilising Process is contentious, and overlooked with suspicion. Elias deviates from the more fashionable trends in sociology to dig deep into retrospection and seek the unknown. His report has been a source of ideas and has appealed the senses of those who crave for the unknown. Commentators have veered between two theological pointers an uncompromising acceptance or ungenerous rejection. His work frequently is a contradiction between supposedly admiring followers and critics. To appreciate Elias, one needs to steer a path between the lines. His handling of human issues emotions, attitudes towards the body, sexuality, socialisation, and so on, reflected a balanced and overbearing approach. His analysis of the human mind is of significant relevance in the context of his larger-scale processe s in State formation, urbanisation and