On a lighter note...

A Dilbert animation about the Prisoner's dilema.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED9gaAb2BEw

Dilbert understands the concept of the prisoner's dilema, and so he decides not to give the police any information, but his co-conspirators are not on the same page, and the joke lies in the fact that Dilbert clearly doesn't understand the concept at all.

Panopticon YouTube video

Everyone MUST see this eerie YouTube video about surveilance and the panopticon, called "Panopticon"

It touches on a range of ideas, includng Foucault's ideas of disciplinary society, Bentham, and even relates these concepts to people "broadcasting" their good deeds on facebook with the new "join cause" option.

Drug Courts as the Modern Panopticon

Drug Courts as the Modern Panopticon by Corey Colyer

ABSTRACT:

"Contemporary drug courts merge the therapeutic resources of the human services sector with the coercive power of the State. While these programs help drug using offenders enter treatment for drug addiction, they also serve in a control capacity. Drug courts are disciplinary institutions; the modern day equivalent of Bentham’s Panopticon. By sharing information across agency boundaries, subjecting program participants to frequent examinations, and reinforcing self-regulatory behavior, drug courts embody the disciplinary ideal. This paper draws on two years of field research in a drug court program to outline the ways in which Drug Courts have become the modern Panopticon."

Medicalization and Social Control

Conrad, Peter. "Medicalization and Social Control". Annual Review of Sociology. Vol 18. 1992. pg. 209-232.


I have been thinking lately about the way medicalization relates to social control. In this article Conrad defines "medicalization" as "a process by which nonmedical problems become defned and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illnesses or disorders" (Conrad, pg. 209). This article goes on to describe the way medicalization connects with ideas about social control we have learned in this course. He describes studies about medicalization and social control over the last 30 years. He describes the issues of "the emergence, definition, contexts, process, degree, range, consequences, critiques, and future of medicalization and demedicalization" (Conrad, pg. 209).

Play the Prisoner's Dilema Game!

Bryn Mayr College has a website where you can actually play a mini-prisoner's dilema game, it is similar to the game theory exercises we did in class (like the stop/go game).

Each turn, the player and the computer each must choose whether to "compete" or "cooperate" with each other. Each chooses without knowing what the other party will choose. If both choose to cooperate each get 3 "gold coins." If one says to cooperate and the other says compete, then the one who chose compete gets 5 gold coins and the looser gets none. If both say compete each player gets one coin.

After playing this many times, it seems the computer has been programed so that if I choose cooperate the first time, so does the computer, and as long as I continue to select cooperate, so does the computer, so we both just keep getting coins until the program announces a tie. But if I select compete at any point, the computer starts selecting compete sometimes too.

Stanford Game Theory Site

I found great resource on Game Theory which we have been discussing in class. This website clearly describes game theory, and links game theory to discussions by earlier philosophers.

The Pandemic is Here!

We did an exercise about this in class.... here is the real thing! It's interesting how many of the ideas are similar to the ideas we came up with in lass (for example, quarantining sick students in separate rooms and bringing them food)

"Dear Mills Students,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to address your concerns in terms of pandemic flu on the Mills campus and to inform you of the policies and plans Mills has in place. The College’s aim is to support students who have flu symptoms and to protect the health and safety of the Mills community.

We are asking that any students with flu symptoms stay home and seek medical advice. Flu symptoms may include fever, body aches, headache, coughing, sore throat, chills, and fatigue.

All students with flu-like symptoms should call the Kaiser 24-hour Advice Nurse line at 877-645-5757. They will assess whether or not you need to be seen at the Student Health Center or another facility if during the evening/weekend. (All students, whether a Kaiser member or not, can get a medical record number by calling 800-464-4000. You must have a medical record number when calling the advice line.)

If a medical professional advises a student to isolate due to illness, the following steps should be taken:

A. Commuter students should remain home and not return to Mills campus until they are free of fever for 24 hours without taking fever reducer.

B. Residential students who can stay with family or friends near campus should stay with family/friends and not return to Mills campus until they are free of fever for 24 hours without taking fever reducer.

Commuter and residential students who can stay with family or friends should call the Division of Student Life (DSL) at 430-2130 to speak with one of the following DSL staff members, or send email to deanofstudents@mills.edu to request that a Letter of Consideration be sent to your faculty/campus employer stating that you will not be in class until you are able: Kennedy Golden, Associate Dean of Students (kennedyg@mills.edu), Kim Baranek, Director of Wellness of Community Outreach (kbaranek@mills.edu), or Joi Lewis, Dean of Student Life and Vice Provost (deanofstudents@mills.edu).

C. C. Residential students who need to stay on campus should contact their RA, RD, or one of the following Division of Student Life Staff by calling 430-2130: Kim Baranek, Director of Wellness of Community Outreach (kbaranek@mills.edu), Monique Young, Director of Residential Life (myoung@mills.edu), Dr. Joi Lewis, Dean of Student Life and Vice Provost (deanofstudents@mills.edu). Responding staff will assist residential students in relocating to a room in a residence hall designated for care of sick students. It is recommended by medical professionals that sick students isolate from the general community. Students will need to stay in this room until they are free of fever for 24 hours without taking fever reducer. A Letter of Consideration will be sent to your faculty/campus employer stating that you will not be in class until you are able.

Residential students who need to stay on campus will be provided with the following by Mills College:

-a room designated specifically for a sick student

- transportation to the designated room

-delivery of three meals per day; consisting of foods recommended for people with flu symptoms

-a care basket containing: thermometer, Tylenol, masks, tissue, cough drops, toiletries

-24 hour support from the Residence Director (RD) on duty

Students who are not ill themselves, but who have concerns about friends or roommates should contact DSL at 430-2130 to get advice about how to assist their fellow students and how to also attempt to prevent themselves from becoming ill. It is important that sick students be assessed by medical professionals and not try to self medicate or hope that it will just pass. Hopefully every member of the Mills community who becomes ill will fully and easily recover; however, this flu season is unlike flu seasons we have experienced and erring on the side of safety regarding illness is strongly suggested.

Faculty and campus employers have been advised to send ill students home.

Information about receiving an H1N1 vaccination will be sent via Student Notice email as soon as more vaccine (shot form) becomes available. The seasonal flu shot vaccination can be received at the Student Health Center at CPM 117 by making an appointment or walking into the Health Center. Once a person is experiencing symptoms of the flu, the vaccine will not be administered until the student is well."

See Something, Say Something!

An announcement in today's college student news...

"See Something, Say Something

In order to maintain a safe and secure environment for the students, faculty and staff of Mills College, the Department of Public Safety needs your help! Our "See Something, Say Something" campaign enlists students, staff, faculty and the Mills community to report any suspicious behavior.

We can all help prevent crime by being aware of our surroundings and the behaviors of others. If you see something, say something. If you are on campus, alert a campus safety staff member or college official. If you are off campus, alert the local police department.

Report anyone behaving suspiciously:

* Someone shouting "HELP" or "FIRE";

* Someone unfamiliar to you loitering on campus grounds or near pedestrian entrances to campus and that person doesn't appear to have any legitimate purpose for being there;

* Anyone forcibly breaking into and entering a car.

* Anyone carrying a weapon.

* Someone behaving in a way that makes you uneasy or nervous.



Follow these steps when contacting security, law enforcement and medical service providers:

* Remain calm.

* Dial 911 from any home, business, or pay phone. From a Cell Phone dial the Oakland Police Department ( OPD) at (510) 777-3211. The Oakland Police Department Non-Emergency Number is (510) 777-3333.

* Notify Public Safety or your 911 call. (510-430-5555)

* Identify yourself (name, address, and phone number) and give your location.

* Describe what is happening or what you saw happen.

* If there is a suspect or vehicle involved, provide the police dispatcher with a detailed description and the direction the suspect/vehicle is travelling in."

A Note About This File Check

I had planned to just turn in my file for this file check as a word document, instead of continuing with a blog. I had a change of heart, and decided to stick with the blog, mostly because it's so useful to be able to insert links to the websites the file entries refer to. I just copy/pasted the entries from the word document into this blog, but now the dates of all the entries are off (all dated 10/16). From now on I'll just be posting into the blog directly.

Piano Stairs and The World's Deepest Bin

Here is a youtube video from the thefuntheory.com. It shows a creative way of getting people to take the stairs instead of the escalator.

There is a similar one abut a way someone tries to get people to throw away trash.

These are both fun, and they get you thinking about ways to "get people to do things" in creative ways.

Mandatory Flu Vaccination Splits Workers

Mandatory Flu Vaccination Splits Workers by Delthia Ricks

There have been a bunch of stories in the news lately, like this one, about mandatory immunizations for health care workers. Right now New York is the only state to require the vaccines. Some argue vaccines should be mandatory to help protect individual health care workers and society as a whole from the spread of H1N1. Others say this is an encroachment on civil liberties and express concern over the safety of the vaccine.

The Basic Rules of Cellphone Etiquette

The Basic Rules of Cellphone Etiquette by Denise McCluggage

This article lays out rules of cellphone etiquette and makes suggestions. For example, the section about cell phone use in restaurants says:

• "Ask if there are special restrictions on phone use.

• Initiate only essential calls.

• Keep conversations brief to terse. Use an at-table call primarily to make an appointment for a more appropriate time for a call-back.

• If you simply must be available you can put your phone on "vibrate" - say for your anticipated dinner companion to tell you that he is caught in traffic like a grape in aspic so have another drink. (If your phone does not have a vibrate capability maybe it's time for a new one.)

• Practice speaking in a quiet conversational tone. If no one looks your way I think you've got it."

These suggestions seem ridiculous, especially when spelled out like this. Maybe because there are such social norms these rules seem to go without saying?

MIss Manners

I was reading Miss Manners' etiquette articles like this one. When I was growing up my mom used to tape her column to the fridge. It's interesting to look at Miss Manners (and etiquette experts in general) through the lens of social norms and social control. It is as though she is an expert in what social norms are, or what they should be.

Facebook Etiquette

There are lots of groups on Facebook which discuss proper behavior on this social networkng site-- Facebok etiquette. One group, called "Facebook Etiquette" has over 1500 members. Te group's statement explains that "every member of facebook has a duty to be the best online citizen they can be".

It lays out rules including:

2) This picture should actually look like you. Using a picture in which you appear significantly more attractive than you actually are creates confusion and disappointment.

5) Why are you smoking/drinking in your picture? It doesn't make you look cool. Also, your beverage or that plume of smoke is probably blocking your face.

6) You must have some kind of legitimate network. If you have never in your life been affiliated with any school, employer, or region of the world, question your own existence.

9) Confirm all friend requests from your school, even if you have no idea who the person requesting your friendship is.

12) Don't edit your own wall, it makes you look like a loser.

13) Fake relationships can be confusing for those not in on the joke. Make sure your interested in status does not match your fake relationship.

14) Don’t over-poke. Poking is the lowest form of facebook communication. Poking an actual friend once can be a nice thinking of you but poking a stranger ten times is not ok. If you’re trying to flirt, suck it up and send a message.


Its interesting how upset people seem to get about this. For instance, one woman posts on the group page:

"hi to you all..this is my gripe...facebookers who do not reply...i post something on a wall...& i get no reply..if i say "hi" to that person in the street...they wouldn't walk straight past without answering...would they??.."

This is another example of social norms developing along with new technology.

Addiction: From Biology to Drug Policy by Avram Goldstein

The Search for Rational Drug Policy Informed by Advances in Neurobiology:

A Review of Addiction: From Biology to Drug Policy by Avram Goldstein

In his book, Addiction: From Biology to Drug Policy, addiction scientist Avram Goldstein lays out the biology behind addiction and uses this biology to make suggestions for what he considers rational drug policy in the United States. According to Goldstein, in his 25 years of “laboratory and clinical research and teaching about the addictive drugs” he witnessed an enormous gap “between our growing scientific knowledge and the ever more heated debates about drug policy” (Goldstein, vii). Goldstein’s book is an attempt to bridge this gap—to make suggestions about drug policy based on science. He first published this book in 1993 at a time when significant advances in neurobiology were helping scientists better understand how addictive drugs affect the brain. He published a second edition in 2000 with updated scientific information. Goldstein’s book seeks to use this new scientific knowledge about drug addiction to inform rational drug policies.

Goldstein divides his book into three parts: “Drugs and the Brain,” “The Drugs and the Addicts,” and “Drugs and Society”. In the first two sections Goldstein explains in detail the biology of addiction. In the third section he uses this scientific knowledge to discuss current drug policy and make suggestions for more rational drug policy.

In the first and second sections of the book, Goldstein is highly technical in his discussions of the neurobiology behind addiction. He begins by explaining the way molecular biology helps neurobiologists study addictive drugs. According to Goldstein, “addiction is a behavior, and all human behavior has a biologic basis in the workings of the brain” (Goldstein, 20). Science is beginning to be able to explain this biologic basis. It is important to understand that addiction has this basis in neurobiology. Goldstein discusses research that explains the way addictive drugs alter brain chemistry, and, in turn, how the brain adapts to those changes in brain chemistry. Scientists have used various methods of direct experiments to understand “how the neurochemical effects of the drugs cause changes of mood and behavior—changes that lead to compulsive drug use” (Goldstein, 53).

Goldstein also introduces the ideas of tolerance and sensitization—how for most addictive drugs, the addicted person develops an increased tolerance and becomes desensitized to the drug over time, requiring the addict to use more of the drug and more frequently in order to achieve the same effect. In the brain, there are two different types of tolerance: metabolic and cellular. Goldstein explains that “tolerance is very important because of the problems it creates for the untreated addict and society” (Goldstein, 90). When people are addicted to a drug and their tolerance to the drug increases, they need greater quantities of the drug. This is often what leads many addicted people into crime and has other negative effects on society as a whole. Goldstein also identifies seven different types of addictive drugs: nicotine; alcohol and related drugs; heroin, morphine and other opiates; cocaine and amphetamines; cannabis; caffeine; and hallucinogens. He details the specific neurobiology behind each of these seven drug types.

In the third section of his book, “Drugs and Society,” Goldstein discusses the impact addictive drugs have on society, evaluates responses to drug addiction in the United States and abroad, and makes suggestions for rational drug policy in the United States. Goldstein beings this section with the chapter “Prevention: Just Say No?” in which he describes use of addictive drugs by children and the effect of that use on society. Because most people first use addictive drugs as children, preventative efforts have to target people beginning at a young age. He explains that “the degree of social deviance represented by first use” depends on the drug and the culture (Goldstein, 236). For instance, a middle school student trying a cigarette for the first time in the United States is fairly common and is not especially deviant. However, first use of a drug such as cocaine or heroin at an early age is more rare because “first use of these drugs requires a high degree of deviance” and the illicit status of these drugs “forces the first-time user into criminal behavior at the outset” (Goldstein, 237). Goldstein explains that “behavior is shaped in a social context” and therefore preventative measures (which keep children from experimenting with drugs in the first place) must involve the whole community (Goldstein, 240).

In the next chapter, “Treating Addiction, Preventing Relapse,” Goldstein describes the wide range of drug treatment options available. According to Goldstein, drug treatment is not only effective, but it is cost-effective for society as a whole compared to no treatment or incarceration. Goldstein argues, “every addict in jail or prison should be treated, to reduce the likelihood of relapse after release” (Goldstein, 260). He also suggests the possibility of science developing some sort of “pharmacological agent to block the rapid progression from craving to relapse” (Goldstein, 260).

In the following chapter, “Three Lessons From the Street,” Goldstein calls for policies that minimize the harm “street addicts” cause to themselves and society as a whole. Three types of harm he discusses in detail include crime, social stigma that impedes treatment, and the spread of AIDS. He argues for policies that balance the rights of society as a whole with humane treatment of the addicts themselves.

The next chapter, “Three Lessons from Abroad” evaluates policies from Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Based on these examples, Goldstein concludes that what is needed are “pragmatic harm-reduction policies based on the disease concept of drug addiction” (Goldstein, 291). This disease concept is grounded in the biology he has laid out in the beginning of the book. He claims that society has a right to be protected from addicts, but also an obligation to provide services.

In the following chapter, “Prohibition vs. Legalization—A False Dichotomy,” Goldstein explains that the solution to current drug problems lies in reducing supply as well as demand. He explains how these ideas are “not mutually exclusive alternatives,” rather, “both strategies have the same goal, to reduce the total consumption of addictive drugs” (Goldstein, 294). He admits that both supply reduction strategies have a social cost. According to Goldstein, the ultimate goal of drug policy should be to “achieve the greatest degree of harm reduction by means of the least necessary degree of regulation” (Goldstein, 305).

In the final chapter, “New Strategies for Rational Drug Policies,” Goldstein offers concrete policy guidelines which are as follows: “consider drug addiction to be primarily a public health problem”; “make demand reduction the primary strategy”; “address the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases by intravenous drug users”; “address the problem of fetal damage caused by addictive drugs”; “enact and implement laws that support social norms”; “consider actual crime—whether or not drug related—to be a law enforcement problem”; and “increase funding for basic and applied research” (Goldstein, 308-315).

Goldstein’s book addresses many important sociological concepts related to social control. For instance, he addresses the way regulations and social norms influence each other. He describes how “regulations can promote attitudinal change, and how attitudinal change, in turn, can make ever tougher regulations more acceptable” (Goldstein, 313). Laws can reinforce social norms and those social norms in turn make the laws acceptable. He also addresses the sociological idea of claims-making and the way scientific claims have lead to changes in social norms. He uses the example of smoking and the way biomedical science and education about smoking by claims-makers changed the way society viewed smoking.

Goldstein’s book stresses the importance of society and social norms as they relate to drug use. Society makes artificial distinctions between addictive drugs, and these distinctions do have tremendous importance. Drugs which are considered not, or less, socially deviant (such as caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol) are far more widely used than illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin which are regarded as socially deviant.

Goldstein’s book also addresses the sociological importance of historical context. For example, he discusses how in the nineteenth century drug addiction was seen as a disease affecting mainly middle class women who deserved sympathy. After the temperance movement at the beginning of the twentieth century drug use started to spread to “inner-city populations, to lower socio-economic classes, and to ethnic minorities” and this “demographic change” changed the public perception from the disease model to the idea of drug addiction as character defect and drugs as a force threatening society (Goldstein, 275).

Overall, Goldstein accomplishes what he set out to do—he offers compelling arguments for rational drug policy based on decades of research about the science of drug addiction. Goldstein has made an important contribution to debates on drug policy—one that advocates scientific knowledge as the basis for reformed drug policy in the United States.

Teenage Wasteland

Here's short (and not at all academic) review of the book Teenage Wasteland by Donna GainIes.
I've been reading reviews of this book, which was one of the other options for the book review project. This entry is mostly a reminder to myself to read this book!

Cumpulsive Texting Pushes Friend's Buttons

Here is a Miss Maners column on cell phone etiquette (which relates to our group project):

"Cumplusive Texting Pushes Friend's Buttons"

Top 10 Cell Phone Rules

TOP TEN CELL PHONE ETIQUETTE RULES PEOPLE STILL BREAK

This is a mobile commando's article about the unwritten rules about cell phone use. The social rules people break are:
1. Talking too loudly
2. Holding inappropriate conversations in public
3. Rudely interrupting conversations
4. Checking your phone at the movies
5. Texting while driving
6. Texting while talking
7. Texting small talk
8. Loud and annoying ring tones
9. Disturbing live performances
10. Location, location, location

What is especially interesting about this article is not the article itself, but the comments people have made about it. For instance, one person writes:

"Yes for number 10! As someone who works at a coffee shop, I cannot express how rude it is when someone refuses to drop the phone for the 10 seconds it takes to make an order and makes me wait for them to finish talking..."

There is a lot of discussion like this. Clearly, there is general consensus about cell phone etiquette. This relates to what we have talked about in class about social norms.

Frantz Fanon

In class the professor told us that if we are graduating with a degree in sociology, or a college degree at all, we should be familiar with Frantz Fanon. I wasn't, so I looked him up.

Emory University has a great page that breaks down some of Fanon's works.

Black Skin, White Masks.

"Fanon's personal experience as a black intellectual in a whitened world and elaborates the ways in which the colonizer/colonized relationship is normalized as psychology . . . Fanon inflects his medical and psychological practice with the understanding that racism generates harmful psychological constructs that both blind the black man to his subjection to a universalized white norm and alienate his consciousness. A racist culture prohibits psychological health in the black man" (english.emory.edu/Bahri/Fanon.html).

"Fanon insists, however, that the category "white" depends for its stability on its negation, 'black.' Neither exists without the other, and both come into being at the moment of imperial conquest" (english.emory.edu/Bahri/Fanon.html).

The Wretched of the Earth

"In The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon develops the Manichean perspective implicit in BSWM. To overcome the binary system in which black is bad and white is good, Fanon argues that an entirely new world must come into being. This utopian desire, to be absolutely free of the past, requires total revolution, "absolute violence" (37). Violence purifies, destroying not only the category of white, but that of black too. According to Fanon, true revolution in Africa can only come from the peasants, or "fellaheen." Putting peasants at the vanguard of the revolution reveals the influence of the FLN, who based their operations in the countryside, on Fanon's thinking. Furthermore, this emphasis on the rural underclass highlights Fanon's disgust with the greed and politicking of the comprador bourgeoisie in new African nations. The brand of nationalism espoused by these classes, and even by the urban proletariat, is insufficient for total revolution because such classes benefit from the economic structures of imperialism. Fanon claims that non-agrarian revolutions end when urban classes consolidate their own power, without remaking the entire system" (english.emory.edu/Bahri/Fanon.html).

Bentham and Utilitarianism

In class today we touched on Bentham and his concept of utilitarianism. I studied Bentham in my Philosophy course on ethics, but I needed a brief refresher. Here are some resources:

1. Online Guide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy

2. Changing Minds

You Are Being Watched

The ACLU has a great website against video surveillance, http://youarebeingwatched.us/

The site addresses video surveillance as an infringement on civil liberties. There are tons of resources on here including stories of incidents related to video surveillance and statistics on the effectiveness of surveillance. One of the features is a map of surveillance hotspots.

Video Surveliance in San Francisco

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4990088&ps=rs

This NPR news story on "All Things Considered" relates to Foucault's concept of panopticism. The story talks about so-called "public surveillance cameras" which were installed in San Francisco. The point of the cameras is to discourage crime, and some claim they are effective. The aim is clearly to achieve social control because people know they are being monitored. In this case, quite literally.

Cameras Catch Kiss

Cameras catch kiss, raising questions by Brent Campaco

There is an article on video surveillance in a high school. This school has 16 cameras inside as well as outside. In an age where video surveillance in high schools (and in general) is common practice, the controversy is how the cameras are being used.

The school showed a video of a female student holding hands and kissing another female student to the student's parents. The student complained to the school district who determined the security guard who showed the parents the footage "didn't violate policy".

The cameras have reportedly been used for other issues not related to security, such as to discipline a student who left a trash on a lunch table.

The cameras are clearly not being used just for security; they are being used for social control.

"The Red Cross Torture Report: What it Means" by Mark Danner

(notes from class discussion)


This article is not really about torture itself, but focuses on the politics of torture. Torture has become a political game abut who can protect Americans. Danner makes the point that we throw out our laws whenever we feel like it.

Danner discusses what is going on at a political level, the "logic" of the political conversation is as follows:

There are terrorists who want to attack us.
If we could find out their plans we could stop them.
With torture we can find out their plans.
Therefore, we should torture.

Why would America not want to torture?
-Hypocritical, against what we say/thing we are about
-Is it even effective?

The Medieval Torture Museum

In case Foucault's descriptions of torture wern't graphic enough...

There is a "Historical Torture Museum"

At this exhibit you can learn all about the type of tortue Foucault describes.

In the decription of the exhibit, the museum addresses Foucault's ideas about torture of the body as well as the soul. The article says "Our commitment, which we share with all who are interested in combating violence, torture, and capital punishment against living beings, is to show how throughout the centuries human beings have been tortured, both in body and soul, in the name of the truth, its only justification often being submission to the authorities. All over the world, in the past and in the present, torture has been practiced both against the body and the mind of the victim" (torture museum.com)

This site also has a listing of events, many of which focus on contemporary instances of torture.

Foucault, Part One: Torture

Damiens (regicide) 1757 --> Faucher 1837

Between these two times was the enlightenment:
logic over belief
science over tradition
education increased
religion pushed aside, etc.
Isaac Newton said with math you can know the mind of God
equality
Adam Smith- "Wealth of Nations" 1776
Jeremy Bentham- theory of utilitarianism
rise of rationalism= calculability of everything
move from monarchy to democracy

Correlative History:
Body --> Soul
Damiens --> Faucher
Torture --> Timetable

All these were the same manifestations in the way the culture thinks about power and control.

Leper --> Plague
Separation --> Segmentation
Mark --> Analysis of distribution
Pure community --> Disciplined society

The general thesis is that this looks like progressive humanization but it is not. It is the process by which power makes itself less and less obtrusive.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!

This will be a file for my Social Control of Deviant Behavior class at Mills College.