NCJ Number
17886
Date Published
1973
Length
49 pages
Annotation
A LOOK AT THE SOURCES OF THE IDEAS OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND CIVIL DEVIANCE, TRACING THEIR DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TIME.
Abstract
THE AUTHOR IDENTIFIES SEVERAL MODES OF JUSTIFYING DISOBEDIENCE. THE FIRST AND HISTORICALLY DOMINANT MODE IS THAT OF LIBERALISM, WHICH HAS TWO MORE OR LESS DISTINGUISHABLE STRANDS: AN OLDER ONE DERIVING FROM NATURAL LAW, AND ASSOCIATED PREEMINENTLY WITH LOCKE AND LATER WITH JEFFERSON; AND A MORE RECENT ONE DERIVING FROM UTILITARIANISM AND ASSOCIATED WITH MADISON, PALEY, AND MANY LATTER-DAY LIBERALS. THE AUTHOR SKETCHES THE CONTOURS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE RATIONALES FOR POLITICAL RESISTANCE. THIS IS FOLLOWED BY A MORE DETAILED EXAMINATION OF A SECOND, SUBDOMINANT MODE OF JUSTIFYING DISOBEDIENCE; THAT OF THOREAUVIAN RADICALISM. THE FINAL PORTION OF THE ESSAY EXAMINES A NEWER MODE OF JUSTIFYING DISOBEDIENCE: THE SOCIOLOGY OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR, WHICH VIEWS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AS A TYPE OF POTENTIALLY 'FUNCTIONAL' SOCIAL 'DEVIANCE.' (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)