Justice and Authority: American Style
Seminar Leader: Paul D. Steele,
Department of Sociology
Seminar Description:
Our goal was to link literary/biographical and social science knowledge with personal
experiences to explore issues of authority, justice and fair play. Daily, we all use, observe and are affected by the
use of authority. When people use authority
in a way that is consistent with our own beliefs and the principles of legitimate groups,
we feel that justice has been done. But when
our values have been violated by the actions of authority figures, we feel that an
injustice has occurred. “Playing fair”
is a particularly difficult task in a society as complex and diverse as ours: participants
will gain insight into the challenges and consequences of using power in a just manner. We discussed attempts to maintain individual
rights while at the same time ensuring public welfare, how our notions of justice and fair
play have developed over time, why some people relate better to authority than others, and
the way in which we legitimate agencies to wield power over others. We drew insights from diverse settings in which
authority is exercised, discussed efforts to control criminals, respond to drug use,
provide equal treatment of ethnic and other minority groups, deal with poverty, and
prepare youth to become productive adults. We
considered the justice challenges presented by the events of September 11, 2001, but also
considered how justice and authority has been redefined in America and the Southwest over
time.
Seminar Texts:
Not Fair! The Typology of Commonsense
Unfairness Norman J. Finkle, 2001
The Lost Art
of Drawing the Line: How Fairness Went Too Far. Phillip K. Howard, 2001
The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America. Katherine Beckett and Theodore
Sasson, 2000
Tom and Huck Don’t
Live Here Anymore. Ron Powers, 2001
King Kong on 4th
Street: Families and the Violence of Poverty on the Lower East Side. Jagna
Wojcicka Sharff,
1998
About the seminar
leader:
Dr. Paul D. Steele is an Associate Professor of Sociology, Senior Associate of the
Institute for Social Research, and Director of the New Mexico Criminal Justice Statistical
Analysis Center, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Cornell University. He is currently involved in research supported by
the United States Department of Justice (National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Victims of Crime, Bureau of Justice
Statistics), the United States Department of Health and Human Services (the Center for
Substance Abuse Prevention, and Office of Child Abuse and Neglect), the Justice Research
and Statistics Association, and the National Children’s Advocacy Center.