Suchergebnisse

The philosophy of pragmatism is often cited as the source of the theoretical underpinnings of the contemporary policy sciences. However, an examination of the work of John Dewey reveals that pragmatism is incompatible with the conception of knowledge that now prevails in these sciences as well as the relationship currently established between this form of inquiry & the state. Fidelity to pragmatism requires a fundamental reconceptualization of the practice of social science & a reconsideration of the organization of knowledge & power in a democratic society. 43 References. HA

The social & political philosophy of John Dewey is not idiosyncratically American in character. It appeals to the rationality of science in order to compensate for the failure of the liberal tradition of politics to specify adequately the grounds of membership within a political community. As such it perpetuates a branch of that tradition whose origins are found in the works of Thomas Hobbes & whose recent expositors have been Max Weber & Emile Durkheim. Examined is the contradiction between the political education required to transform scientific knowledge into a public possession, & the kind of community within which, according to Dewey, citizens are first to learn the distinctively political virtues. 47 References. Modified HA.

Since 1976, over forty percent of prisoners executed in American jails have been African American or Hispanic. This trend shows little evidence of diminishing, and follows a larger pattern of the violent criminalization of African American populations that has marked the country's history of punishment.In a bold attempt to tackle the looming question of how and why the connection between race and the death penalty has been so strong throughout American history, Ogletree and Sarat headline an interdisciplinary cast of experts in reflecting on this disturbing issue. Insightful original essays approach the topic from legal, historical, cultural, and social science perspectives to show the ways that the death penalty is racialized, the places in the death penalty process where race makes a difference, and the ways that meanings of race in the United States are constructed in and through our practices of capital punishment.From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State not only uncovers the ways that race influences capital punishment, but also attempts to situate the linkage between race and the death penalty in the history of this country, in particular the history of lynching. In its probing examination of how and why the connection between race and the death penalty has been so strong throughout American history, this book forces us to consider how the death penalty gives meaning to race as well as why the racialization of the death penalty is uniquely American