Suchergebnisse

The allegation that punishment is a core element of culture does not seem to explain the rapid changes in attitudes towards the death penalty seen in most modern societies during the last few decades. Attitudes of harshness and death in punishment are much more easily changed than proponents of the "cultural" explanation think. The misunderstandings about China (often held by Chinese themselves) are that a long tradition of harsh punishment has made such values into an unavoidable cultural norm. China, however, is not exceptional in harbouring penal populist norms as such, and Chinese history was much more lenient and merciful than assumed in these simplified arguments about "Chinese cultural harshness". Even if China today is exceptional in the uses of harsh punishments and executes more people than the rest of the world combined, there is no need to see this fact in terms of Chinese culture. China can use its own traditions to end this situation effectively in a fairly short period of time if there is the political will to do so. Given such political will, public opinion will follow suit. © 2010 The Author(s). ; published_or_final_version ; Springer Open Choice, 21 Feb 2012

Session I ; Conrad and Schneider's now classical work on the historical transformation of definitions of deviance from 'badness' to 'sickness' is relevant for the situation in China today, although with some modifications. The weakly founded medical/psychiatric profession and the strong political/ideological discourse in China leads to a strange combination of medicalization and moralization, even criminalization. The 'sick' are often equated with the 'bad,' and 'sickness' is seen as a secondary sign of 'badness.' The pan-moralist tradition of ancient China seems to be closely combined with the Communist era's strong belief in political-ideological correctness, and its strong belief in social engineering. My previous research on crime and deviance in China in the 1980s and 1990s seems to be confirmed by today's discourse, although there are new moral panics and new forms of medical-moralistic definitions of deviance in contemporary China. Still, the categories of deviance are very much socially constructed entities closely related to the moral-political order of present day China. In this paper, I will use three cases to underline my argument. First, the type of deviance I call 'majority deviance,' related to the case of the prejudice and dangers associated with the only-child. My second example has to do with what I term the 'wayward girl' and the moral panics concerning so-called zaolian – or 'premature love' among young girls. The third example is the new panic surrounding 'internet addiction disorder' or IAD. While the 'disco' and the 'dance hall' were the sites of disorder in the 1980s and 90s, the wangba – or 'internet bar' – is now seen as the most dangerous site of crime and deviance. ; postprint ; The International Conference on Disease and Crime: Social Pathologies and the New Politics of Health, Hong Kong, China, 18-19 April 2011.

亞洲犯罪學學會 ; Conference Theme: Asian Innovations in Criminology and Criminal Justice ; Part 5: Juvenile Delinquency and Justice ; Conrad and Schneider's now classical work on the historical transformation of definitions of deviance from "badness" to "sickness" is relevant for the situation in China today, although with some modifications. The weakly founded medical/psychiatric profession and the strong political/ideological discourse in China leads to a strange combination of medicalization and moralization, even criminalization of deviance. The "sick" is often combined with the "bad", and "sickness" is often seen as a secondary sign of "badness". The pan-moralist tradition of ancient China seems to be closely combined with the Communist era's strong belief in political-ideological correctness, and its strong belief in social engineering. It is interesting to note that my research on crime and deviance in China in the 1980s and 1990s seems to be confirmed by today's discourse, although there are new moral panics and new forms of medical-moralistic definitions of deviance in China today. Still, the categories of deviance are very much socially constructed entities closely related to the moral-political order of present day China. I will use three cases to underline my argument. First, the type of deviance I call "majority deviance", related to the case of the prejudice and dangers associated with the only-child. My second example has to do with what I term the "wayward girl" and the moral panics concerning so-called zaolian – or "premature love" among young girls. The third example is the new panic surrounding "internet addiction disorder" or IAD. While the "disco" and the "dance hall" were the sites of disorder in the 1980s and 90s, the wangba – or "internet bar" is now seen as the most dangerous site of crime and deviance. ; postprint