Law – A Social Mechanism for Control

Plato’s Crito

Noam Chomsky’s Drug Policy as Social Control

Questions, Assignment, and Sample Paper

By Andrew Gottlieb

1

Contents

The Goal of this Handout……………………………………………………...2

Conversation Questions..............................……..…….…….…….…..….……3

Citations………………..…………………………………………………...….4

Conclusions from the Readings…………………………………………….…..5

Writing Assignments………………………………………………………...…6

Outline for the SAMPLE PAPER: Law – A Social Mechanism for Control…7

Research..…………………………………………………………………….…8

Specifications for Writing Assignments………………………….….…..…...…9

Sample Paper……………………………………..………………………..…...11

2

The Goal of this Handout

The goal of this handout is to help students write thoughtful and compelling essays.

Rather than simply summarize, paraphrase, and interpret texts, they will be encouraged to focus

on a central idea which precedes and takes precedence over purely textual analysis. The idea is

to instill in students a passion for reflection and exploration. As independent thinkers, they will

be encouraged to write with their own voice, making use of whatever insights they have gained

not only through reading but through their own personal experiences as well.

The two texts which have been provided to help students think and write about the topic

of law as a social mechanism for control are Plato’s Crito and Noam Chomsky’s Drug Policy

as Social Control. It is important to keep in mind that though comparisons of these two texts

may be part of the writing process, the essay is not expected to be a comparison-contrast essay.

The two texts are to be treated as sources used to support whatever stance the writer chooses to

articulate. It is in this respect that students will be motivated not to mimic the ideas of the

writers whose work they have read, but rather to weave the threads of their newfound knowledge

into a framework of their own unique conception.

Socrates believed that we come into this world with certain knowledge and that learning

is a way of recollecting what we already know. It will be in the spirit of Socrates’ Theory of

Recollection that the class will be conducted. Students are not empty vessels waiting to be filled

but rather rich repositories of insight and understanding. They are seekers striving to build

bridges between their inner world and the worlds outside the realm of their usual plane of

reflection and experience. It is the hope of this instructor that the writing of his students will be

filled with a passion for contemplation and a love of discovery.

3

Conversation Questions:

Before writing the essay, let us explore a few questions relating to our theme of law as a social

mechanism for control. You may answer these by utilizing references from Plato’s Crito,

Noam Chomsky’s Drug Policy as Social Control along with whatever insights you have gained

from other texts, videos, and your own experiences and observations. You may find it useful to

make use of the citations and explanations on pages 4 and 5 of this handout.

1. Who makes laws and how are they made?

2. How has law been used as a means for social control? More specifically, what laws have

been passed with the intention favoring certain people and oppressing others?

3. Is it ever ethical to disobey the law? Do you think civil disobedience is acceptable?

Refer to historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and

Martin Luther King to support your view.

4

Consider the following citation from Plato’s Crito.

“But he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the State,

and still remains, has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. And

he who disobeys us is, as we maintain, thrice wrong: first, because in disobeying us he is

disobeying his parents; secondly, because we are the authors of his education; thirdly, because

he has made an agreement with us that he will duly obey our commands” (9).

“And because we think right to destroy you, do you think that you have any right to destroy us in

return, and your country as far as in you lies? And will you, O professor of true virtue, say that

you are justified in this” (9)?

Consider the following citations from Noam Chomsky’s

Drug Policy as Social Control.

“You have to get rid of the superfluous people, and you have to control the ones who are

suffering. How do you control them? One of the best ways of controlling them is by increasing

fear, and hatred, and making them hate each other and fear the superfluous people. That's the

way it's done everywhere, and it’s happening in the United States. That's where the drug war fits

in” (1).

“Every Third World society has the same structure, and that structure is now being imposed on

the United States”(1).

“The drug war is basically a technique for controlling dangerous populations internal to the

country and doesn’t’s have much to do with drugs” (1).

“When alcohol prohibitions was instituted in the United States, the purpose was to close the

saloons in New York City where immigrants and working class people came, but nobody

stopped anyone from drinking in the rich suburbs. In the case of marijuana the marijuana

legislation introduced right after prohibition ended stared in the border states but is was aimed at

Mexicans” (2).

“When alcohol prohibitions was instituted in the United States, the purpose was to close the

saloons in New York City where immigrants and working class people came, but nobody

stopped anyone from drinking in the rich suburbs. In the case of marijuana the marijuana

legislation introduced right after prohibition ended stared in the border states but is was aimed at

Mexicans” (2).

“The so-called drug war was started in the 1980’s and it was aimed directly at the black

population.. None of this has anything to do with drugs. It has to do with controlling and

criminalizing dangerous populations” (2).

5

Conclusions from the Readings

Socrates believes the following:

1. There is an “implied contract,” an unspoken, unwritten, yet binding agreement between

a citizen and the state, and that a citizen who disobeys the state is wrong.

2. The state is the protector and benefactor of its citizens.

3. Even if the state does harm to a citizen, the citizen has no right to retaliate.

Chomsky believes the following:

1. The state passes laws that are designed to promote the financial interests of

the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

2. The state is not the protector of the people. In much that it does, it is the enemy

of many of its citizens.

3. The state passes legislation that masquerades as one thing when it is really another.

6

Writing Assignment:

Throughout history, legal institutions have been used to oppress those who are seen as

a threat to those in positions of power. As such, law has been used as a means of securing and

augmenting the power of the ruling class. How and why has law been used as a social

mechanism for social control? Answer this question in your essay by utilizing references from

Plato’s Crito, Noam Chomsky’s Drug Policy as Social Control along with whatever insights you

have gained from other texts, videos and your own experiences and observations.

Write a thesis-centered essay not less than three double-spaced pages long. Be sure each

essay addresses all parts of the question and follows the specification on pages 6-7 of this

handout. For guidance, look at the outline on page 6 and at the SAMPLE PAPER on page 10

of this handout.

How Essays Will Be Graded

The topic of the assigned essay is law as a social mechanism for control. The thesis

statement used in the SAMPLE ESSAY on page 10 of this handout is: Law has often been

used not as a means of insuring that justice is served but as a social mechanism for control. All arguments in the essay will be evaluated in part according to the degree that they are thesis-

centered, meaning that the instructor will grade papers in part on the basis of how well the

arguments support the thesis statement. Other considerations will be coherence, organization,

and general proficiency with the language which includes the ability to write grammatically

correct sentences.

7

Outline for the SAMPLE PAPER: Law – A Social Mechanism for Control

Part 1 - Introduction

Write about the concept of law as a social mechanism for controlling those who are seen as a

threat to the ruling class and how the hegemony of the privileged has throughout history tended

to outweigh justice at the expense of the poor. Do not give specific examples or mention

specific texts. Save these for the body of the paper.

Part 2 - Socrates

a. Socrates’ trial – (The Apology).

b. Socrates’ three accusers, Meletus, Aytus, and Lycon

c. Socrates opposition to Athenian democratic institutions – majority vote.

d. Anti democratic revolutions of 411 B.C. and 404 B.C. I.F. Stone.

e. The democratic revolt of 403 B.C.

f. Socrates’ trial and execution – 399 B.C.

g. Socrates’ reasons for rejecting Crito’s offer.

h. Speculation about Socrates view of civil disobedience.

Part 3 – Noam Chomsky

a. The drug war as discussed by Chomsky in Drug Policy as Social Control.

b. Dangerous populations.

c. The law concerning gin and whiskey in nineteenth century England.

d. US legislation relating to marijuana and Mexicans.

Part 4 - Conclusion

Make brief reference to situations not as yet mentioned concerning law as a social mechanism

for control, i.e. laws relating to slavery, race, women, and religion. Restate the idea in the

introduction that throughout history justice has taken a back seat to the intent of those in

privileged positions to maintain and augment their power at the expense of those they have

been elected or hired to serve.

8

Research

Your paper will be deeper and more interesting if you do some research.

Look up some of the following.

Topics:

1. Alien Sedition Acts

2. Jim Crow and Black Laws

3. Patriot Act

4. Racial Profiling

5. Slave Codes

6. Socrates’ accusers

7. Supreme Court Cases:

Dredd Scott v. Sanford

Plessy v. Fergusson.

8. Thirty Tyrants

Sources:

1. America's Poor. Eds.Tara Herivel and Paul Wright.

New York: Routledge, 2003. 57-59. Print.

2. Chomsky, Noam. The People in Gravest Danger. New Humanist, March 1, 2003. Print.

3. I.F. Stone. I.F. Stone Breaks the Socrates Story:An old muckraker sheds fresh light on the

2,500-year-old mystery and reveals some Athenian political realities that Plato did his best

to hide. Originally published in The New York Times Magazine, April 8, 1979, pp. 22 ff.

Print.

4. Plato, Benjamin Jowett, and Louise Ropes Loomis. Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium,

Republic,. New York: Published for the Classics Club by W. J. Black, 1942. Print.

5. Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality, p. 39, Free Press, 1979. Print.

9

Specifications for the Writing Assignment

1. The essay must be 3 double-spaced pages.

2. The essay must be typed.

3. Font size must be 12.

4. Font style must be Times New Roman.

5. The name of the student, professor, course, and date must be flush left with a

double-space between each. See example on the following page.

6. The essay must be double-spaced.

7. For citations more than one sentences, use the following specifications.

See example on the following page.

a. single-space

b. font size 10

c. left indent at 1 right indent at 5.5.

8. Each paragraph must be indented.

9. There must be no more than one double-space between paragraphs.

10. Each page of each essay must be numbered in the upper right-hand corner.

11. Each essay must be stapled in the upper left-hand corner.

12. Documentation must include a “Works Cited” page and be done according to

MLA formats. See example on the following page.

10

This is an example of the top of the first page of a research paper.

Use double-spaces. The title must be a double-space below the date and centered.

See MLA Handbook - Seventh Edition. 4.3. Heading And Title. 116.

This is an example of the top of the first page of a works-cited list.

Entries are in alphabetical order with second lines of each entry indented (hanging indentation).

See MLA Handbook - Seventh Edition. 131.

This is an example of how to do a citation longer than one sentence.

Writing Assignment #1:

DUE DATE: Assignment #1 is due by the third week of the semester.

PAPERS MUST SATISFY ALL OF THE SPECIFICATIONS TO RECEIVE CREDIT. FOR A MORE

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFICATIONS, SEE THE ESSAY CHECKLIST ON PAGES

8 AND 9 OF THE SYLLABUS.

1

John Smith

Professor Abraham

English 201

May 7, 2009

Greek Tragedy

7

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. Edited by Edward Hubler.

A Signet Classic. Copyright by Edward Hubler, 1963. Print.

Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays – Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oeidipus at Colonus.

Translated By Robert Fagles. Penguin Books. Copyright by Robert Fagles, 1982, 1984.

Print.

“In the very first year of our century Sigmund Freud in his Interpretation of Dreams offered

a famous and influential interpretation of Oedipus the King:

Oedipus Rex is what is known as a tragedy of destiny. Its tragic effect is said to lie in the contrast

between supreme will of the gods and the vain attempts of mankind to escape the evil that

threatens them. The lesson which, it is said, the deeply moved spectator should learn from the

tragedy is submission to the divine will and realization of his own impotence.

(Trans. James Strachey)

This passage is of course a landmark in the history of modern thought, and it is fascinating to observe

that this idea, which, valid or not, has had enormous influence, stems from an attempt to answer a

literary problem – why does the play have this overpowering effect on modern audiences?”

(Knox, Bernard. Sophocles – The Three Theban Plays. Translated by Robert Fagles. Penguin Books.

Copyright by Bernhard Knox, 1982. 132. Print.)

11

Andrew Gottlieb SAMPLE PAPER

Professor Gottlieb

English 101-526

March 15, 2013

Law – A Social Mechanism for Control

Throughout history, legal institutions have been instrumental in oppressing members of

society who are seen as threat to those in positions of power. As such, law has often been used,

not as a means of insuring that justice is served, but as a social mechanism for control. It is

evident that the people empowered to mandate legislation are the managers and manipulators

of wealth. When in the course of history have poor people had the privilege of determining

affairs of state? Elected officials may not be affluent, but they depend on the affluent to get

elected. As such, their careers depend on their allegiance to privileged individuals. One who

bites the hand that feeds him is likely to be deprived of another meal. The continued success

of a politician depends on his willingness to pay the piper. It is in this respect that the impulse

to succeed precludes whatever ethical imperatives people may like to espouse. Legislators and

people involved in the making of legal decisions have often prioritized their own self interest

over the needs of those they have been elected or hired to serve.

Over the course of time there have been many situations in which the power of the

privileged was used to oppress those who, as far as they could see, stood in their way. It has not

been uncommon for ruling bodies to single out free and independent thinkers for persecution.

One such situation was the trial of Socrates. His fellow Athenians felt threatened by him. Given

the absence of any real evidence to support their accusations, it is fair to assume that they were

12

not motivated by a desire for justice. Socrates’ three accusers, Meletus, Aytus, and Lycon may

well have been politically motivated. It seems they saw him as a threat to democracy due in part

to his criticism of Athenian institutions. Socrates was not in favor of selecting leaders by

majority vote. It is also notable that his trial took place in 399 B.C. just four years after the

democratic revolt of 403 B.C. In 404 B.C. the oligarchic regime of the Thirty Tyrants had

succeeded in overthrowing the democracy. Among members of this group were some of

Socrates’ students, and so, it was by means of such association that Socrates had inadvertently

made enemies in positions of influence and power. In an interview, I. F. Stone, an American

investigative journalist, expressed his belief that “the case against Socrates was political and that

the charge of corrupting the youth was based on a belief – and considerable evidence – that he

was undermining their faith in Athenian democracy.” Stone goes on to explain that the reason

Socrates was brought to trial was that “in 411 B.C. and again in 404 B.C. antidemocrats had

staged bloody revolutions and established short-lived dictatorships (and that) the Athenians were

afraid this might happen again.” And so we can see how law was used not as a means of

insuring that justice was served but as a social mechanism for control.

What is intriguing is that in Plato’s Crito Socrates, in course of giving Crito his reasons

for rejecting his offer to escape from prison, defends the hegemony of the state which has

unjustly condemned him to death. He characterizes the state as the protector of the people.

“But he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the State, and

still remains, has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. And he

who disobeys us is, as we maintain, thrice wrong: first, because in disobeying us he is disobeying

his parents; secondly, because we are the authors of his education; thirdly, because he has made

an agreement with us that he will duly obey our commands (9).” (my bold face)

Socrates’ reference to an “implied contract” suggests that his reason for rejecting Crito’s offer is

based in part on his respect for an unwritten agreement between himself and the governing body

13

of Athens. It is also evident that in relation to the state he likens a citizen to a child who must,

according to tradition, obey his parents. It is in this respect that Socrates feels beholden to the

state just as a son or daughter is to his or her father or mother. For Socrates, retaliation against

the state is as unthinkable as a child striking a parent even when the parent abuses the child.

“And because we think right to destroy you, do you think that you have any right to

destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies? And will you, O professor of

true virtue, say that you are justified in this (9)?”

Socrates also asks:

“Do you imagine that a State can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions

of law have no power, but are set aside and overthrown by individuals (8)?"

It is evident that Socrates would rather allow himself to be destroyed than to jeopardize those

who are about to destroy him. He has, in The Apology, defended himself against his accusers

and is clearly aware they have acted in violation of justice.

In spite of his awareness of this, Socrates maintains his steadfast dedication to the

preeminence of the state. As far as he is concerned, laws and legal determinations must be

followed by those who have lived under its protection. To do otherwise would, in his view,

be hypocritical. One cannot choose to oppose the state for one’s own convenience. And so,

rather than violate his principles, rather than do anything to weaken the state by opposing or

resisting its resolution, Socrates prepares himself for death. The hegemony of the state precludes

and takes precedence over the survival of the individual. The needs of the many outweigh the

needs of the few.

And so, even where injustice prevails, where there is an erroneous verdict, a good citizen

must, according to what Socrates refers to as an “implied contract,” succumb to the mandates of

the majority. The fact that the majority is in error is, apparently, of lesser importance than the

maintenance of order. It thus appears that Socrates, the most unconventional of thinkers, and

14

who opposes Crito’s attempt to save him in part because of his belief in following ones’

conscience over the concerns of the majority, is a supporter of the status quo and has, as such,

lent support to the use of law not as a force for justice but as a social mechanism for control.

One wonders if Plato portrayed Socrates as he did for political reasons. It is crucial to

keep in mind that Plato wrote the dialogue, not Socrates. Crito is Plato’s dramatization of what

might or might not have transpired. It has been said that Xenophon gives an entirely different

account of Socrates’ trial than Plato. According to his account, Socrates never spoke in his own

defense. So, we have reason to wonder about the veracity of Plato’s account. Given the fact that

Socrates had been condemned to death for political reasons, if that was the case, Plato may have

thought it wise to present his master as a supporter of the state rather than as a rebel. In this way,

he may well have been protecting himself and his Academy. Clearly, we can only speculate

about this, but it does seem strange that a man who has been unjustly convicted by a group of

people whose political views he does not appear to share would be dedicated to the perpetuation

of their hegemony. If my speculation concerning Plato is true, then we are presented with yet

another example of how law or, in this case, a renowned philosophical doctrine concerning law

and obedience, has been uses as a social mechanism for control.

Socrates’ pronouncements, however logically presented, offer support for a ruling class

that condemned a man of honor and, in so doing, violated justice. One could argue that a

governing body that violates justice has also broken its implied contract and has, as a

consequence, jeopardized the State. Those who oppose an unjust governing body are not

responsible if the State suffers a decline since the State has already initiated its own decline by

not acting in accordance with what it purports to stand for. One wonders why Socrates does not

15

consider this line of reasoning. How can one support a state that violates its own principles?

Where law is unjust, is it not the obligation of a man of conscience to protest or disobey it?

The potential political ramifications of Socrates espousal of the preeminence of the state

are thus ominous. What if we were to apply this notion to India during the time of Mahatma

Gandhi, South Africa during the time of Nelson Mandella, or to the United States during the time

of Martin Luther King. Had Socrates lived during these times, would he have opposed the idea

of civil disobedience? Would he have asked “And because we think right to destroy you, do you

think that you have any right to destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies?”

Socrates, or Plato, was probably concerned with maintaining order at a time when

challenging the state could result in violence. It is also likely that he did not see the state to

be unjust or pernicious. If this was the case, then it would be unwise to make universal

application of Socrates unconditional support of the ruling class. Had he in lived in times where

injustice and oppression were paramount, he may have not have defended the preeminence of the

state as he did. He may not have propounded arguments that lent support to the use of law as a

social mechanism for control.

We will never know if Socrates would have supported the actions of men such as Gandhi,

King, and Mandela. It is possible that in those political contexts, he would have reasoned

differently. Socrates’ pronouncements must be seen in the context of the society in which he

lived. He was an Athenian and, though he was the very archetype of an independent thinker,

he was also a product of his times. It is also important to keep in mind that in Crito Socrates was

discussing his own conduct. He was not writing a doctrine for others to follow. He was

expressing his sense of virtue as it applied to himself in a particular situation. It is hard to

believe that Socrates whose life had been so devoted to truth and virtue, would want in any way

16

to lend support to any abuse of power. For him, law by definition had to be the means by which

justice was served. The notion that it could be a social mechanism for control with no regard for

jurisprudence would fly in the face of everything Socrates stood for.

The corruption of legal institutions did not begin or end with the trial of Socrates. If we

are looking for examples of such abuse of power closer to our own time, we may find them in the

writing of Noam Chomsky. In Drug Policy as Social Control Chomsky writes, “In the United

States the drug war is basically a technique for controlling dangerous populations internal to the

country and doesn’t have much to do with drugs (1).” He goes on to discuss the origins of this

initiative in nineteenth century England “when they made gin illegal and kept whiskey legal”

simply for the reason that “gin was the drink of the working class and whisky was the drink of

the upper class.” This legislation, Chomsky explains was “a way of controlling the working

class people” (1). Other legislation, according to him, including prohibition and laws relating

to marijuana, was designed to oppress immigrants, the working class, and Mexicans. As far

as the “so-called” drug war is concerned, Chomsky maintains that the target was the “black

population” (2). “None of this,” he maintains, “has anything to do with drugs. It has to do with

controlling and criminalizing dangerous populations,” and even goes on to assert that the drug

war is the “U.S. counterpart to ‘social cleansing’ ” (2). Chomsky’s article thus clearly

delineates how governments use law as a social mechanism for control. In the minds of the

legislators to whom he alludes, justice is not part of the equation. Law is a tool used by the

privileged to maintain their power by oppressing those without it.

The subject of law as social mechanism for control is one which demands far more

examination than we can in the context of an essay of this length provide. Other examples which

come to mind are legislation relating to slavery, race, religion, women, the homeless, and

17

taxation. In our current economic climate legislation dealing with taxation is an especially

notable means of favoring the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class. Another

piece of legislation that exemplifies the use of law for social control is the Patriot Act which

brazenly violates some of the most cherished principles in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Clearly, justice is not the ruling principle in our world. Even in countries where leaders espouse

the sanctity of human rights and the rule of law, power and privilege appear most tragically to be

of greater importance. The prosperity of the few tends to override the wellbeing of the many and

jurisprudence is relegated to the role of window dressing.

18

Works Cited

Chomsky, Noam. "Drug Policy as Social Control." Prison Nation: The Warehousing of

America's Poor. Eds.Tara Herivel and Paul Wright. New York: Routledge, 2003. 57-59. Print.

Chomsky, Noam. The People in Gravest Danger. New Humanist, March 1, 2003. Print.

I.F. Stone. I.F. Stone Breaks the Socrates Story:An old muckraker sheds fresh light on the

2,500-year-old mystery and reveals some Athenian political realities that Plato did his best

to hide. Originally published in The New York Times Magazine, April 8, 1979, pp. 22 ff. Print.

Plato, Benjamin Jowett, and Louise Ropes Loomis. Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium,

Republic,. New York: Published for the Classics Club by W. J. Black, 1942. Print.

Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality, p. 39, Free Press, 1979. Print.