https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] RELIGION, CULTURE AND PUNISHMENT RETHINKING THE SOCIOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT BY ABDOLREZA JAVAN JAFARI BOJNORDI SUPERVISOR PEROFESSOR LINDSAY FARMER Â Thesis submitted to the University o f Glasgow For the Degree of Ph.D UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW FACULTY OF LAW AND FINANCIAL STUDIES APRIL 2006 ProQuest Number: 10390586 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10390586 Published by ProQuest LLO (2017). C o pyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLO. ProQuest LLO. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.Q. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 f G L Â S G Ô W i u n iv ersity I lL I B R A ^ Acknowledgment In the all too lengthy process of my writing and re-writing I have incurred an enormous of debts, intellectual, emotional and financial. I cannot easily repay these, but by their , acknowledgment I can formally record my gratitude to some of the people who have responded to my many requests for assistance. 1 have been teaching criminal law for around eight years and had some questions about social origins of punishment in my mind, but 1 would say that 1 knew little about how to study punishment sociologically. Thus, it is not difficult to single out a particular person - Professor Lindsay Farmer -who patiently, gradually pushed me to tackle unfamiliar ideas. 1 was extremely fortunate to s.. have such a gi'eat supervisor who was simultaneously my teacher and supervisor. His sympathy, skills and positive attitudes towards scientific ideas always encouraged me whenever 1 was in difficulty of research. 1 am deeply indebted for his constant guidance, support and understanding throughout my research. 1 confessed that words cannot express my gi'atitude towards him. A special thanks to Dr Scott Veitch who spent much of his time in reading my writings and gave his valuable advice and infoiTnation. I am grateful to Dr.Balekjian who his presence in my neighbourhood has always been source of encouragement, thoughts and enjoyment. A very sincere thanks to the University of Glasgow and School of Law, which gave me the opportunity to commence my research. 1 am also very grateful to staff at University for their kind help. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ministry of Research and Technology for their financial support of this research, without which implementation of this study was impossible. 1 Finally, I wish to record my heartiest appreciation and thanks to my wife, her patient, help, encouragements, and understanding during long time of my study. To my wife Abstract The sociology of penal practice has failed methodically to investigate religion as a powerful cultural element in shaping of criminal justice systems. For many years Marxian, Weberian and Foucauldian works have dominated socio-cultural theories of punishment. They were concerned more with fields of class control and disciplinary domination rather than with cultural phenomena such as religion. Technological and bureaucratic analysis of punishment is the dominant discourse in the contemporary sociology of penal practice. Researchers have started to examine more attentively the function and role of culture in the foiming of penal policy and in the cultural ramifications of penal practices, and religion as a prominent element of culture, has been the site of intensive social inquiry. However, as yet, investigation into the role of religion as a prominent cultural element in shaping criminal justice system has not been systematically initiated. Whereas the vast majority of scholarly writings in legal subjects have not discussed the relationship between religion and criminal law, the area of criminal justice has in fact been often deeply influenced by religious beliefs. Despite secularist movements during past centuries, there is still common ground between religion, morality and criminal law. The Durldieimian analysis of religion, society and punishment provides us with a systematic understanding of the relationship between religion and punishment. It is the contention of this thesis that, the religious nature of penal practice can be traced in various forms of penal practice. In Durklieim’s terms, sacred moral principles, as the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average member of a society are the foundation of social integration, without which society cannot exist. The form and content of these moral principles may undergo transfoimation from one system to another, but their religious or sacred nature is unchanging. Differences between traditional and modem religions are more a matter of degree than of substance. The present study has undertaken to show that focusing on punishment as a political tactic, managerial technique, or calculated instrument for the pmposive control of behaviour is misleading and misses reference to an essential part of penal practice. I have illustrated this argument in two different contemporary societies, the USA and Iran. I have shown that how religious attitudes shaped criminal justice in America and what are the impacts of religious forms of government on criminal law and practice of punishment in the case of Iran. Such a superficial perspective on punishment can be misleadingly taken as pointing to the real substance of punishment. Thus, punishment should not be understood only in teiTns of complex forms of power and discipline, as Foucault explained or in terms of bureaucratic, professional and managerial considerations as described in a Weberian terms. The time has anived to take religion seriously as a powerful cultural factor in the sociological study of punishment. CO NTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT...................... 1 T o MY WIFE A b s t r a c t .....................................................................................................................................................................3 A b s t r a c t ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1................................. 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 I FR e l ig io n a n d p u n i s h m e n t ..................................................................................................................................................................11 I II-R e l ig io n a n d p h il o s o p h y o f p u n i s h m e n t ............................................................................................................................15 I III- R e l ig io n a n d S ociological S t u d ie s o f p u n i s h m e n t ...............................................................................................17 | IV R e l ig io n , C u l t u r e a n d G a r l a n d ’ s C o m p l e x T h e o r y o f P u n i s h m e n t ....................................................... 2 0 I V - D u r k h e im ’s S o c io l o g y o f p u n i s h m e n t 39 I CHAPTER II DURKHEIM’S THEORY OF SOCIETY AND PUNISHMENT 44 | Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 4 ■ I-S o ciA L S o l id a r i t y ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 9 ■ [-1 Solidarity and forms of law ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................54 ! 1-2 Social A n om ie ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................69 II-D u r k h e im o n M o r a l it y a n d c u l t u r e ...............................................................................................................................