Seems to me, Charles, that you are ignoring the lesson that Gramsci teaches: a stable or hegemonic system, which of course can be oppressive and exploitative, rests on a combination of consent and coercion, and the more stable it is. The more it rests on mere fear and coercion, the less stable it is. As Napoleon said, You can do anything with bayonets except sit on them.
It's actually anti-Marxist to say that the only raeson people obey the law is from fear of consequences. That's more of a neo-classical economics idea, according to which people are merely self-interested utility machines that calculate the advantages and disadvantages of obeying versus breaking the law and the likelihood of getting caught if they break it. The Marxist theory of ideology will teach you that is not true. People rather normally accept the legitimacy of the existing order. "The ruling ideas of the epoch are the ideas of the ruling class." It is only in revolutionary times when that breaks down -- then one deals with a quite different kind of disobedience to the law than, e.g., speeding, much less predatory criminality. Seems to me that despite being a liberal democrat, I'm still a better Marxist than you are on this point! jks
--- Charles Brown <cbrown at michiganlegal.org> wrote:
> From: andie nachgeborenen
>
>
> Actually, Charles, the empirical evidence is that
> people do obey the law because it's the law,
>
> ^^^^^^
> CB: That would be "some", not "the" evidence, ONE
> study. I 've got lots of
> evidence of people obeying the law because they fear
> adverse consequences.
Actually, one study, plus the standard book on the subject, which has an extensive literature survey.
>
> What about all the people who break the law ? Do
> they suddenly lose their
> great respect for the procedures ? What percentage
> of the population break
> laws ? 100% ? And no you won't be able to find out
> how many people break the
> law from phone interviews. They aren't going to tell
> you. To be complete,
> studies would have to interview people and ask them
> why they broke the law
> when they broke it.
Oh, they do -- don't criticize methodologies without checking them out!
> >
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