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Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides? Abortion, Neo-Natal Care, Assisted Dying, and Capital Punishment PDF

441 Pages·2012·2.24 MB·English
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1111 2 3 4 5 6 72222 Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?: 8222 Abortion, Neonatal Care, Assisted 9222 1011 Dying, and Capital Punishment 1 2 3111 4 5 6222 7 Issues of life and death such as abortion, assisted suicide, capital punish- 8222 ment, and others are among the most contentious in many societies. 9 Whose rights are protected? How do these rights and protections change 20111 over time and who makes those decisions? Based on the author’s award- 1 winning and hugely popular undergraduate course at The University of 2 Texas, this book explores these questions and the fundamentally socio- 3 logical processes that underlie the quest for morality and justice in human 4 societies. The author’s goal is not to advocate any particular moral “high 5 ground,” but to shed light on the social movements and social processes 6 that are at the root of these seemingly personal moral questions. 7 8 9 Sheldon Ekland-Olson is the Audre and Bernard Centennial Professor 30111 at The University of Texas at Austin, where he served as the Dean of 1 the College of Liberal Arts and Executive Vice President and Provost. 2 He is the winner of numerous teaching awards, and one of his classes 3 was once listed among the 10 Hottest Courses in the Nation. His previous 4 publications include The Rope, The Chair and the Needle, Texas Prisons, 35 and Justice Under Pressure. 6 7222 i Contemporary Sociological Perspectives Edited by Valerie Jenness, University of California, Irvine and Jodi O’Brien, Seattle University This innovative series is for all readers interested in books that provide frameworks for making sense of the complexities of contemporary social life. Each of the books in this series uses a sociological lens to provide current critical and analytical perspectives on significant social issues, patterns, and trends. The series consists of books that integrate the best ideas in sociological thought with an aim toward public education and engagement. These books are designed for use in the classroom as well as for scholars and socially curious general readers. Published: Political Justice and Religious Values by Charles F. Andrain GIS and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences by Robert Nash Parker and Emily K. Asencio Hoop Dreams on Wheels: Disability and the Competitive Wheelchair Athlete by Ronald J. Berger The Internet and Social Inequalities by James C. Witte and Susan E. Mannon Media and Middle Class Mom: Images and Realities of Work and Family by Lara Descartes and Conrad Kottak Watching T.V. Is Not Required: Thinking About Media and Thinking About Thinking by Bernard McGrane and John Gunderson Violence Against Women: Vulnerable Populations by Douglas Brownridge State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland by Barbara G. Brents, Crystal A. Jackson, and Kate Hausbeck Social Statistics: The Basics and Beyond by Thomas J. Linneman Sociologists Backstage: Answers to 10 Questions About What They Do by Sarah Fenstermaker and Nikki Jones Gender Circuits by Eve Shapiro Transform Yourself, Transform the World: A Practical Guide to Women’s and Gender Studies by Michelle Berger and Cheryl Radeloff Stargazing: Celebrity, Fame, and Social Interaction by Kerry Ferris and Scott Harris The Senses of Self, Culture and Society by James Tyner Forthcoming: Surviving Dictatorship: Visual and Social Representations by Jacqueline Adams Social Theory: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives by Wesley Longhofer The Womanist Idea by Layli Phillips Maparyan Families Worldwide by Agnes Riedmann Issues, Implications, and Practices in Mixed Method Designs by Jodi O’Brien Law in Action by Ryken Grattet ii 1111 2 Who Lives, Who Dies, 3 Who Decides?: Abortion, 4 5 Neonatal Care, Assisted Dying, 6 72222 and Capital Punishment 8222 9222 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6222 Sheldon Ekland-Olson 7 8222 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 35 6 7222 iii First published 2012 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2012 Taylor & Francis The right of Sheldon Ekland-Olson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record has been requested ISBN: 978-0-415-89246-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-415-89247-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-18227-7 (ebk) Typeset in Adobe Caslon, Trade Gothic and Copperplate Gothic by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon Printed and bound in the United States of America by Edward Brothers, Inc. 1111 2 3 4 5 6 72222 To: 8222 My wife Carolyn 9222 To: 1011 My son Scott and his wife Jennette 1 My daughter Brooke and her husband Miki 2 To: 3111 My wonderfully perfect grandchildren 4 Grant, Reid, Mia, Blake, Ana, Jessica, and Téa 5 6222 7 8222 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 35 6 7222 1111 2 3 4 5 6 72222 Brief Contents 8222 9222 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 6222 Series Foreword viii 7 Preface ix 8222 Acknowledgments xxiii 9 20111 1 A Single Question 1 1 2 3 PART I 4 A Moral System Evolves 13 5 6 2 An Exclusionary Movement is Born 15 7 8 3 Legal Reform to Eliminate Defectives 33 9 30111 4 Redrawing the Boundaries of Protected Life 63 1 2 5 Crystallizing Events and Ethical Principles 94 3 4 PART II 35 The Early Moments and Months of Life 113 6 7222 6 A Bolt from the Blue: Abortion is Legalized 115 vii viii BRIEF CONTENTS 7 Man’s Law or God’s Will 134 8 Inches from Life 164 9 Should the Baby Live? 185 PART III The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering 205 10 Limits to Tolerable Suffering 207 11 Alleviating Suffering and Protecting Life 229 12 God, Duty, and Life Worth Living 255 13 Assisted Dying 272 PART IV Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering 303 14 Removing the Protective Boundaries of Life 305 15 A Campaign to Stop the Executions 329 16 The Pendulum Swings, the Debate Continues 356 17 Lessons Learned 373 Notes 379 Index 415 viii 1111 2 3 4 5 6 72222 Detailed Contents 8222 9222 1011 1 2 3111 4 5 Series Foreword xviii 6222 Preface xix 7 Acknowledgments xxiii 8222 9 1 A Single Question 1 20111 A Moral System Evolves 1 1 The Early Moments and Months of Life 3 2 The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering 6 3 Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering 9 4 The Single Question 11 5 The material covered travels over a varied landscape—eugenics, abortion, 6 neonatal care, assisted suicide, lynching, and capital punishment. The 7 single common theme is assessed social worth. In each case, the focus is 8 upon two deeply important moral imperatives: life is sacred and should be protected. Suffering, once detected, should be alleviated. Comparing 9 these otherwise distinct topics, we ask a single question: How do we 30111 go about justifying the violation of these deeply important, perhaps 1 universal, moral imperatives, while holding tightly to their importance? 2 The short answer is this: with empathy and logic, we draw boundaries 3 and we resolve dilemmas. From time to time, science, technology, and crystallizing events disturb, clarify, and inform existing understandings 4 of the implied sense of social worth. New resolutions of dilemmas and 35 definitions of life’s protective boundaries are called for. In this manner, 6 moral systems evolve. They do so along a jagged and often contentious 7222 path. ix x DETAILED CONTENTS PART I A Moral System Evolves 13 2 An Exclusionary Movement is Born 15 Some Lives Are More Worthy Than Others 15 Eugenics Becomes a Duty 17 A Base of Operation 21 Framing the Agenda 24 Branching Out 28 The Criteria for Exclusion 29 The foundation of the Eugenics Movement in the United States is reviewed. This movement was grounded in the work of Charles Darwin. It was shaped and advanced by a small, interconnected network of well-regarded intellectuals, philanthropists, and political leaders. It soon reached coast to coast and took on national implications. 3 Legal Reform to Eliminate Defectives 33 How to Limit Defectives 33 A Moral Entrepreneur Reviews the Landscape 36 Framing a Legitimized Logic of Exclusion 41 A Receptive Exclusionary Climate 43 Mobilizing Resources and Networks of Support 47 The Legal Framework Clarifies 48 A Landmark Case is Contrived 51 The Floodgates Open 59 Public-Health Measures Go Terribly Wrong 60 A major objective of the Eugenics Movement was to develop a model law that would be adopted nationwide. After several attempts, a basic template was agreed upon in the early 1920s. The State of Virginia was a leader. In 1927, the Supreme Court, in Buck v. Bell, legitimized Virginia’s statute following a contrived trial and appeal. Numerous states soon adopted similar statutes. In 1933, the newly formed government of Adolph Hitler took note and adopted a close approximation of the laws passed in the United States. Some three years later, the model law’s author, Harry Laughlin, was given an honorary degree from Heidelberg University in recognition of his work on racial cleansing. x

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.