Social Conduct Regulation

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Social Conduct Regulation
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What is if?

• The exercise of legal authority to modify or
  replace community values, moral practices, and
  norms of interpersonal conduct with new standards
  of behavior.
• These types of policies invoke intense and
  persistent controversies and have been increasing.

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Smoking in the Workplace

• Trends
• Rights --- Smokers vs. Nonsmokers
• Time off to smoke?
• Companies not hiring people who smoke

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Pornography

• Liberty and privacy issue or an abuse of free
  expression that needs to be regulated?
• Enforcement problem because it often runs up
  against constitutional issues.
• Different presumptions about what is
  pornographic.
• "I shall not today attempt further to define the
  kinds of material I understand to be embraced
  within the shorthand description, and perhaps I
  could never succeed in intelligently doing so.
  But I know it when I see it, and the motion
  picture involved in this case is not that."

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Pornography (cont)

• Congress has legislated distribution through the
  mail, child pornography.
• Presidents have not done much.
• Reagan named a commission headed by Ed Mease to
  study the effects of obscenity on society.

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Pornography (cont)

• Certain agencies have some jurisdiction to work
  against pornography.
• FCC -- when dealing with the media
• FBI -- interstate transport.
• Customs - monitor flow of pornography
• Postal -- same as above,
• Interest Groups
• Free speech groups v. "morality" groups
• State/Local Govt Issue

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Gun Control

• Gun control policy examines conflict with the
  Constitution, specifically the Second Amendment ,
  
• Does the state have the authority to regulate
  guns?
• Does the 2nd Amendment protect an "individual" or
  "collective" right (meaning to form state
  militias) to bear arms?

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Affimative Action

• Equal employment opportunity means that decisions
  on employment, promotion, termination done w/out
  discrimination.
• Affirmative action has 3 components
• Remedial, meaning that efforts that take race,
  sex, etc. into account for the purpose of
  remedying discrimination and its effects.
• Seeks to bring about equal opportunity
• Specifies what racial groups are to be considered
  part of the "protected class"

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Affirmative Action (cont)

• Supporters
• Dealing with guilt of pass behavior
• Some progress being made

• Opponents
• Provides benefits to people who have not been
  victims of discrimination
• Constitutional
• Perpetuates racism
• Undermining self-respect

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Abortion Policy

• Roe v. Wade (1973) was a landmark decision and
  one of the most far reaching the court has ever
  rendered.
• Relied on the right of "privacy"
• Mobilized two extremely polarized positions on
  abortion rights
• The escalation became an issue of a feminist goal
  for a women's right to choose.

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Abortion Policy (cont)

• Judicial Cases
• Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
• Privacy issue was interpreted as a "retained"
  right
• Roe v. Wade (1973)
• Again, ruled on privacy basis developed three
  trimester argument
• Bureaucratic participation limited to enforcing
  policies such as gag order.