Encyclopedia of Sociology

CIVIL LIBERTIES

Civil liberties may be understood as legally
protected areas in which the individual may func-
tion without interference by the state or the broad-
er community of citizens. ‘‘Civil liberties’’ are ana-
lytically distinct from ‘‘civil rights.’’ Civil liberties
concern the individual’s freedom from the broad-
er society and its laws. Civil rights derive from the
individual’s claim on society and the state to give
him or her equal protection through the state’s
police power and equal rights regarding public
facilities, services, and largesse. Civil liberties con-
cern the individual’s rights to think, speak, and act
outside the state’s apparatus and jurisdiction. Civil
rights address the individual’s claim on equal ac-
cess to public resources such as buses and schools,
protection from harm by state agencies, and par-
ticipation in government and politics.

Sociology offers several core capabilities to
promote the citizens’ and policy makers’ under-
standing of civil liberties and the implications of
related public decisions. Classical and contempo-
rary work by sociologists has pertinence in three
areas. First, sociological theory and commentary
informed by theory helps specify the central di-
lemmas raised by civil liberties. Second, sociologi-
cal research enables observers to discover the state
of public opinion regarding civil liberties, the
dynamics by which public opinion has developed
and changed in the past, and the manner in which
public opinion may unfold in the future. Finally,
sociological thinking and research serves as a re-
source for understanding the potential conse-
quences of public decisions regarding civil liber-
ties in the years to come. This last capability can aid
public decision making and help lay groundwork
for achieving the broadest range of civil liberty in
society while maintaining the social cohesion nec-
essary to ensure stability, continuity, and affirma-
tion of individual life by core social institutions.

Debate regarding civil liberties has traditional-
ly concerned freedom of expression and due proc-
ess. Positions regarding freedom of expression
have sought to protect the right of individuals to
publicly support politically unpopular causes or to
display or publish material others may view as
objectionable (e.g., pornography). Due process
issues have focused on the rights of defendants in
criminal cases and claimants in civil and adminis-
trative proceedings. Civil liberties advocates have
drawn core support from the Bill of Rights and
subsequent amendments to the U.S. Constitution

safeguarding free speech, prohibiting unreason-

able search and seizure, and limiting the criminal

justice system’s ability to require citizens to give

self-incriminating testimony. Civil liberties advo-

cates depend heavily on legal doctrines and de-

vices derivative of the Bill of Rights such as fair-

ness, equal protection of the law, and the right of

privacy.

The late twentieth century saw a vast exten-

sion of activities to which the status of a civil liberty

was applied. The 1998 edition of the American

Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) The Year in Civil

Liberties, for example, reports challenges by ACLU

units to practices and policies such as:

• Religious celebration in public settings
  (viz. school prayer and holiday displays),


• Youth curfews,


• Prohibition of marijuana use for medical
  purposes,


• School vouchers,


• Wrongful dismissal from employment due
  to politics or sexual preference,


• Restraint and corporal punishment of
  prisoners and ‘‘high-risk’’ legal defendants,


• The death penalty,


• Prohibition of public funding for
  abortions,


• Legal barriers to adoption of children by
  lesbian or gay individuals or couples,


• Restriction of legal marriage to hetero-
  sexuals only,


• ‘‘Sodomy’’ laws.

According to the ACLU document, these laws

and policies belong to a common category of

threats to ‘‘fairness, freedom of expression, equali-

ty, and keeping the government out of our private

lives.’’

The ACLU does not unilaterally speak for

those concerned with civil liberties. But controver-

sy surrounding the ACLU’s extended definition of

civil liberties recapitulates central issues in socio-

logical theory, social thought, and public policy.

Early social theorists emerging from free-market

economics and utilitarianism encountered (wit-

tingly or by implication) the question of what