Toward a Sociology of Human Rights

• Published date: 14 October 2011
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0275-7982(2011)0000006003
• Date: 14 October 2011
• Pages: 3-24
• Author: Mahin Gosine

TOWARD A SOCIOLOGY

OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Mahin Gosine

ABSTRACT

A sociology of human rights is a modern challenge, and this study draws

on the universalizing codification in the history of human rights documents

from ancient societies to the present challenges of modern society. Power

contradictions and conflicts are analyzed in the case study of historic

inequalities and the modern deprivation of human rights of the People

of Indian Origin in their diaspora in the modern world. Insider

perspectives are posed to increase awareness and knowledge to the

forming of community identity and to challenge others to study these

complex social conditions. A public sociology is assumed in this chapter,

derived from the author’s public speech to further the development of a

sociology of human rights, one that will reflect the complexity,

universality, and inclusiveness protected by the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights. Established methods and theories may be augmented by

challenging their bases and working collaboratively to research con-

temporary human rights.

Human Rights and Media

Studies in Communications, Volume 6, 3–24

Copyright r2011 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 0275-7982/doi:10.1108/S0275-7982(2011)0000006003

3

INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTS,

POWER, AND NEED FOR THEORY

The third American President (1801–1809) Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

(Blassingame, 1996), writing in the Declaration of Independence on the eve

of the birth of the American nation in 1776, and the convening of the

Second Continental Congress, noted that ‘‘all men are created equal; that

they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that

among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happinessy’’ (Brinkley,

2004). Indeed Jefferson was envisioning that everyone, by virtue of the fact

that he or she was a member of the American nation, was entitled to certain

basic human rights. To say the least, Jefferson might have been well

intentioned. However, was everyone who lived in the United States at the

time regarded as a citizen of the American nation? The answer to this

question is not difficult to discern. American citizens were white men who

possessed power and property. They did not include Native Americans,

blacks and women. Even some poor white folks were disenfranchised. At the

time the American nation was born, slavery was still in effect. The slave

trade was not halted until 1807. Slavery was not abolished until 1834. The

emancipation proclamation was not passed until 1863, which became law in

1865 with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth

Amendment that made blacks citizens of the United States was not passed

until 1868 (Pinkney, 1975). And blacks did not become citizens of the

United States until 1870 with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment.

Likewise, Native Americans did not become citizens of the United States

until 1924. In fact, there were well over five hundred Native American

reservations at the time who fell under the auspices of the Bureau of Indian

Affairs that was created in 1824 and which was directly under the control of

the Department of War of the United States (Schaefer, 1993). Similarly,

women did not get to vote until 1920. Thanks, in part, to the efforts of such

people in the Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others, who

championed the cause of women following the formation of the Women’s

Rights Movement in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York (Biber & Carter,

2000).

Despite the irony of Jefferson’s statement, one thing is quite evident. That

is, being a part of the human race entitles one to certain basic rights.

Moreover, the forging of a new nation carried with it an entitlement to

certain basic human rights and freedoms, and the notion of citizenship is

rendered meaningless if these are not present (Rosmini, 1996). At the same

MAHIN GOSINE4