Main description:

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides? looks at several of the most contentious issues in many societies. The book asks, whose rights are protected? How do these rights and protections change over time, and who makes those decisions? This book explores the fundamentally sociological processes which underlie the quest for morality and justice in human societies. The author sheds light on the social movements and social processes at the root of these seemingly personal moral questions. The third edition contains a new chapter on torture entitled, "Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering."

Contents:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Detailed Contents

Preface to the Third Edition

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 A Single Question

PART I: A Moral System Evolves

Chapter 2 An Exclusionary Movement is Born

Chapter 3 Legal Reform to Eliminate Defectives

Chapter 4 Redrawing the Boundaries of Protected Life

Chapter 5 Crystallizing Events and Ethical Principles

PART II: The Early Moments and Months of Life

Chapter 6 A Bolt from the Blue: Abortion is Legalized

Chapter 7 Man's Law or God's Will

Chapter 8 Inches from Life

Chapter 9 Should the Baby Live?

PART III: The Boundaries of Tolerable Suffering

Chapter 10 Limits to Tolerable Suffering

Chapter 11 Alleviating Suffering and Protecting Life

Chapter 12 God, Duty, and Life Worth Living

Chapter 13 Assisted Dying

PART IV: Taking Life and Inflicting Suffering

Chapter 14 Removing the Protective Boundaries of Life

Chapter 15 A Campaign to Stop the Executions

Chapter 16 The Pendulum Swings, the Debate Continues

Chapter 17 Justifying Torture

Chapter 18 Lessons Learned

Index