Law and Social Controls (1949)

• 31%
• 1949

Jack and his buddies at the Teen Canteen are divided over the important issue of whether they should close at 10:30 or 11:00, and it's tearing them apart. Jack is adamant about closing at the later hour, so they all ask the advice of a lawyer. The lawyer tells them that the city can force them to close at 10:00, or 9:00, or whatever time they want to. Jack begins to protest that they are citizens and have rights, too, but his lawyer reminds him that the good of the community "as a whole" comes first. The teens learn a very valuable lesson, which is that whatever rights a relatively powerless social class has are always trumped by the wants, needs and will of the more conservative and more powerful ruling class (as if we didn't know that . . . ).