Summary KRM 310 Study Unit 5: Social Structure Perspectives
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Course
Criminology 310 (KRM310) (KRM310)
Institution
University Of Pretoria (UP)
A complete and comprehensive summary of the study material for Study Unit 5. Summaries were compiled using the reader provided by the lecturers, the lecture notes, as well as the study outcomes.
○ Stress, frustration, or strain (product of failed aspirations) – increase prospects for norm violation.
- Norms are violated to alleviate strain that comes with failure.
○ Blockage of legal goal achievement – encourages deviant solutions.
○ Key objectives: specification of sources of strain and deviant adaptions.
○ Strain – tends to be associated with distorted aspirations, unrealistic desires for attainment, and crass
materialism.
- Sets stage for individual failure + search for deviant solutions.
Emile Durkheim
Origins of Social Structure Theory
○ Emile Durkheim history:
- Born in 1858, France.
- 2 major changes that influenced society at the time:
The French Revolution of 1789.
Social and economic transformation due to the Industrial Revolution.
- Focus on how the organization of society can propel people toward violating
norms.
Saw behaviour as socially determined instead of individually determined.
○ Most important contribution to criminology – reviving the concept of “anomie”.
- Greek for lawlessness
- Durkheim – “anomie” = “Normlessness”
Breakdown of norms represents a threat to social control.
Hypothesized anomie contributes to suicide.
○ Studied the most individual form of deviance – taking one’s own life.
- Proposition: basic determinants of suicide are social variables such as religion, marital status, and
economic conditions
- To test his propositions – examined suicide data from 19th century Europe and descriptive data
about preliterate societies.
Findings:
→ Rate of suicide is much lower in purely Catholic countries.
→ Jews showed lower suicide rates that Catholics and Protestants.
→ Single persons are more likely to commit suicide than married people.
→ Suicide rates increase steadily with age.
→ More suicides are committed during periods of economic crisis.
→ Periods of crisis (like war) – associated with higher-than-normal suicide rates.
→ Number of suicides in military is greater than among civilians.
→ Suicides are found in some preliterate societies:
• Norms stipulate wives should take their own lives when husbands die.
• Norms stipulate servants must kill themselves of their masters die.
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