Sociological theories - Answers A group of perspectives that focus on the nature of the power relationships that exist between social groups and on the influences that various social phenomena bring to bear on the types of behaviors that tend to characterize groups of people.
3 sociological approa...
Sociological theories - Answers A group of perspectives that focus on the nature of the power
relationships that exist between social groups and on the influences that various social phenomena
bring to bear on the types of behaviors that tend to characterize groups of people.
Social structure theories - Answers -social groups as the root causes of crime
-Structural theories predict that negative aspects of societal structures, such as disorganization within
the family, poverty or income inequality within the economic arrangements of society, and
disadvantages brought about by a lack of success for some in the educational process, produce criminal
behavior.
3 social structure theories - Answers -social disorganization theory
-strain theory
-culture conflict theory
social disorganization theory - Answers -the breakdown of social institutions, such as the family, the
economy, education, and religion, play in crime causation.
-Crime was a normal part of all societies and that law was a symbol of social solidarity.
The Chicago School - Answers -An ecological approach to explaining crime that examined how social
disorganization contributes to social pathology.
Social Ecology (Park & Burgess) - Answers An approach to criminological theorizing that attempts to link
the structure and organization of a human community to interactions with its localized environment.
Social Pathology (Park & Burgess) - Answers -A concept that compares society to a physical organism
and that sees criminality as an illness or a disease that may produce deviant behavior among individuals
and groups who live under or are exposed to such social conditions.
-Social disorganization (& social pathology) may arise when a group is faced with social change, uneven
development of culture, maladaptation, disharmony, conflict and lack of conscience
-increase in immigrant population
-Parks & Burgess viewed cities in terms of concentric zones.
, -Each zone had its unique characteristics wherein unique populations and typical forms of behavior
could be found.
-Five concentric zones
Cultural Transmission (Shaw & McKay) - Answers -Through a process of social communication, the
transmission of delinquency through successive generations of people living in the same area.
-Conducted studies of arrest rates for juveniles in Chicago in 1900-1906, 1917-1923, & 1927-1933.
-Associated with high rates of neighborhood transition,
-Rates of offending remained relatively constant over time within zones of transition
-Concluded that delinquency was caused by the nature of the environment in which immigrants lived
rather than by some characteristic of the immigrant groups themselves.
Chicago school formalized the use of two sources of information: - Answers 1. Official crime and
population statistics - Population statistics when combined with crime information, provided material
that gave scientific weight to ecological investigations.
2. Ethnographic data - Gathered in the form of life stories, or ethnographies, described the lives of city
inhabitants.
-By comparing these two, researchers were able to show that life experience varied from one location
to another and that personal involvement in crime had a strong tendency to be associated with place of
residence.
Criminology of Place - Answers -Modern rebirth of ecological theories
-A perspective that emphasizes the importance of geographic location and architectural features as they
are associated with the prevalence of victimization.
-Hot spots of crime, including neighborhoods, specific streets, and even individual houses and
businesses, have been identified by recent write.
-A study revealed that 3% of places (addresses and intersections) in Minneapolis produce 50% of all calls
to the police.
Rodney Stark developed a theory of deviant neighborhoods: - Answers 1. To the extent that
neighborhoods are dense and poor, homes will be crowded.
2. Where homes are more crowded, there will be a greater tendency to congregate outside the home in
places and circumstances that raise levels of temptation and offer opportunity to deviate.
3. Where homes are more crowded, there will be lower levels of supervision of children.
, 4. Reduced levels of child supervision will result in poor school achievement, with a consequent
reduction in stakes in conformity and an increase in deviant behavior.
5. Poor, dense neighborhoods tend to be mixed-use neighborhoods.
6. Mixed use increases familiarity with and easy access to places offering the opportunity for deviance.
Broken Windows Thesis - Answers -Physical deterioration in an area leads to increased concerns for
personal safety among area residents and to higher crime rates in that area.
-Sparks interest for offenders of other neighborhoods
Strain Theory - Answers -A sociological approach that posits a disjuncture between socially and culturally
sanctioned means and goals as the cause of criminal behavior.
-Depicts delinquency as a form of adaptive, problem-solving behavior, usually committed in response to
problems involving frustrating and undesirable social environments.
Original amonie - Answers -book "Suicide"
-normlessness
-The term explains how a breakdown of social conditions can lead to feelings of personal loss &
dissolution.
-Anomie was a feeling of strain that resulted from not being embedded personally in society.
-It marked the loss of a sense of belonging.
Classical Strain Theory - Answers -Developed the concept of anomie, a disjunction between socially
approved means to success and legitimate goals.
-Legitimate goals are desirable for everyone.
-Widely acceptable means to these goals are not equally available to all members of society.
-Crime tends to arise as alternative means to success when individuals feel the strain of being pressed to
succeed in socially approved ways but the tools necessary for such success are not available to them.
-Strain increases as the gap between goals and the availability of the means necessary to achieve them
widens.
Strain - Answers the pressure that individuals feel to reach socially determined goals
Relative Deprivation - Answers -Messner and Rosenfeld - Contemporary version of Merton's strain
theory
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