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Definition
| Durkheim wrote the "Normal and the Pathological" in which he disagreed with other theorists (like Raffaele Garofalo) who thought that crime was abnormal and a type of social morbidity. He argued that crimes were functional, that they united people and set moral boundaries. He attributed anomie (introduced in 1893) to suicide rates. Anomie = periods of normlessness,, lawlessness and unregulated choice, which generated uncertainty about what was acceptable, hence breaking social cohesion. He highlighted social solidarity, maintained by forces of integration (social bonds, shared values, beliefs, attachment) and forces of regulation (formal institutions like the criminal justice system). He was a structural-functionalist and used terms like the social organism. He differentiated between mechanical solidarity (older societies, rudimentary division of labour, repressive law, vengeance and harsh punishments and limited differentiation) and organic solidarity (later societies, more complex division of labour, restitutive law, law as a social defense and specialization). |
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Definition
| Developed by Robert Merton in his 1938 article "Social Structure and Anomie". He described the disjunction between cultural goals (the American Dream, accumulation of wealth, social advancement) and institutional means (educational/employment opportunities). He said this conflict caussed anomie and there were 5 ways to adapt to it: conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Merton was also a structural functionalist who developed manifest and latent functions. |
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Term
| Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang |
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Definition
| Written in 1955 by Albert Cohen. Elaboration on Merton's anomie theory and Sutherland's differential association theory. Said that when young boys could not measure up to the 'middle-class measuring rod' in school, status frustration ensued, followed by reaction formation (a hostile reaction to an aversive stimuli). He argued that these youth would band together to form a subculture, defining their own set of acceptable norms and rules. |
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Term
| Relative Deprivation Theory |
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Definition
| Studied by Blau and Blau, Robert Sampson, Agnew and Messner, explained upper class deviance as it describes deprivation as relative to other groups. They discussed reference groups: normative (set norms, like the Law Society) and comparative (groups that we want to become part of/avoid). Solved the problems of anomie theory (monolithic culture and class bias). They also say that people must feel deprived/feel a lack of opportunity in order to feel frustration (which most do not). |
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Term
| Differential Opportunity Theory |
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Definition
| Described by Cloward and Ohlin (1960), builds upon Merton's strain theory, and introduces the idea of illegitimate opportunity structures described as the criminal subculture (organized slums, profit-making, experienced criminals teaching young criminals), the conflict subculture (cannot access criminal subculture but rebels against middle class values regardless, unorganized slums) and retreatist subculture (double-failures, retreat to drugs/alcohol). |
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Term
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Definition
| By Robert Agnew (1985). Argued that youth had more immediate goals like appearance and popularity and that strain was actually caused by lack of means to escape aversive situations (harassment at school, unhappy home life). This unsuccessful pain-avoidance behaviour causes frustration and aggression. This theory blends Differential Association Theory and Operant Conditioning. |
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Term
| Institutional Anomie Theory |
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Definition
| By Messner and Rosenfeld (1994), a macro-level version of Merton's anomie-strain theory, which pays attention to social organizations and major institutions (the family, educational institutions, the polity and the economy). He said that there was an unequal balance of power, that the economy dominated the others which resulted in unregulated, unrestrained choice, competitive ends justify the means attitude and the devaluation of the institutional balance of power. |
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Term
| Social Disorganization Theory |
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Definition
| The concept of social disorganization was introduced by Thomas and Znaniecki in "The Polish Peasant in Europe and America". Shaw and McKay then discussed it in "Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas" (1946) and their findings were replicated by Sampson and Groves (1989). Bursik and Grasmik also studied it in "Economic Deprivation and Neighborhood Crime Rates" (1993). This theory emerged from the Chicago School and used information from Burgess and Park's Concentric Zone Theory. |
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Term
| Shaw and McKay's Social Disorganization |
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Definition
| Described in "Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas" (1946). It was based off Burgess and Park's Concentric Zone Theory. Zone II (The Zone in Transition) was said to have residential density, residential mobility, poverty, broken homes and ethnic/cultural heterogenity which led to the breakdown of informal social controls (schools were overwhelmed by diverse kids, people couldn't trust/communicate with neighbors, etc.). It was also the forerunner of cultural transmission theory (unrestrained youth formed criminal subcultures which transmitted values from generation to generation). |
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Term
| The Concentric Zone Theory |
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Definition
| Developed by Park and Burgess in 1924. It divided Chicago into a series of 5 concentric rings. Zone 1 was the central business district AKA the loop, Zone 2 was the Zone in Transition, Zone 3 was the workingmen's homes, Zone 4 was residential areas and Zone 5 was the commuter zone AKA the suburbs. This model was used by Shaw and McKay in their work with Social Disorganization, as well as by Sampson and Groves and Bursik and Grasmik. |
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Term
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Definition
| The first school of sociology in the US, born in 1892 at the University of Chicago. Gave rise to theories such as Differential Association theory, Social Learning theory, Symbolic Interactionism and Social Disorganization Theory. AKA the Ecological School due to their interest in ecological studies and life history. They saw society as human beings' natural environments and so liked to study them through ethnographies like the Jack Roller (by Shaw) about delinquent, Stanley. |
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Term
| Sampson and Grove's Social Disorganization |
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Definition
| Described in "Community Structure and Crime" in 1989. A retest of Shaw and McKay's social disorganization theory using data from the 1982 and 1984 British Crime Surveys, surveying communities and political constituencies respectively. They said that Shaw and McKay's most important finding was the inability of communities to supervise/control teen groups. Due to residential mobility and cultural heterogeneity, residents were unable to form social ties. Identified 3 intervening variables: sparse friendship networks, the inability to supervise teen peer groups and lack of involvement in community organizations. Lowenkamp, Cullen and Pratt replicated the study and got the same results (but noticed greater impact of overcrowding/ethnic heterogeneity). |
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Term
| Economic Deprivation and Neighborhood Crime Rates |
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Definition
| Written by Bursik and Grasmik in 1993. Studied the large demographic shift in Chicago from 1960 - 1980 due to the outflow of affluent white residents and the influx of African-Americans. Found that severe economic deprivation (DEP: those living in poverty, rate of unemployment and rate of welfare) had the strongest influence on delinquency. They found that severe economic deprivation + residential stability resulted in high crime rates and delinquency. They talked about 3 social controls: private (informal primary groups), parochial (neighbors, local institutions) and public (bureaucracies). |
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Term
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Definition
| Popular symbolic-interactionists include WI Thomas and George Herbert Mead. It is a theory which states that reality and meaning is shaped by social interactions, that human behaviour is shaped by the definitions or meanings that individuals, groups acquire through social interaction. |
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Term
| Differential-Association Theory |
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Definition
By Edwin Sutherland, member of the Chicago School. 9 propositions:
- Criminal behaviour is learned
- Learned in a process of interaction with others
- Principal part of learning occurs within intimate personal groups
- Learning includes: a) techniques of committing crime, and b) motives, rationalizations, and attitudes
- Learn definitions of legal codes as favorable or unfavorable
- Become delinquent through excess of definitions favorable to criminal activity
- Differential associations may differ in intensity, duration and frequency over time
- Involves same mechanisms as other types of learning
- Needs and values much the same for delinquents and non-delinquents |
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Term
| Techniques of Neutralization |
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Definition
| "Techniques of Neutralization" written by Sykes and Matza in 1964. They agreed with Sutherland that rationalizations, motives and attitudes were learned, however they chose to elaborate on this and state what these rationalizations are. They are: denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victim, condemnation of the condemners, appeal to higher loyalties. They also disagree with Cohen's idea that deviant subcultures do not feel guilt, they argue that they DO feel guilt and often admire priests/other "good" figures. |
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Term
| Differential-Association-Reinforcement Theory |
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Definition
| Developed by Burgess and Akers, aimed to explain the mechanisms by which criminal behaviour is learned (as stated by Sutherland in Differential Association Theory). They say that behaviour is learned through BF Skinner's operant conditioning and modelling/imitation. They say that the strength of a behaviour depends on the intensity, frecuency and duration of reinforcement. This theory is also a precursor to social-learning theory. |
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Term
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Definition
| Introduced by B.F. Skinner; called operant conditioning as individuals are operating on their environment. Behaviours are said to be learned through positive and negative reinforcers. The central idea is that behaviour can be changed/formed. Positive reinforcement encourages behaviour, negative reinforcement (punishment) deters behaviour. Schedule of consequences: probability, frequency and length of time before they are realized. |
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Term
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Definition
| By Akers, derived from Burgess and Akers' Differential-Association-Reinforcement Theory. Moved away from operant conditioning and towards Bandura's imitation and modelling. |
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Term
| Differential Reinforcement Theory |
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Definition
- C. Ray Jeffery's social learning theory much more psychological in nature
- Said that stimulus would be more or less reinforcing, depending upon whether you felt satiated or deprived
- Conditioning histories are different – not all people have the same type of conditioning experiences
- By mid 70s Jeffrey saying that reinforcement lies in the pain and pleasure centers in the brain
- By late 80s, saying that people were born with particular biological or psychological characteristics which made up their nature or character |
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