Sociological Approaches
“Criminals” are not different ( bio, psych)
---their circumstances are different
Focus on underlying social problems
and crime rates (not individuals)
Major focus on preventing crime by changing
the underlying conditions/causes
“social stress”
Sociological Approaches
The Pluralist Model
Govt/Law as “Referee”
“Liberal”
vs.
The Conflict Model
"Critical/Radical"
Govt/Law shaped/controlled by elites in
their own interests
A “Ruling Class” ??
Sociological Approaches
The Key Criminology Question: What social
and cultural factors generate patterns of crime
– high crime rates
– low crime rates
– changing crime rates
also patterns within the larger patterns
age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.
Sociological Approaches
Note: Both also look critically at the
processes of criminalization
- how do some people (and not others) come to
be treated as “criminals”
(male/female, rich/poor, street/corp, etc.)
Sociological Approaches
Several broad approaches:
– Social Disorganization Theories
– Social Control Theories
– Labeling Theory
- Integrative Theories
Sociological Approaches
Social Disorganization Theories
Urbanization and “Anomie”
(European)
The Chicago School
(American)
“Ecology” and material instability
Sociological Approaches
Robert Merton and Strain theories
Goals/Means
“disorganization”
Subculture theories
Culture conflict
Lower class subculture
Subculture of violence
(structuralist)
Sociological Approaches
Social Control Theories
Walter Reckless - Containment theory
Inner and outer "pushes and pulls"
Travis Hirschi - Social Bond theory
Attachment
Sociological Approaches
Labeling theory
Primary and Secondary deviance
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Sociological Approaches
Problems with Soc approaches
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–
–
–
Pluralist and Conflict issues
Sample selection bias (still!)
“Criminology as science” dilemma
Influencing social policy
Sociological Approaches
Comment Criminology is too complicated and confusing
for much of the public - “sound-bite culture”
Individual approaches are simple, reinforce
common biases and stereotypes, are reinforced
by politicians and the media, and generally fit
with our fascination with exceptional cases and
the maze-like legal process.
Sociological Approaches
Integrative Theories
are a response to problems with sociological
approaches. They seek to combine the best
elements of other theories, and work them
into a single larger framework -– Robert Merton (early attempt)
- Crime and the American Dream
Sociological Approaches
Robert Merton - Key Concepts:
Culture of individualism and competition
Blocked opportunity
Strain and Anomie
Deviant adaptations
Merton’s “Logic Table” of adaptations
Sociological Approaches
Conformist
GOALS
MEANS
+
+
+
-
-
+
"poor but honest"
Innovator
inventor, entrepreneur, criminal
Ritualist
"bureaucratic mentality"
Sociological Approaches
Retreatist
GOALS
MEANS
-
-
-/+
-/+
drop out, beatnik,
hippie, cultist, etc.
Rebel
revolutionary
Sociological Approaches
Blocked Opportunity = “Want but can’t have”
But what shapes particular responses to strain
and anomie?
(what influences people to innovate, retreat,
etc.?)
Note:
These are specific crim theories
Sociological Approaches
Differential Association
One factor is important associations –
friends, family, neighbors, etc.
What "reference groups" do is a powerful
influence on what people do.
Note:
Peer Groups and Role Models
Sociological Approaches
Differential Reinforcement
Another factor is reinforcement
(rewards and punishments)
If something "works" (rewards, status, etc.)
people are more likely to continue doing it.
Note:
Based on behaviorist psychology
Sociological Approaches
Differential Opportunity
Most “deviant adaptations” require alternative
set of learned skills/attitudes/values
and the opportunity to use them.
Illegitimate opportunity structures and
“Illegal economies”
Sociological Approaches
Note:
Merton's theory focused on explaining
modern urban "street crime." But the
theoretical framework can also be used to
explain a variety of other social situations
similar to those producing street crime.
Sociological Approaches
Why is corporate crime so widespread in
America?
Businesses are locked into a highly
competitive quest for “market shares” (goal)
and it is hard to “win” using legitimate means -
Sociological Approaches
this leads to a corporate culture of “cheating”
(deviant adaptation – corporate crime).
Note:
Greed = never enough
Goal is always out of reach never "enough" wealth/power/etc.
Sociological Approaches
Why do some police depts (like LAPD)
have chronically high levels of corruption?
Police culture emphasizes punishing “bad
guys” (goal) but the legal evidence is
often lacking (legitimate means) and this
leads some police depts (local police
culture) to plant evidence, engage in
police brutality, etc.
Sociological Approaches
How do idealistic young lawyers become
“convict by any means" prosecutors?
Prosecutors compete for high conviction rates
(goal) which is hard to accomplish by following
legal “due process” - this leads prosecutors to
abandon goals of fairness and justice, and
“cheat” to win convictions.
Sociological Approaches
Crime and the American Dream (and lectures)
will discuss all of the sociological theories and
foundations in more detail.
Sociological Approaches
Summary: Circumstances produce crime they shape the context within which individual
decisions are made.
Psych/Indiv - frustration leads to aggression
Soc - social stress leads to “deviance”
Sociological Approaches
Unrealistic goals + limited means for reaching
these goals leads to “deviant adaptations” “Shortcuts” to goals
Sociological Approaches
Over time shortcuts become institutionalized part of our culture and practices - so part of
lower class culture, corporate culture, police
culture, court culture, etc.
Note: we respond to problems as if they were
indiv probs, while culture reproduces them!
this is a huge dilemma!!
Next Week
Crime and the American Dream
+ Supplemental Homicide Reports
(demo)