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Mind Map by ellie.1001, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by ellie.1001
over 10 years ago
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Sociological
Positivism: Anomie,
the Chicago School
and Subcultures
- Sociological positivism= Crime caused by
factors external to the individual,; differentiation
of criminal and non- criminal types; social
integration (Durkheim); social anomie and
strain (Merton); ecology and crime (chicago
school); social disorganisation and cultural
transmission; subculture as a determinant of
delinquency
- Nature of the offender in
positivist criminology=
determined by forces beyond
his or her control, differentiated
from non criminal normal types
of people; pathological= the
basis of this differentiation
being a form of disease.
- Ecology= Delinquency is caused by
the neighbourhood environment
inhabited by offenders; Criminal
environments are distinguished in
terms of their social disorganisation;
socially disorganised neighbourhoods
transmit cultures of deviance
- Subcultural groups= delinquency is
caused by group or gang responses
to social norms of behaviour; the
values of delinquent subcultures are
antithetical to those of mainstream
society; delinquent subcultures are
delinquent because of their deviation
from social norms- because of their
'anomie'
- Subcultural groups= delinquency is
caused by group or gang responses
to social norms of behaviour; the
values of delinquent subcultures are
antithetical to those of mainstream
society; delinquent subcultures are
delinquent because of their deviation
from social norms- because of their
'anomie'
- Ecology= Delinquency is caused by
the neighbourhood environment
inhabited by offenders; Criminal
environments are distinguished in
terms of their social disorganisation;
socially disorganised neighbourhoods
transmit cultures of deviance
- Social integration and Crime, Durkheim 1895
- Anomie as breakdown or lack
of norms/ values, a state of
normlessness due to rapid
social changes.
- To classify crime among the
phenomena of normal sociology
is not to say that it is an
inevitable, although regrettable
phenomenon, due to incorrigible
wickedness of men; it is to affirm
that it is a factor in public health,
an integral part of all societies
- In a society in which criminal acts were
no longer committed.. crime would not
disappear.. it would only change its form,
for the very cause which would thus dry up
the sources of criminality would
immediately open up new ones
- Anomie as breakdown or lack
of norms/ values, a state of
normlessness due to rapid
social changes.
- Social Strain/ Anomie and Crime (Merton 1938)
- Can crime be understood
as a product of disparities
or 'strain' between socially
prescribed goals and the
means of achieving these
roles?
- ' a cardinal American
virtue, ambition,
promotes a cardinal
American vice, deviant
behaviour.' (Merton
1949)
- Which factors increase
the relationship between
strain and crime?
- Perceived injustice of
strain; difficulty of
managing a critical
mass of strain through
legitimate means;
reduction of social
control; where strains
facilitate criminal coping
- Agnew's (1992) General strain theory:
- The major strains= individuals are treated in a negative manner by
others; individuals lose something they value; individuals are unable
to achieve their goals, this leads to negative emotions and therefore
crime. Factors that influence the effect of strains and negative
emotions on crime= the ability to cope with strains in a legal manner;
the costs of criminal coping; disposition for criminal coping.
- The major strains= individuals are treated in a negative manner by
others; individuals lose something they value; individuals are unable
to achieve their goals, this leads to negative emotions and therefore
crime. Factors that influence the effect of strains and negative
emotions on crime= the ability to cope with strains in a legal manner;
the costs of criminal coping; disposition for criminal coping.
- Contemporary Strain Theory:
Messner and Rosenfield 1994
- Studied: Why does
the USA have higher
levels of crime than
any other industrial
country?
- Crime is product of American dream, a culture that
promotes: Achievement, celebration of winners and
condemnation of losers; individualism, prioritising rights
over responsibilities; materialism, subordination of other
cultural goals to the pursuit of individual wealth;
universalism, pervasive character of these values
throughout entire society. Subordination of other social
institutions (politics, family, education) to the pursuit of
economic power (e.g. instrumental attitudes toward
education; gross imblance between work and life); free
market capitalism as criminogenic social formation.
- "There is nothing necessarily 'sick',
pathological, dysfunctional, or
disorganised about a society organised
to produce high rates of crime.. a
particular level and type of crime are a
normal outcome of a specified set of
cultural and social arrangements.. A low
level of predatory crime would be a sign
of something wrong with a society that
places a premium on the individual
competitive pursuit of financial gain,
encourages people to create ever more
efficient means of besting others, and
offers comparatively little protection or
comfort to the unsuccessful".
- "There is nothing necessarily 'sick',
pathological, dysfunctional, or
disorganised about a society organised
to produce high rates of crime.. a
particular level and type of crime are a
normal outcome of a specified set of
cultural and social arrangements.. A low
level of predatory crime would be a sign
of something wrong with a society that
places a premium on the individual
competitive pursuit of financial gain,
encourages people to create ever more
efficient means of besting others, and
offers comparatively little protection or
comfort to the unsuccessful".
- Studied: Why does
the USA have higher
levels of crime than
any other industrial
country?
- Perceived injustice of
strain; difficulty of
managing a critical
mass of strain through
legitimate means;
reduction of social
control; where strains
facilitate criminal coping
- ' a cardinal American
virtue, ambition,
promotes a cardinal
American vice, deviant
behaviour.' (Merton
1949)
- Dominant pressure of group standards of
success in the context of: a gradual reduction
in legitimate (and largely ineffective) strivings/
means; increased use of illegitimate (but
more or less effective) means in the form of
vice and crime
- Incompatible cultural demands:
promotion of prospect of wealth
accumulation; denial of effective
opportunities to do so institutionally;
consequences of such structural
inconsistency: psychopathological
personality, anti social conduct,
revolutionary activities
- For Merton, anomie is "conceived
as a breakdown in the cultural
structure, occurring particularly
when there is an acute disjunction
between cultural norms and goals
and the social structured
capacities of members of the
group to act in accord with them'
- any society identifies certain
culturally preferred goals. In american
society this is material success (i.e.
american dream) Not everyone can
reach these goals and so there is a
strain to anomie, a range of
behavioural adaptations to these
social and psychological
circumstances
- Vold et al- merton is using a cultural
argument to explain the nature of crime
in american society andand a structural
argument to explain its uneven
distribution
- Vold et al- merton is using a cultural
argument to explain the nature of crime
in american society andand a structural
argument to explain its uneven
distribution
- any society identifies certain
culturally preferred goals. In american
society this is material success (i.e.
american dream) Not everyone can
reach these goals and so there is a
strain to anomie, a range of
behavioural adaptations to these
social and psychological
circumstances
- Anomie is an ever -present cultural feature in american society
(rather than a consequence of social change toward organic
societies as Durkheim argued). There is a lack of legitimate means
for most people to attain the ultimate goal of American society-
material wealth- the American dream.; As a consequence most
people feel strain between this cultural goal and the institutional
means of achieving it; nonetheless, people adapt to strain in
different ways.
- Criticisms of Merton's strain theory:
- limited focus on lower class crime;
preoccupation with goals of middle
class wealth and status; barriers to
achievement, other than
stratification (gender, ethnicity,
intelligence etc.); explaining why
those experiencing strain do not
commit crime.
- Can strain
explain crimes
of the
powerful?
- increasingly
complex
modelling of
strain theory,
e.g. Agnew
- strain theories are
criticised for reliance on
official statistics to
demonstrate claims about
strain
- Problem of over-predicting
offending behaviour and
ignoring role of social
control in producing crime
(e.g. labelling)
- Challenged for its
'correctionalism' and
failure to explain the
origins of strain in social
conflicts rather than
deviance from norms
- Can strain
explain crimes
of the
powerful?
- limited focus on lower class crime;
preoccupation with goals of middle
class wealth and status; barriers to
achievement, other than
stratification (gender, ethnicity,
intelligence etc.); explaining why
those experiencing strain do not
commit crime.
- Can crime be understood
as a product of disparities
or 'strain' between socially
prescribed goals and the
means of achieving these
roles?
- Ecology and crime
- The Chicago School's ecology of
the city (Park and Burgess,
1925); Logic of city growth
produces different neighbourhood
ecologies (zones); the zone of
transition= inner city
neighbourhoods characterised by
high turnover (transition) of
resident populations which
undermines social organisation.
- Shaw and Mckay, 1942,
Social Organisation and the
cultural transmission of
deviance
- statistical correlation between
juvenile offenders' residence and
urban neighbourhoods in the zone of
transition; consistency of this
correlation over time
- In the urban areas of high economic status where the rates of delinquency are
low, there is, in general, a similarity in the attitudes of the residents with
reference to conventional values; in contrast, the areas of low economic status
where the rates of delinquency are high, are characterised by wide diversity in
norms and standards of behaviour.; Children living in such communities are
exposed to a variety of contradictory standards and forms of behaviour rather
than to a relatively consistent and conventional pattern.
- statistical correlation between
juvenile offenders' residence and
urban neighbourhoods in the zone of
transition; consistency of this
correlation over time
- The Chicago School- the legacy
- Social disorganisation as a 'sensitising
concept'. Chicago sociologists were among
the first to sensitise people to an
awareness of the ordering effect of
communities and groups (Heidensohn,
1989); Fundamentally, people perceive
crime as an area problem
- Methodological innovation;
participant observation, life
histories; 'concrete humans
cannot be grasped in
abstraction' (Plummer,
1983)
- neighbourhoods influence a
remarkably wide variety of social
phenomena, including crime,
health, civic engagement, home
foreclosures, teen births,
altruism, leadership networks and
immigration.
- Social disorganisation as a 'sensitising
concept'. Chicago sociologists were among
the first to sensitise people to an
awareness of the ordering effect of
communities and groups (Heidensohn,
1989); Fundamentally, people perceive
crime as an area problem
- Subcultural groups and crime
- Subculture as a determinant of delinquency;
delinquent boys: the culture of the gang (A.
Cohen); juvenile offending is based on the
search for status rather than for material
advantage ( good explanation for non
utilitarian crime?); 'status frustration' given
exclusion of working class boys from
achieveing middle class goals; collective
solution- 'reaction formation'; status is
accomplished through the celebration of
criminogenic values such as aggression,
hedonism and immediate gratification.
- Matza (1964), boring delinquents, young
offenders drift into delinquency, despite
otherwise supporting conventional norms;
techniques of neutralisation, or the means
by which they justify their own deviancy-
having felt the need to justify it.., denial of
responsibility; denial of injury; denial of the
victim; condemnation of the condemners;
appeals to higher loyalties
- Subculture as a determinant of delinquency;
delinquent boys: the culture of the gang (A.
Cohen); juvenile offending is based on the
search for status rather than for material
advantage ( good explanation for non
utilitarian crime?); 'status frustration' given
exclusion of working class boys from
achieveing middle class goals; collective
solution- 'reaction formation'; status is
accomplished through the celebration of
criminogenic values such as aggression,
hedonism and immediate gratification.
- The Chicago School's ecology of
the city (Park and Burgess,
1925); Logic of city growth
produces different neighbourhood
ecologies (zones); the zone of
transition= inner city
neighbourhoods characterised by
high turnover (transition) of
resident populations which
undermines social organisation.
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