JLC 205: Intro to Criminology - Biological, Strain, Ecological, and Subcultural Theories

Flashcards testing foundational terminology, key figures, causal mechanisms, and research findings across biological determinism, biosocial criminology, anomie, classical and general strain theories, social disorganization, and subcultural theories of crime.

Classical School of Criminology

A criminological perspective assuming all people are intelligent, rational, and possess free will, viewing crime as a reasoned, hedonistic decision.

Positivist School of Criminology

A perspective founded by Auguste Comte positing that criminals are fundamentally different from non-criminals and that crime results from individual and societal factors beyond individual control.

Biological Determinism (Phase 1 Biological Theories)

An early framework (late 18th to mid-20th century) asserting that innate anatomical, physiological, or genetic defects ensure a person will commit crime, viewing crime as completely deterministic and immune to the certainty, severity, or celerity of legal punishment.

Biosocial Theories (Phase 2 Biological Theories)

Modern criminological perspectives (late 20th century to present) examining the non-deterministic interaction between biological characteristics and the physical and social environment ($\text{Biological makeup} \times \text{Environment}$).

Physiognomy

An early historical precursor to biological criminology involving the study of facial features to determine character and criminal propensity.

Phrenology

An early biological approach involving the measurement and study of the bumps and shape of the human skull to determine mental faculties and behavioral tendencies.

Cesare Lombroso

An Italian physician who wrote 'The Criminal Man' (1876), considered an early pioneer of biological criminology who combined physiognomy and phrenology to measure physical anomalies.

Atavistic Throwback

Lombroso's concept of the 'born criminal' as an evolutionary regression who possesses the biological makeup, mental capabilities, and instincts of primitive man, making them unsuited for civilized society.

Stigmata (Lombrosian)

Physical anomalies identified by Lombroso—such as asymmetrical facial features, larger jaws, extra digits, sloping foreheads, long arms, and excessive body hair—where displaying $5$ or more indicated a born criminal.

Charles Goring

An English doctor who published 'The English Convict' (1913), mathematically refuting Lombroso's physical stigmata doctrine while concluding that inherited defective mental capacity was a primary driver of crime.

Somatotyping

William Sheldon's body-type classification system linking embryonic tissue layer development to human physique and temperament on a $1$ to $7$ scale.

Endomorphic

Sheldon's body type characterized by a soft, round body, small bones, and short limbs, associated with a relaxed, luxury-loving, extroverted temperament ($7\text{-}1\text{-}1$ rating).

Mesomorphic

Sheldon's body type characterized by a predominance of muscle, large bones, heavy chest, and dynamic posture, linked to aggressive, assertive behavior and identified as the body type most prone to criminal delinquency ($1\text{-}7\text{-}1$ rating).

Ectomorphic

Sheldon's body type characterized by a lean, delicate body, small bones, and high surface area, associated with an introverted, sensitive, and chronically troubled temperament ($1\text{-}1\text{-}7$ rating).

Earnest Hooton

An American anthropologist who published 'Crime & The Man' (1939), studying over $17{,}000$ individuals to argue that criminals were physically, intellectually, and morphologically inferior, and advocating eugenics.

The Jukes Family Study

An 1874 genealogical study conducted by Richard Dugdale tracing the descendants of 'Ada Juke' to argue that pauperism, disease, and criminality were hereditary.

The Kallikak Family Study

A genealogical study by Henry Goddard comparing the descendants of Martin Kallikak Jr. ('Old Horror', born to a feebleminded tavern girl) to Kallikak's 'good line' (born to a respectable Quaker woman) to argue that feeblemindedness and criminality were genetic.

Denmark Adoption Study (Mednick et al., 1984)

A landmark study of $14{,}427$ Danish adoptees finding that when biological parents had criminal convictions, adoptees had higher conviction rates ($20.0\%$ and $24.5\%$), supporting a partial genetic etiology for property offending.

MAOA Gene ('The Warrior Gene')

The Monoamine Oxidase A gene; low activity of this gene impairs neurotransmitter breakdown, leading to excessive levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, which can result in low self-control and heightened aggression.

Dopamine

A brain neurotransmitter central to the natural reward and pleasure system and flight-or-fight response; overproduction has been linked to psychotic traits, antisocial behavior, and violence.

Serotonin

A neurotransmitter regulating emotional processing and self-control; low levels are consistently linked to depression, suicide, impulsivity, and violent criminal behavior.

Low Resting Heart Rate

The most consistently replicated physiological correlate of antisocial and violent behavior, reflecting low autonomic nervous system arousal, an unpleasant physiological state, and fearlessness.

Relative Deprivation

Adolphe Quetelet's concept demonstrating that crime is highest not merely in poor areas, but where impoverished individuals live in close geographic proximity to conspicuous wealth.

Mechanical Society

Emile Durkheim's term for primitive, agrarian societies characterized by simple divisions of labor, strong social solidarity, and a powerful, uniform collective conscience.

Organic Society

Emile Durkheim's term for modern industrial societies characterized by highly specialized divisions of labor, which weaken the collective conscience and increase social problems like crime.

Collective Conscience

Durkheim's term for the shared beliefs, moral attitudes, and common values that operate as a unifying force within a society.

Anomie (Durkheim)

A state of 'normlessness' occurring during periods of rapid social or economic transition, where social rules breakdown and society loses the ability to regulate individual desires and greed.

Merton's Strain Theory

A macro-level theory positing that crime occurs when an anomic society places extreme emphasis on cultural success goals (the American Dream) while providing unequal access to legitimate institutionalized means.

Conformity (Merton)

An adaptation to strain where an individual accepts both the culturally approved goals and the institutionalized means to achieve them.

Innovation (Merton)

An adaptation to strain where an individual accepts cultural success goals ($$) but rejects or lacks access to legitimate means, turning to illegitimate methods like crime to achieve wealth.

Ritualism (Merton)

An adaptation to strain where an individual rejects or scales down cultural success goals but continues to rigidly conform to legitimate institutional means.

Retreatism (Merton)

An adaptation to strain where an individual rejects both the cultural goals and institutionalized means, essentially dropping out of society (e.g., severe drug addiction).

Rebellion (Merton)

An adaptation to strain where an individual rejects existing cultural goals and institutionalized means and actively works to replace them with entirely new social goals and means.

Middle-Class Measuring Rod

Albert Cohen's concept of the set of conventional middle-class standards (discipline, academic manners, delayed gratification) against which lower-class youth are evaluated in schools.

Reaction Formation (Cohen)

A psychological defense mechanism identified by Albert Cohen wherein lower-class youth, facing status frustration from school failure, completely invert conventional middle-class values and adopt defiant, oppositional behaviors.

Delinquent Boys (Cohen)

Lower-class youths who react to middle-class status frustration by joining gangs, committing non-utilitarian, malicious offenses, and gaining status among peers by flouting conventional values.

Theory of Differential Opportunity

Cloward and Ohlin's theory asserting that access to illegitimate opportunity structures, like access to legitimate structures, is unequal and determines the specific type of gang that emerges in a neighborhood.

Criminal Gangs (Cloward & Ohlin)

Gangs that form in stable lower-class neighborhoods with integrated adult criminal networks, focusing on organized, utilitarian property theft and mentoring younger members.

Conflict Gangs (Cloward & Ohlin)

Gangs that develop in disorganized neighborhoods lacking adult criminal networks, relying on expressive violence and territorial fighting to establish respect and status.

Retreatist Gangs (Cloward & Ohlin)

Subcultural groups composed of 'double failures' who could achieve success neither through legitimate conventional channels nor through violent or criminal gangs, escaping through chronic substance abuse.

General Strain Theory (GST)

Robert Agnew's micro-level theory stating that crime results when individuals experience strains that produce negative affective states (primarily anger) in the absence of positive, legitimate coping mechanisms.

Presentation of Noxious Stimuli

One of Agnew's three major sources of strain, involving the introduction of painful, aversive conditions such as child abuse, peer victimization, or stressful work environments.

Removal of Positively Valued Stimuli

A source of strain in Agnew's General Strain Theory involving the loss of a positive, valued element in life, such as the death of a loved one, job loss, or relationship breakup.

Institutional Anomie Theory

Messner and Rosenfeld's macro-level theory (1994) arguing that high American crime rates stem from the cultural obsession with monetary success paired with the structural dominance of the economy over non-economic institutions like family, polity, and education.

Economic Domination (IAT)

The process described by Messner and Rosenfeld where non-economic institutions are devalued, forced to accommodate economic demands, and penetrated by business logic and financial metrics.

Human Ecology (Chicago School)

The criminological framework, pioneered by Robert Park, applying ecological and evolutionary principles to study how humans interact with and adapt to their urban physical environment.

Invasion and Dominance

Robert Park's ecological concept describing how expanding industrial and business interests encroach upon adjacent residential neighborhoods, causing social destabilization and decay.

Zone in Transition (Zone 2)

The second concentric ring in Park and Burgess's model, located immediately adjacent to the central business district, characterized by physical dilapidation, high residential mobility, and consistently high crime rates.

Social Disorganization Theory

Shaw and McKay's theory arguing that crime rates are tied to ecological neighborhood characteristics—specifically poverty, racial/ethnic heterogeneity, physical dilapidation, residential turnover, and social ills—which erode informal social controls.

Chicago Area Project (CAP)

A community-based delinquency prevention program launched by Clifford Shaw in 1932 that utilized local resident committees to organize youth recreation, improve physical neighborhood conditions, and guide parolees and gang youth.

Systemic Model of Social Disorganization

Kasarda and Janowitz's (1974) refinement defining social disorganization as the strength of local friendship networks, organizational participation, and formal and informal residential social ties.

Broken Windows Theory

Wilson and Kelling's (1982) theory stating that unrepaired physical and social disorder signals that no one cares, inducing fear among citizens, causing them to withdraw, eroding informal control, and encouraging serious crime.

Collective Efficacy

Robert Sampson's concept combining mutual trust and social cohesion among neighbors with a shared willingness to intervene informally on behalf of the common good.

Focal Concerns (Walter Miller)

Walter Miller's (1962) concept of the six distinct subcultural values socialized within the lower working class: Fate, Autonomy, Trouble, Toughness, Excitement, and Smartness (FATES).

Subculture of Violence

Wolfgang and Ferracuti's (1967) theory arguing that high rates of urban passion homicides stem from a learned subcultural value system where violence is viewed as an expected, honorable mechanism for resolving disputes.

Code of the Street

Elijah Anderson's concept of an informal set of behavioral rules and norms governing public interactions in disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods, where 'respect' serves as the primary currency.

Street Families

Families identified by Anderson that fully embrace the street code, characterized by bitter outlooks, quick tempers, lack of patience, superficial family bonds, and aggressive campaigns for respect.

Decent Families

Families identified by Anderson who embrace conventional middle-class values, prioritize hard work, church, and children's education, while maintaining strict rules to protect their children from street dangers.

Code Switching

Elijah Anderson's term for the behavioral skill used by youth from decent families to adopt street behaviors, posture, and language in specific urban staging areas to avoid victimization.

Southern Culture of Honor

Nisbett and Cohen's theory proposing that elevated rates of argument-related homicides in the American South trace back to Scottish and Irish pastoral herders whose isolation required the swift use of violence to defend property and personal reputation.