CRIM 101 - Final Review

What is the Chicago School?

The first school of sociology in the US.

-Contributed to social disorganization theory, cultural transmission theory, differential association theory, subcultural theory, and sociology of deviance, and symbolic interactionism

How did Emile Durkheim influence sociological approaches to crime and deviance?

-Crime contributes to the development of social cohesion (good guys vs bad guys)

-Forces of integration (social bonds and collective beliefs that drew people together) and forces of regulation (laws and social institutions that ensured compliance with social norms)

-Anomie

What is anomie (Emile Durkheim)?

A state of lawlessness, normlessness, or unrestrained ambition, which if left unchecked could lead to a breakdown in social solidarity.

What is the concentric zone model (Park & Burgess)?

-Observed that Chicago had grown in a series of five concentric zones, and each zone had its own distinctive land usage and population

Zone 1: Central Business District; the main rail and water transportation hub

Zone 2: Zone in Transition; immediately adjacent to the Central Business District

Zone 3: Zone of Workingmen's Homes

Zone 4: Residential Zone

Zone 5: Commuters Zone (suburbs)

-As the Central Business District grew and expanded outward, it put pressure on the Zone in Transition, which because a rundown ghetto

-Those who had the ability to leave the Zone in Transition moved to zone 3, 4, or 5

-The socially disorganized Zone in Transition was populated primarily by recently arrived immigrants, transient workers, and others who could not live in more affluent zones of the city

What is social disorganization theory (Shaw & McKay)?

The theory that a breakdown of the networks, norms, and trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation among residents of neighbourhoods can lead to greater crime and violence.

-Explain why crime rates tend to be higher in urban centres

-Using the concentric zone model, Shaw and McKay demonstrated that juvenile delinquency rates were related to the type of social disorganization found in the Zone of Transition

-Social disorganization led to a breakdown in informal social controls (family members, adult neighbours, teachers, etc.) which in turn led to formation of juvenile gangs, development of criminal values

What are the five main characteristics identified by Shaw and McKay associated with socially disorganized areas?

1. Poverty

2. Overcrowding

3. Ethnic and cultural heterogeneity

4. Residential instability

5. Broken homes

What is Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory?

The theory that criminal behaviour is learned through the process of social interaction, and that the process includes the learning of criminal skills, motivations, attitudes, and rationalizations.

-People learn criminal behaviour

-Draws on symbolic interactionism (meaning and reality are socially constructed through shared gestures or words)

What are the most important principles of differential association?

1. Criminal behaviour is learned

2. Criminal behaviour is learned in a process of interaction with other persons through communication

3. Learning criminal behaviour includes techniques of committing the crime, plus the motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes that go along with being a criminal

What is Aker's differential association-reinforcement theory (social learning theory)?

-Expands on Sutherland's differential association theory

-Specifies the mechanisms involved in the learning process

-Burgess and Akers stated that criminal behaviour is learned in accordance with the principles of operant conditioning (through reinforcement and punishment) and that is can also be learned in non-social situations (consistent with imitation and modeling)

What is Erikson's sociology of deviance?

Blends Chicago School symbolic interactionism with views on how crime and deviance are used to maintain social boundaries and/or social control; it examines how certain groups or behaviours come to be viewed as "social problems."

-If individuals are stigmatized permanently, they may develop a deviant self-image, come to believe that they're no longer a part of the so-called normal community, and thus feel compelled to continue with the disapproved behaviour

What is Becker's labelling theory?

Describes how certain groups or behaviours come to be viewed as "social problems", not because they are necessarily deviant or criminal but because of the social reaction to these groups or behaviours.

-Moral entrepreneurs do labelling; generally come from upper classes and have money and power

-Create moral panics

What is Merton's anomie-strain theory?

Describes the state of anomie in American society caused by the strain between the cultural goals of the "American dream" and the institutional means to achieve those goals.

-Cultural goals include accumulation of wealth and social advancement

-Institutional means include education and good employment opportunities

-Individuals in society dealt with this sense of anomie or strain through five modes of adaptation

What are Merton's five modes of adaptation used by individuals to deal with anomie or strain?

1. Conformity: Accepts cultural goals, accepts institutional means

2. Innovation: Accepts cultural goals, rejects institutional means (theft or fraud)

3. Ritualism: Rejects cultural goals, accepts institutional means

4. Retreatism: Rejects cultural goals, rejects institutional means (alcoholics, drug addicts)

5. Rebellion: Tries to replace cultural goals, tries to replace institutional means (overthrow society)

Which modes of adaptation are associated with crime?

-Innovators

-Retreatists

-Rebels

What is cultural transmission theory?

The notion that criminal subcultures develop their own subcultural, criminal values, which are transmitted from member to member within these subcultures.

-Status deprivation of lower-class males; drop out of school and form delinquent gangs, wherein they created a new set of values; unconventional goals that they could attain

What is Agnew's general strain theory?

Explains delinquent acts by teens from relatively affluent families; teens have more immediate strains than adults, such as physical appearance, popularity, and academic performance, and peer pressure to join gangs and participate in delinquent behaviour.

-Unlike adults, teens cannot escape from their stressful circumstances by moving to a new neighbourhood or a different town, changing jobs, etc.

-These strains or stressors can lead to juvenile delinquency

What is institutional-anomie theory (Messner & Rosenfeld)?

States that institutional-anomie (institutional imbalance) is caused by the cultural goals of capitalist society and the failure of social institutions to properly integrate and regulate the pursuit of those goals

What is social control theory?

The Chicago School's concern with the breakdown in informal social controls; holds that social bonds and informal social controls act as restraints on teen delinquency.

-Hirschi's social bond theory

-Thornberry's interactional theory

-Sampson & Laub's life-course-development theory

What are the three types of control?

1. Direct Control: Punishment or restraints act as external forces

2. Indirect Control: Identification with and affection for parents and significant others

3. Internalized Control: Individual regulates his/her own behaviour

What are the four main elements of Hirschi's social bond theory?

1. Attachment (to parents, teachers, and significant others)

2. Commitment (to doing well at school, keeping a good reputation)

3. Involvement (in organized sports, doing homework)

4. Belief (in the law, and in conventional norms and values)

-Hirschi argued that if the four components of the social bond were working as they should, then an individual would be less inclined to engage in criminal or deviant behaviour

What is the Looking Glass Self (Charles Cooley)?

-We see ourselves as others see us

-Others' conceptions are reflected back to us through words, actions, and symbols (labels)

-If others see us in a negative light, then we come to see ourselves in a negative light

Symbolic interactionism: Social interaction is mainly the exchange of meaning and symbols; individuals have the cognitive capacity to imagine themselves in the roles of others and incorporate this into their conceptions of themselves

What is Thornberry's interactional theory?

Holds that both social bond theory and social learning theory are needed to explain criminal behaviour, because weakening of the social bond and the social learning of criminal values is interactional or reciprocal.

-Weakened social bonds can lead to exposure to delinquent peers and to the learning of delinquent values; at the same time, exposure to delinquent peers and the learning of delinquent values can lead to further weakening of social bonds

-Social bonds change over the life course

What is Sampson & Laub's lifecourse-developmental theory?

The theory that individuals can be deflected off of the trajectory toward a criminal career by life events (turning points) that can lead them to transition out of criminal behaviour.

-Extension of social bond theory; redefine the attachment and commitment elements as "social capital", which is acquired as individuals reach adulthood and start to gain a stake in society by graduating high school, finding a good job, etc.

Describe the geography of urban violence.

-A disproportionate amount of violent crime is concentrated in a small number of neighbourhoods that are characterized by multiple forms of economic and social disadvantage

-Patterns of spatial inequality (unequal distribution of resources and services)

-Neighbourhoods that experience the highest levels of violent crime are also characterized by high and concentrated levels of poverty, racial segregation, population turnover, joblessness, low education, and single-parent families

Research has identified what neighbourhood characteristics that are indicative of social disorganization?

-Poverty

-High population turnover

-Concentration and segregation of racialized groups

-Large numbers of young males and single-parent families