sociological positvism: the chicago school of criminology

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1. What is sociological positivism?

The scientific study of society and human/social behaviour using observable and measurable evidence.

2. What shift did sociological positivism make from natural sciences?

It applied scientific methods from natural sciences to social sciences.

3. What does sociological positivism attempt to discover?

General laws about human and social behaviour.

4. According to the sociological perspective, what causes offending?

Social conditions, peer/group effects, and neighbourhood effects.

5. What is the main unit of analysis in sociological positivism?

The collective or community.

6. What revolutionary methods were introduced by the Chicago School?

Fieldwork, ethnography, life histories, neighbourhood analysis, and spatial crime mapping.

7. What is ethnography?

In-depth observation and study of people, groups, and environments.

8. What did Chicago School researchers study through ethnography?

Gangs and communities in their neighbourhoods.

9. What did the Chicago School treat as the “unit of analysis”?

The neighbourhood.

10. What is spatial analysis of crime?

Mapping crime across different geographic areas and neighbourhoods.

11. Why is defining a neighbourhood difficult in criminology?

There is no universally accepted definition.

12. What did systematic reviews find about neighbourhood definitions?

Definitions vary widely with around 50 unique operationalisations.

13. Who was Robert Park?

A key Chicago School criminologist who applied anthropological methods to urban communities.

14. How did Robert Park conceptualise the neighbourhood?

As a “living laboratory” for studying social life.

15. What is one major legacy of the Chicago School?

Criminology became more scientific and evidence-based.

16. How did the Chicago School change criminology?

It shifted criminology from moral/legal inquiry to observation, data analysis, and theory testing.

17. According to the Chicago School, what are the root causes of crime?

Social and environmental factors rather than biology or pathology.

18. What historical changes influenced Chicago School criminology?

Urbanisation, industrialisation, and immigration.

19. What kinds of neighbourhoods interested Chicago School criminologists most?

Ethnically diverse, impoverished, and transient inner-city neighbourhoods.

20. What is the sociology of crime and deviance?

A criminological tradition studying crime as a social phenomenon.

21. According to the Chicago School, how is crime learned?

Through social interaction and human ecology.

22. What does the Chicago School argue about crime distribution?

Crime is spatially distributed unevenly across neighbourhoods.

23. Which neighbourhoods have higher crime according to the Chicago School?

Socially disorganised neighbourhoods.

24. What factors characterise socially disorganised neighbourhoods?

Poverty, weak institutions, and low social cohesion.

25. What major theories emerged from the Chicago School?

Concentric zone theory, social disorganisation theory, differential association theory, and subcultural theory.

26. What is social cohesion?

Strong social bonds and connectedness within a community.

27. What is collective efficacy?

Shared willingness of residents to maintain social order through informal social control.

28. What is concentrated disadvantage?

Clustering of multiple social and economic disadvantages within neighbourhoods.

29. Who developed concentric zone theory?

Ernest Burgess and Robert Park.

30. What are the five concentric zones in Burgess and Park’s model?

The loop, transition zone, working-class zone, residential zone, and commuter zone.

31. What is the “loop” in concentric zone theory?

The central business/commercial district.

32. What is the transition zone in concentric zone theory?

The inner-city area with many recent immigrants.

33. What is the working-class zone?

Areas with single-family tenements and working-class residents.

34. What is the residential zone?

Areas with single-family homes.

35. What is the commuter zone?

The suburban outskirts of the city.

36. What is the main hypothesis of concentric zone theory?

Crime and disorder decrease with distance from the city centre.

37. According to concentric zone theory, where are social problems concentrated?

In central urban zones, especially the transition zone.

38. What criticism says concentric zone theory is outdated?

It reflects cities of the early 20th century rather than modern urban environments.

39. What modern urban processes weaken concentric zone theory?

Gentrification, globalisation, and urban planning.

40. Why does concentric zone theory lack generalisability?

Many cities like New York and London do not follow the model.

41. What is gentrification?

Wealthier people moving into lower-income urban areas and displacing residents.

42. How does gentrification supposedly reduce crime?

By improving neighbourhood conditions and reducing disorder.

43. What is broken windows theory?

Visible disorder signals tolerance of crime and encourages further disorder.

44. What example is commonly used in broken windows theory?

An unfixed broken window signalling neglect.

45. What assumption about immigration did concentric zone theory make?

Immigration was positively related to crime.

46. What did later meta-analyses find about immigration and crime?

The relationship is weakly negative.

47. What is social disorganisation theory?

A theory linking crime to weakened community structures and social cohesion.

48. What three factors define social disorganisation?

Poverty, ethnic heterogeneity, and residential mobility.

49. What does ethnic heterogeneity mean?

High levels of ethnic diversity.

50. What does residential mobility mean?

Frequent movement and turnover of residents.

51. What factors define socially organised neighbourhoods?

Affluence, ethnic homogeneity, and residential stability.

52. According to social disorganisation theory, what is transmitted in disorganised communities?

Criminal and deviant norms and values.

53. What evidence supported social disorganisation theory?

Correlations between offender residence and transition-zone neighbourhoods.

54. Why did social disorganisation theorists reject individual explanations of crime?

Crime patterns persisted despite changes in residents.

55. What did spatial maps of Cook County Jail offenders show?

Alleged offenders clustered in urban neighbourhoods.

56. What social conditions were linked to offender clusters?

Poverty, ethnic diversity, and transience.

57. What is concentrated disadvantage?

Spatial clustering of poverty, unemployment, segregation, and instability.

58. Why is concentrated disadvantage important criminologically?

Multiple disadvantages reinforce each other and weaken informal control.

59. What is cultural transmission in social disorganisation theory?

The passing on of norms and values through social interaction.

60. What happens in socially organised neighbourhoods according to cultural transmission theory?

Residents conform to mainstream norms and punish deviance.

61. What happens in socially disorganised neighbourhoods according to cultural transmission theory?

Residents may adopt criminal norms and values.

62. What is are criticisms on environmental theories?

Individuals choose their behaviour regardless of environment. the community is dead and so are its effect on people, poeple are more subject to global forces beyong our control

63. What does Robert Putnam mean by “Bowling Alone”?

Declining social capital and weakening community ties.

64. What is social capital?

The value created through relationships, trust, and shared norms.

65. How does social capital benefit communities?

It promotes cooperation, trust, and reciprocity.

66. What are the two components of collective efficacy?

Social cohesion and shared willingness to intervene.

67. How does concentrated disadvantage affect collective efficacy?

It weakens social cohesion and informal control.

68. Why do neighbourhoods still matter according to neighbourhood effects research?

They shape opportunities, crime exposure, health, and mobility.

69. What life outcomes are affected by neighbourhoods?

Crime, victimisation, health, education, and social mobility.

70. Who made the first major contribution to subcultural theory?

F. M. Thrasher.

71. What did Thrasher study in 1927?

Gangs in Chicago.

72. Who wrote “Delinquent Boys

The Culture of the Gang”?

73. What did Walter Miller study?

Working-class boys and delinquency.

74. Who developed differential opportunity theory?

Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin.

75. What did Thrasher’s study of gangs analyse?

The relationship between gangs and urban geography.

76. Which neighbourhoods were most likely to produce gangs according to Thrasher?

Transitional neighbourhoods.

77. What historical systems did Thrasher link gang culture to?

Feudal and medieval power systems.

78. What did Albert Cohen argue juvenile offending provided?

Status attainment rather than material gain.

79. What is status frustration?

Frustration caused by exclusion from mainstream success.

80. What is reaction formation in Cohen’s theory?

Rejecting mainstream values and forming alternative deviant values.

81. What norms characterise delinquent subcultures according to Cohen?

Aggression, hedonism, and immediate gratification.

82. What is differential opportunity theory?

A theory explaining crime through unequal access to legitimate and illegitimate opportunities.

83. How did Cloward and Ohlin expand Merton’s strain theory?

They argued access to criminal opportunities also varies by neighbourhood.

84. What is differential association theory?

A theory arguing crime is learned through interaction with others.

85. Who developed differential association theory?

Edwin Sutherland.

86. According to differential association theory, how is crime learned?

Like any other behaviour through communication and interaction.

87. What determines imitation in differential association theory?

Frequency and consistency of contact with criminal associates.

88. What else is learned alongside criminal behaviour?

Criminal attitudes, norms, and values.

89. What are social norms?

Written and unwritten rules governing behaviour.

90. What are mainstream norms?

Behaviours approved by the majority of society.

91. Give examples of mainstream norms.

Adherence to laws, fairness, justice, and rejection of violence.

92. What are subcultural norms?

Behaviours contrary to mainstream society but accepted within a subculture.

93. What is an example of a gang subcultural norm?

The “code of the street.”

94. What is an example of white-collar subcultural norms?

The “code of the suite.”

95. What are criticisms of differential association theory?

It over-reduces behaviour to norms and lacks strong evidence.

96. Why is norm compliance difficult to measure?

Group norms and enforcement are often hidden or unclear.

97. What is the code of the street?

Informal rules governing behaviour in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

98. Why does the code of the street emerge?

Due to poverty, blocked mobility, and distrust of law enforcement.

99. What values are prioritised in the code of the street?

Status, respect, and reputation.