SOCIAL CONSIDERATONS

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• V.
• SOCIAL CONSIDERATONS
• and THE GROWTH of
• AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY /
• CRIMINOLOGY

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A. Introduction

• 1. intellectual revolution recognizing
  the value of examining the
• broader human experience and all
  social interactions
• 2. creation and development of the
  social sciences anthropology,
• economics, psychology, sociology,
  economics, as well as
• communications
• 3. in the United States, the 2
  intellectual centers of this new age were
• in Cambridge, MA at Harvard
  University

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4. and in Chicago, IL at 5.
Harvards focus, derived from Webers
construction of the Bureaucracy, became
known as Structural Functionalism gt
the Chicago perspective derived more from the
emergence of psychology, became
known as Symbolic Interactionism 6. all
derived from the original sociologist Emile
Durkheim
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• 1858-1917

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B. Academic Aside

• 1. Harvards Structural Functionalism
• a. leader Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)
• b. the structure (form) is what guides
• any organization
• c. roles are more important than the
  people
• who affect them
• gt status is relevant and
  critical
• d. every society is constructed by 3
  components
• 1) the individual
• 2) the relationship/s between
  individuals
• 3) societys culture

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• e. Academic disciples of Harvard
• 1) Robert K Merton (1910-2003)
• gt Social Structure and
  Anomie
• (1938)
• 2) Walter Miller (1920-2004)
• gt Lower Class Culture as a
  Generating Milieu (1955)
• 2. Chicagos Symbolic Interactionism
• a. George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) and
• later Hubert
  Blumer (1900-2987)

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• b. all social interactions are preceded
  by the expectations and
• meanings that the actor/s bring
  to it (anticipation and
• definitions)
• c. people interact through a process of
  shared symbols
• d. genesis of the social
  examination of crime (criminology), the
• so-called Chicago School
• gt advanced a
  social ecology perspective
• a) people are social
  organisms
• b) Invasion Succession
  Dominance
• c) ethnic enclaves

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• e. Robert Park
• 1) the city as social laboratory
• 2) with Ernest Burgess Concentric
  Zone Theory
• 3) Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay
  (1942)
• gt Social Disorganization
• f. disciples of Chicago
• 1) Edwin Sutherland (1947)
  Differential Association
• 2) Gresham Sykes and David Matza
  
• a Techniques of Neutralization
  (1957)
• b delinquency as Subterranean
  Value (1961)

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• 3) Walter Reckless (1955)
• gt Containment / Social
  Control theory
• 4) Travis Hirschi (1969)
• gt Elements of Social Bond
• gt reminder definition of a theory criteria
  used to assess
• a theorys worth

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C. Social Strain Theories

• 1. most social science explanations begin
  here
• gt the earliest modern theories
• 2. responds to the question How do people
  improve the quality of their
• lives?
• a. seek tranquility
• b. what happens to people as they seek
  to advance themselves
• c. in American culture, the pursuit of
  contentment and
• advancement is through monetary
  success

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• 3. proponents
• a) Emile Durkheim (1897)
• 1) anomie the condition of a
  society or group with a high
• degree of
  confusion and contradiction in its basic
• social norms
• 2) confusion leads to deviance
• 3) crime is simply another social
  behavior
• a it is normal
• b there would be crime
  (deviance) in a community of
• saints

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• b. Robert K Merton (1938)
• 1) created
  the American version of anomie
• ...a state of dissatisfaction
  (strain) that arises when
• discrepancies exist
  between social aspirations and the
• ability / means to realize
  these aspirations
• 2) the common American goal
• gt monetary advantage
• 3) when faced with an inability to
  achieve what we desire,
• situations that strain and
  conflict, we adapt in a prescribed
  
• manner

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• a) conformity
• 1 adapting the societys
  inconsistencies and
• unfairness
  rationally
• 2 the response of most of
  us
• b) innovation
• 1 recognizing the
  unfairness and doing something
• about it
• 2 the criminal response
• c) ritualism
• 1 recognizing the
  unfairness and decrying it as
• unfairness
• 2 the disgruntled

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• d) retreatism
• 1 rejecting the
  unfairness and rejecting any solution to it
• 2 the social drop-out
  / addict
• e) rebellion
• 1 rejecting the
  unfairness and creating a strategy to
• replace it
• 2 the radical
• 4. we all respond to strain with
  one of these adaptations

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• C. Robert Agnew
• 1) General Strain Theory (1992)
• a) along with societal
  blockage, people get upset because
• of lifes stresses/
  strains
• b) when people get upset
  they may act badly
• 2) General Crime Theory
  (2005)
• a) Web of Crime
  interconnectedness of lifes domains
• b) individuals domains
• 1 self biology,
  personality
• gt low self
  control, irritability, impulsive, need for
• immediate
  gratification

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• 3 school holistic
  experience
• gt poor school
  environments, bad grades / teachers,
• lack of
  incentive to do well
• 4 peers kinship
  groups
• gt gangs, bad
  friends, lack of incentives to make
  
• good decisions
• 5 work
  employment opportunities
• gt lack of
  job skills, ineffective supervisors, lack of
• achievement
  incentives
• d. Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin
  (1960)

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• e. comment
• 1) explanations are based on
  controversial assumptions
• 2) by and large ignore women
• 3) dismisses strain that exists
  for everyone

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D. Culture Conflict Perspectives

• 1. Thorsten Sellin (1938) culture
  conflict theory
• a. questions the influence of
  individual cultures as a precursor to
• crime
• b. what happens when conflicting
  cultures clash?
• c. raised the question of the
  normality of crime
• gt what is normal behavior in
  various / conflicting societies?
• d. if crime is a product of the
  social conditions that produce it, then
• the social, political, economic,
  and environmental institutions
• need to be examined
• e. who defines crime?
• f. crime must be examined
  holistically

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• 2. subcultures
• a. Albert Cohen (1955) Delinquent Boys
  the Culture of the
• 
  Gang
• gt when groups of young men are
  denied mainstream status,
• they form alternative social
  systems to achieve this
• unfulfilled status
• b. Wolfgang and Ferracuti (1967)
  The Subculture of Violence
• 1) def "a normative ... group ...
  smaller than the whole
• society...(having)
  value judgments or a social value
• system which is
  apart...and a part of a larger or
• central value
  system"
• 2) affiliations to which
  individuals belong and that govern
• conduct norms

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E. Social Ecology Theories

• 1. the Department of Sociology at the
  University of Chicago
• (1126 E. 59th Street)
• a. treated the city as an urban
  laboratory
• b. introduced ethnography as a legitimate
  
• data collection strategy
• 2. The Chicago School
• a. Robert Park and Ernest Burgess (1925)
• 1) the Concentric Zone Theory

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• b. Clifford Shaw
  and Henry McKay (1942)
• Social Disorganization and
  Crime Areas
• 1) the social environment MUST be
  the focus of all social
• behavior
• 2) values, norms, acceptable
  behavior, interpersonal
• expectations are all
  passed along from generation to
• generation often without
  thought or examination
• 3) certain highly transitory,
  unstable environments
• create alienation,
  instability, and social trauma
• 4) the model

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Uncertainty / Confusion / Conflicting Social
Norms
RAPID CHANGE
CRIME
Weakened Social / Informal Controls
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• C. Walter Miller (1958)
• 1) Lower Class Culture
  as a Generating Milieu for Gang
• Delinquency
• 2) why the prevalence of
  crime in lower class
• neighborhoods in
  spite of the ethnic / cultural / racial
  
• composition of the
  residents?
• gt answer must lie in
  the lower class culture itself
• 3) certain behavioral
  characteristics are predisposed to the
• lower class
• 4) lower class focal
  concerns
• a) trouble
  chronic anxiety that all behavior is under
• 
  scrutiny obsessive fascination with
• 
  avoiding or getting into it

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• b) toughness
  fronting, posturing hyper-masculinity
• 
  enhancement and attraction of physical
• 
  prowess
• c) smartness
  quick wittedness cunning status
• 
  through verbal acuity not intellect or
  
• 
  book smartness
• d) excitement
  thrill-seeking risk-taking as a measure
• 
  of status and lifes philosophy
• e) fate
  luck or trust in luck since so much of life is
  out
• of ones
  control, no need to worry about it
• 5) values,
  characteristics shared by all lower class
• residents, and a
  catalyst for gang membership
• gt these observations are
  not non-controversial

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E. Social Control Theories

• 1. basic control theory question Why dont
  you commit
• crime?
• gt answer because you are controlled
• 2. Gresham Sykes and David Matza (1957)
• Techniques of Neutralization
• a. revolves around the concept of drift
• b. Q why do good people do bad
  things?
• c. coupled with Harold Garfinkels
  (1956)
• Successful Degradation Ceremonies

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Physical Illness
Treatment
Mental Illness
Normal Behavior
Suspicion
Crime
Societal Response
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• d. the techniques (series of post hoc
  rationalizations)
• 1) denial of responsibility
• gt forces beyond my control
• 2) denial of injury
• gt no one was really hurt
• 3) denial of victims
• gt ...they had it coming
• 4) condemnation of the condemners
• gt everyone does it
• 5) appeal to higher authorities

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• 3. Walter Reckless (1961) Containment
  Theory
• a. humans are controlled / contained by
  two factors
• b. outer containment
• 1) social norms
• 2) significant others
• 3) the law
• c. inner containment
• gt individual psyche
• 4. Travis Hirschi (1969) Elements of the
  Social Bond
• a. an integration of anomie, social
  disorganization, differential

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• b.
  individuals having a strong BOND to the
  conventional order are
• less likely to commit crime /
  delinquency
• c. the elements
• 1) attachment emotional regard
  (affection) for others
• gt do you love your parents?
• 2) commitment pursuit of
  cultural ideals
• gt acceptance of prosocial
  values
• 3) involvement investment of
  time / effort in the pursuit of

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F. Summary

• 1. evolution of social science in looking
  at social
• factors the environment, the family,
  the economy,
• work, education, etc., as contributors
  and precursors
• to criminality
• 2. examination of human interaction with
  each other
• and those things each of us contacts
• 3. consideration of the impact these
  interactions have
• 4. creation of those methodologies that
  give us the best
• information to assess those outcomes