chapter 4: criminology as the sociology of crime

Question 1

what is sociology?

Answer 1

the study of development, structure and functioning of human society

Question 2

who was Gabriel Tarde?

Answer 2

he tried to understand how people behave then thought of them as a “whole” in society

Question 3

what did Gabriel Tarde say about the “Law of Imitation” in 1880?

Answer 3

• all behaviour is learned
• we imitate one another
• society is a representation of people copying eachother (like trends)

Question 4

who was Emile Durkheim?

Answer 4

he believed in a communal way of thinking that we all need each other to grow

Question 5

what did emile durkheim say about the two types of societies?

Answer 5

Organic: interdependence of the community members on one another

Mechanic: commonalities amongst community members

Question 6

what does emile durkheim say about “crime as a social fact” ?

Answer 6

its the structure of our society that creates inequality with lower and upper class cuz the people at the top of the pyramid will always have different wants and needs than the people at the bottom of the pyramid

Question 6

what does anomie mean?

Answer 6

breaking rules out of spite

Question 7

who was edwin sutherland and what did he believe?

Answer 7

he wanted to prove the michael-adler report wrong and he said there is no ONE approach that explains crime

Question 8

what is analytic induction?

Answer 8

think of common law (using a hypothesis and applying it to a case to see if it works) kind of like trial and error)

Question 9

differential association theory: normative conflict

Answer 9

society is compromised of groups with competing values and interests which creates crime

Question 10

differential association theory: differential conflict

Answer 10

crime is a learned behaviour where people are more likely to engage in crime if they do it more frequently

Question 11

differential association theory: differential social organization

Answer 11

normalized conflict affects how society is organized and creates more subcultures (underage drinking)

Question 12

what is strain theory by robert k merton

Answer 12

a theory that looks at society from a birds eye view because it is very broad and doesn’t take into account individualism

Question 13

strain theory: conformity (think american dream)

Answer 13

following and conforming to the rules to reach the american dream goal

Question 14

strain theory: innovation

Answer 14

making your own rules/innovating rules to get to that american dream goal (drug dealers)

Question 15

strain theory: ritualism

Answer 15

hates the rules of society but does it anyway (working 9-5 but dont care about the american dream)

Question 16

strain theory: retreatism

Answer 16

doesnt conform or has any goal of the american dream (homelessness)

Question 17

strain theory: rebellism

Answer 17

re-writing the rules in their own way and creating new goals