Key Word Definitions Flashcards
Chivalry thesis
The view that the criminal justice system is biased in favour of women so that they are less likely to be charged than men
Anomie
Durkheim: Means normlessness. Argues that anomie arises when there is a rapid social change because existing norms become unclear or outdated.
Action theories
See individuals as having free will and choice, and the power to create society through their interactions and actions.
Anomie
Means normlessness. Durkheim argues that anomie arises when there is rapid social change because existing norms become unclear or outdated.
Case study
Research that examines a single case or example, such as a single school, family or workplace, often using several methods or sources.
Close ended question
Questions in a survey that allow a limited choice of answers from a pre set list.
Collective conscience
Referring to the shared norms, values and beliefs that make social life and cooperation between individuals possible
Comparative method
Research method that compares two social groups that are alike apart from one factor. Durkheim uses this when describing suicide.
Content analysis
A method of analysing the content of documents and media output to find out how often different types of people or events appear.
Control group
Unlike the experimental group that control group is not exposed to the variable under investigation.
Critical criminology
A Neo Marxist approach that combines ideas from traditional Marxism and labelling theory to explain crime in capitalist society.
Determinism
The idea that humans have no free will and that their thoughts and behaviour are shaped or caused by factors outside themselves.
Deviance amplification spiral
Is the process whereby attempts to control deviance actually produce an increase in deviance, leading to greater attempts at control and still higher levels of deviance.
Disciplinary power
According to Foucault, it’s he typical for, of control in modern society. It is based on self surveillance and self discipline as a means of introducing conformity. It’s model is the panopticon prison.
Environmental crime prevention
A crime reduction strategy associated with Wilson and Kelling’s broken windows article.
Ethnomethodology
An interpretivist approach developed by Garfinkel, it rejects the idea of an external social structure and sees society as a social construct Members use common sense knowledge to achieve a sense of order.
Experiments
A laboratory experiment is a test carried out in controlled conditions in an artificial setting to establish a cause and effect relationship between two or more variables.
Green crimes
Are crimes against the environment and the human and non human animals within it. Primary green crimes involve the destruction of the earths resources. Secondary green crimes involves he breaking of laws aimed at preventing or regulating environmental disasters.
Hawthorne effect
Where the subjects know that they are being observed and begin to behave differently. Thereby undermining the study’s validity.