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Schmalleger: CHAPTER 7: Sociological Theories
We shift from biological and psychological theories, that look at what
shapes behavior from inside the offender (mind/body) to external SOCIAL
factors that shape behavior, the conditions for behavior, or the social
constructs of law and social response.
A. MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
1. Social groups, institutions, arrangements of society, and social roles
should be the focus of research for understanding crime
2. Group dynamics, group organizations, and subgroup relationships
form the causal nexes out of which crime develops
3. The structure of society and its relative degree of organization or
disorganization are important factors shaping behavior
4. While we can't easily predict INDIVIDUAL behavior, we can generate
statistical probabilities of group characteristics such that we can say,
"A member of this group is more likely to engage in criminal behavior
than members of that group."
B. SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Some theories try to explain crime by looking at social structure.
Social structure simply means: A STABLE PATTERN OF RELATIONSHIPS THAT
EXIST WITHIN A GROUP OR SOCIETY THAT PROVIDES SIGNPOSTS FOR INTERPRETING
AND ACTING ON THE WORLD
Some theories:
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1. SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION: Sees social change, social conflict,
instability, and lack of social consensus as basic causes of crime.
This was common in the 1920s-30s.
1) Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay (Concentric Zone Theory)
a. Shaw and McKay came up with the notion that delinquency is the result
of the neighborhood in which a child lives
i. Their zonal hypothesis claims that rates of delinquency decline the
farther one moves from the center of the city
ii. To test this theory, they divided up Chicago into 5 concentric circles
or zones
iii. They found that delinquency rates tended to be the highest in the first
two zones, while it declined significantly in each subsequent zone
b. The explanation for their findings was in terms of culture and environment
i. Run down areas create social disorganization- (newly arrived immigrants
were not familiar with the cities geography or culture and immediately faced
overwhelming problems)
--Run down areas create social disorganization- (newly arrived immigrants
were not familiar with the cities geography or culture and immediately faced
overwhelming problems)
ii. Social disorganization fosters cultural conflicts- (In high delinquency
areas, the norms of a variety of different cultures existed side by side
which led to cultural conflicts)
iii. Cultural conflict allows delinquency to flourish- (Cultural transmission
in which criminal values are passed from one generation to the next.had an
impact on children who were exposed to both conventional and criminal value
systems in areas of low socio-economic statuses and high delinquency rates)
iv. Allowed to flourish, delinquency becomes a full-time career . (Though
initial offenses may be trivial, acts of delinquents become increasingly
severe and can culminate in the formation gangs or other group efforts)
c. Critiques of Shaw and McKay's Theory
i. Neighborhoods with high rates of delinquency may not be disorganized, or
may simply be organized differently than other neighborhoods
ii. Shaw and McKay.s theory is limited in scope, in that it only examines a
particular historical period in Chicago (early 20th century)
iii. Since Shaw and McKay didn.t explain non-delinquency in their study,
there is a possibility that neighborhoods do not pass on values and criminal
traditions from one generation to the next
iv. However, there is evidence of a strong correlation between
neighborhood disadvantage. (the percentage of people living below the poverty
line, unemployment rates, proportion of single parent family households) and
crime
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2) STRAIN THEORY/ANOMIE THEORY (Robert Merton)
STRAIN (or ANOMIE) THEORY is a derivative of FUNCTIONALISM---
PURPOSE: Merton wanted to account for things as functions of systems
of properties (ie, ways in which cultural goals and opportunities for
realizing them within the limits of institutional norms are
distributed) He viewed the individual primarily in terms of the
LEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE and posed questions regarding the
DIFFERENCES IN OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACCESS.
MERTON
represents U.S. sociology's FIRST genuine theoretical break with a
general theory of society---he develops his view instead within a
specific theory of deviance. . .i.e., specificlaly a deviance
theory---Chicago School and Functionalism were theories of society.
Merton scaled down Parson's "GRAND THEORY" of society to a "THEORY OF
THE MIDDLE RANGE" to focus on a specific topic--deviance (ie,
crime/delinquency).
MERTON wants to examine how SOCIAL STRUCTURES exert a definite
pressure upon certain persons in society to facilitate their
engagement in deviant acts: He identifies TWO KEY SITUATIONS: a)
Culturally defined goals and b) Socially acceptable means to attain
those goals (give examples of wealth, sports, etc)
He constructs a TYPOLOGY (Define "TYPOLOGY" as simply a convenient way
of CLASSIFYING related things)
GOALS MEANS
CONFORMING + +
INNOVATION + -
RITUALISM - +
RETREATISM - -
REBELLION +/- +/-
His point: Lack of a high degree of integratin between means and ends
favor increased frequency of anti-social conduct:
(NOTE: THIS IMPLIES A DEFINITION OF "CRIME" THAT IS NOT LEGALISTIC,
BUT NORMATIVE)
Illegitmate adjustment is a means of attempting to attain cultully
acceptable ends (e.g., wealth, status) by socially proscribed (ie,
prohibited) means (e.g., theft)
REPRHASED: When aspirations are blocked, it will lead to one of a
variety of adaptive behaviors (in the typology) and the seach for
avenues of escapte from culturlly-induced intolearable situatins or
unrelieved ambitions may lead to illegitimate forms of adaptation (ie,
crime)
NOTE POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS: Merton is saying that crime MAY BE
STRUCTRUALLY INDUCED---For Merton, deviance was "functional
rebellion," a theme implied by him, and later developed by culture
conflict theorists. ie, it may be a NORMAL response to ABNORMAL
conditions---this, for its time, was RADICAL in that he was saying
that society may NOT be set up to serve the interests of everybody
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3) CULTURE CONFLICT THEORY: Holds that values and norms of a group might
be common within that group, but conflict with a dominant culture.
A. Focal Concerns (Walter Miller)
associated especially with Walter B. Miller, "Lower Class Culture,"
etc. . .
Miller attempts to account for delinquency by LOCATING THE SOURCE
WITHIN THE SUBCULTURE ITSELF---that is, delinquent culture implies a
way of life peculiar to delinquents. Miller is saing that the
dominant motivating force behind crime/delinquency is really an
attempt to adhere to forms of behavior and values as defined within
the larger community.
In other work on gangs, MILLER says there are two kinds of violence:
a) means violence (what is used whenother means of attaining a
desiered objecte have failed) and b) ENDS violence--used for its own
sake, and gangs tend to do both, but especially the latter. He
concludes that violence is overrated among gangs (BY RESEARCHERS) but
it is usually spurred by concerns of "honor" as a MOTIVE. Suggests
that this may reflect larger society. . .
Miller argues that delinquent boys are socialized in a habitat with
standards and expectations that insist on behavior which is
unfortunately UNLAWFUL from point of view of conventional americans.
1) Some general questions to ask for class discussion:
2) What is his definition of crime/delinquency?
(ie, law-violating acts)
3) What is he trying to do?
(Show that delinquency derives from the nature of "lower class"
society)
4) How does Miller define "lower class?" (a. cultures with serial
monogamy (define this as a series of partners, one at at time)
and b. female-based household.
(critique this definition---is it a "good one" for decribing lower
class? Does it contain any culture bias of miller's? What
data does he present for his "docual concerns? Any data? or just
"discussion" (implies participant observation--he used youth from
"slum districts" obtained from field workers in a large eastern city)
What are the "focal concerns" of delinquent youth and how do
these differ from middle class?
(How valid are the concerns of 1. Trouble, 2. Toughness 3.
Smartness 4. Excitement 5. Fate 6. Autonomy)
--ask why these are "values" How does "lower class" generate
delinquency? What does this study tell us about the values of
the researcher (ie, it implies that the values/concerns of slum kids
somehow abnormal, since he seems to compare these with "conventional"
values.
Some problems with Miller: confused definitions (eg,
lowr clas, "values," etc) No supportive data to illustrate
these categories No comparative data for "middle class," since
these seem to be middle class concerns as well, at least up to a point
Elitist (why?--implies "inferiority" of lower class culture---a
class bias) Tends to see "causes" of delinquency in values (an
independent variable) but does not discuss cultural values---rather
looks at the "values" of his targetted groups--no evidence these are
shared throughout their culture) Says lower class values are
same as "delinquent values" Tautological (define this as
explaining something in terms of itelf, ie, delinquents are people who
have these values and people who have these values are deliquent.
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4. SUBCULTURAL THEORY (Thrasher)
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5. DRIFT (Matza/Sykes)
Lecture Outline DAVID MATZA
The following outline is intended to guide lecture on theories of
crime and delinquency.
I. MATZA
Matza's primary contribution to delinquency---importance of this
view is that it suggests that delinquency is something into which
offenders "DRIFT" into and out of, thus challenging the utility of a
concept of "delinquency" that can be applied to ANY act or
individual, in that Delinquency may be a PHASE rather than a LIFE
STYLE.
NEUTRALIZATION THEORY: Associated with Matza and Sykes, this is
useful in illustrating that contrary to some views (e.g., Miller,
Cohen) delinquents may not by "IMMORAL' or hae different values than
the rest of us bucause theytend to construct accounts to neturalize
their acts and thus make them seem not so deviant.
1) denial of victim
2) denial of crime
3) blaming the victim
4) appeal to higher authority
5) blaming the blamers
SUBTERRANEAN VALUES: Contrary to some theorists we have read, Matza
is suggesting that "delinquent values" are an expression of the same
values of "Middle class" adolescents, but simply expressed in a
different way.
6. VIOLENT SUBCULTURES (Wolfgang)
E. DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY (Cloward/Ohlin)
Cloward and Ohlin are influenced by Merton, but differ somewhat:
Transmission of criminal culture occurs in organized slums which
provide the structure of illigitimate opportunity for success They
identify emergence of new subcultures outside of "consensus" of lower
class (contra Miller) (eg, gangs)
Deviancy for them is seen as collective (with exception of retreatism)
They look at ways in which self-blame may be neutralized
CLoward and Ohlin (1959) previously argued that Merton's anomie theory
was inadequte because it looked at the dissociation between
culturally-prescribed goals and LEGITIMATE social means. THis
assumed, said Cloward, that access to ILLEGITIMATE means was
more-or-less EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED throughout geographic areas.
So Cloward and Ohlin attempted to refine the tradition of strain
theory. From MERTON (and Like COHEN) theysaw STRAIN as the outcome of
blocked access to socially-defined goals, and STRAIN contributed to
the genesis of delinquent subcultures. BUT unlike MERTON and other
DIFFERENTIAL OPPORTUNITY theoriests, theyargued that access
toillegitimate roles (as opposed to legitimate roles) not freely
available to all.
They suggested that the CHICAGO TRADITION implicitely recognized in
their theories of SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION that illegal activities not
available to all (they cite Sutherland's PROFESSIONAL THIEF" work in
which "amateurs" quickly land in jail)---
They suggested that is, in a particular sub-culture,there are not role
models, or no access to illegal means available, a delinquent
sbuculture among adolescent will not devlop.
Three forms of response patterns to strains they identified:
illegitimate response = delinquency--takes the form of criminal
apprenticeships, etc retreatist (drugs, etc) CONFLICT SUBCULTURE (eg,
fighting gangs)--(or POLTICAL ACTION gangs)
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