SOCPSY 2D03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Trepanning, Cesare Beccaria, Demonology
Document Summary
A proposition (or a set of interrelated propositions) that purports to explain a given social phenomenon. Concepts and statements: concepts basic building blocks of the theory, abstract elements representing classes of phenomenon, statements expression of the relationship between the concepts that lead to a particular result (ex. poverty leads to hunger) Different conceptions of the link between society and individual behaviour: how societal factors influence personal decisions to engage in crime, geographical environment, cultural explanations. Degree of social consensus: some rooted in notion that there"s dissensus. Theories must be testable. : can be supported or falsified by the data of experiments. Evidence must be observable: have to take identifiable measures to construct the notion of health, have to perceive it through our senses. Theories lead to policies that focus on changing: the individual local communities: society the law. Folkways dominate feudal communities: based on local understands of right and wrong, made criminal law unpredictable.