CRM 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Egotism, Longitudinal Study, Jam Band
5 Jun 2018
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Sociological Positivism
Contexts of Sociological Theories:
● Three key periods
○ The rise of sociology as an academic discipline (mid-19th to early 20th centuries)
○ Professional sociology (early 1920s–WWII)
○ Postwar period: late 1940s, 1950s
First Period-- Mid 1800s to 1920s:
● The rise of sociology as an academic discipline.
○ Scientific method, apply approaches that have been applied to the natural world
to the social world as well
● Sociologists applied the approaches and concepts of the natural sciences to the study of
society.
● They presumed consensus over values and norms (supportive of status quo).
● The sociological method constructed broad categorizations of different societal types
(such as pre-industrial, industrial).
● Society was presumed to shape individual behaviour.
● Criminal behaviour was believed to be a manifestation of social pathology: flawed
structures and values in society.
Second Period-- Early 1920s to WWII:
● Sociology was linked to expert or technical solutions to problems such as poverty and
crime (professionalism emerges).
● Wide-scale migration of war, political, and economic refugees to countries like Canada,
US, Australia, and New Zealand due to class struggles and armed conflicts:
○ Russian Revolution (1917)
○ Great Depression (1929–1939)
○ Nazi movement in Germany (1930s)
○ WWII (1939–1945)
● How did successive waves of immigration affect crime rates?
○ Blamed immigrants for crimes because they were new and not well liked
Third Period-- Postwar to 1950s:
● Period of economic boom and growth, optimism, rising living standards (capitalism seen
as model for success).
● Problem: how to explain persistent crime rates despite good socio-economic conditions?
● Answer: examine distribution of opportunities in society and how people interact with and
learn from each other.
The Sociological Imagination-- C. Wright Mills 1959:
● Seeing personal troubles as social issues/ problems.
● Law is sometimes used as a (potential) solution to these troubles / issues.
● “It is the political task of the social scientist – as of any liberal educator – continually to
translate personal troubles into public issues, and public issues into the terms of their
human meaning for a variety of individuals. It is his task to display in his work – and, as
an educator, in his life as well – this kind of sociological imagination.” (Mills 1959, 187,
emphasis added)
● The ability to connect an understanding of the intimate realities of our personal lives with
larger social realities, including historical ones. It suggests that people look at their own
personal troubles and see them as social issues and try to connect them with the
workings of society.
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Sociological Positivism
● “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without
understanding both.” (Mills 1959)
● “To be aware of the idea of social structure and to use it with sensibility is to be capable
of tracing such linkages among a great variety of milieux. To be able to do that is to
possess the sociological imagination.” (Mills 1959, 10-11, emphasis added)
● It enables people to connect personal troubles and public issues. For example, people in
poverty by this perspective might stop to consider that they are not alone, and rather
than blaming themselves, they could criticize the social forces that directed them into
their present condition.
● Remember that “to detect practical problems is to make evaluations. Often what is
taken by the liberally practical to be a ‘problem’ is whatever (1) deviates from middle-
class, small-town ways of life, …” (Mills 1959, 90)
Strain Theory:
● Crime can be understood relative to tension or strains.
● Strains or tensions are generated by and within the structure of society.
● Two main wings of strain theory:
○ Those that emphasize “opportunity structures”
○ Those that speak about the learning of norms, values, and subcultural attributes
In Response to Howard Becker:
● In response to Becker’s question, “Whose side are we on?”
● Not surprisingly, strain theorists are on the side of the socially and economically
disadvantaged.
Definitions of Crime:
● Crime is a social problem and is caused by social phenomenon (social disjuncture or
structural processes) that represent strain within society.
● Based on sociological understanding of individual and group behaviour.
● It is a violation of the general consensus and values of society (rather than strictly a
violation of the legal code or court convictions).
● Social tensions, lack of structural opportunities, something in the cultural processes that
is shifting people
Focus of Analysis:
● Strains are caused by social tensions and cultural processes rather than individual
psychology or biological traits.
● Strains are associated with “structural opportunities” and “cultural processes.”
● Considers the nature of social learning (for example, crime is a product of social
structures and value systems).
● Analyzes particular subcultures to see how values are transmitted.
● Studies crimes that are undetected by the criminal justice system through alternative
methods (such as victim surveys and self-report measures).
Causes of Crime:
● A criminal has limited options to achieve social goals relative to other people.
● Limited/restricted options lead some to pursue criminal means to achieve goals (hence
strain theory is sometimes referred to as “opportunity theory”).
● Criminal behaviour is learned in social situations (“social learning theory” or “subcultural
theory”).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The rise of sociology as an academic discipline (mid-19th to early 20th centuries) The rise of sociology as an academic discipline. Scientific method, apply approaches that have been applied to the natural world to the social world as well. Sociologists applied the approaches and concepts of the natural sciences to the study of society. They presumed consensus over values and norms (supportive of status quo). The sociological method constructed broad categorizations of different societal types (such as pre-industrial, industrial). Society was presumed to shape individual behaviour. Criminal behaviour was believed to be a manifestation of social pathology: flawed structures and values in society. Sociology was linked to expert or technical solutions to problems such as poverty and crime (professionalism emerges). Wide-scale migration of war, political, and economic refugees to countries like canada, Us, australia, and new zealand due to class struggles and armed conflicts: Blamed immigrants for crimes because they were new and not well liked.
