SACR 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Émile Durkheim, Symbolic Interactionism, Differential Association
25 Jun 2019
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Document Summary
Social theories: frameworks used to explain social stuff, roadmaps that give us direction. Level of analysis / patterns of social relations. Main premise: societies are complex systems of interrelated and interdependent parts. Each part performs a vital function in maintaining stability. Durkheim: functional society: likened society to a biological being, emphasized social solidarity, distinguished between mechanical solidarity (based on sameness) and organic solidarity (based on difference) Functionalist criminology: durkheim argued that even crime serves a social function, functionalist criminologists argue that deviance and crime have positive functions for society, but they may also have dysfunctions. Merton: strain theory: societies teach people to value material success, not enough legitimate opportunities for everyone to succeed, result is strain, some people respond to strain by committing crime. Disorganized communities weaken social stability and lead to crime. Disorganized communities are characterized by: poverty, homelessness, unemployment, racial and ethnic diversity, corruption.
