SOC 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 25: Labeling Theory, Visible Minority
Document Summary
Criminology is the area of sociology studying criminal behavior. Definition of crime: behavior that is punishable by the criminal justice system. Yet most deviant behaviors are not crimes having facial tattoos. And some crimes are not deviant parking violation matter of error. Criminologists differ from detectives in that they don"t investigate the causes of a particular crime. They study patterns of crime, general causal determinants of crime. Explore characteristics of people who commit crimes. Broken windows, poverty, lack of police, gangs. Explore types of people stopped by police. Explore types of people convicted by the courts. Explores why some regions are tough on crime and others aren"t. The media and politicians commonly frame crime as an individual problem. Mill"s sociological imagination suggests that this is problematic. Need to look at individual as well as social and historical influences. Most sociological works emphasize social, see it largely as social problem. Our readings for last thursday take this view.
