SOC 2700 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Testability, Random Assignment

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Stephanie Howells

Document Summary

Criminological theories: are abstract but they entail more then ivory tower or armchair speculations. Edwin h. sutherland defined criminology as the study of the entire process of lawmaking, law breaking and law enforcing. Answers to questions of how or why certain behavior and people become defined and are dealt with as criminal in society. Answer the question of why social and legal norms are violated. Criminological theories are to be scientific then they must be judged by scientific criteria. The most important of these is empirical validity the extent to which a theory can be verified or refuted with carefully gathered evidence. Sound theory is that it has clearly defined concepts and that its propositions are logically stated and internally consistent. Scope: theory refers to the range of phenomena that is proposes to explain. Parsimony: the conciseness and abstractness of a set of concepts and propositions is also a desirable characteristic in a scientific theory.