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

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

Document Summary

Helps us make sense of facts we already know and can be tested against new facts. Make statements about relationships between observable phenomena. Set of interconnected statements or propositions that explain how two or more events are related to one another. Virtually every policy or action taken regarding crime is based on some underlying theory/theories of crime and criminal justice. Criminology: study of entire process of lawmaking, law breaking and law enforcing. Theories of making and enforcing criminal law. Offer answers to questions of how or why certain behaviour and people become defined and are dealt with as criminal in society. Try to answer questions by proposing that social, political and economic variables affect legislation of law, administrative decisions and rules and implementation and operation of law in criminal justice system. Try to answer the question of why social and legal norms are violated. Internal consistency- clearly defined concepts and propositions are logically stated.