SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Takers, Juvenile Delinquency, Differential Association

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1500
• Professor: Ryan Broll

Document Summary

Sociological criminologists: study group characteristics (social class, gender, age, culture, etc. ) Founding father of sociology (with max weber and karl marx) Particular interest in suicide (1897): using official statistics from european countries, he found that differences in suicide rates were the result of individuals having weak ties to their community (anomie) Park and burgess (1967) observed that crime in chicago was geographically patterned. Crime is focused in zone 2: zone of transition because cheaper homes attract immigrants/lower class. High delinquency rates caused by the types of neighborhoods in which youth grow up. Social disorganization: is responsible for crime; poor economic conditions, ethnic heterogeneity, high rates of population turnover. Tightly knit communities are more likely to identify strangers, report deviants, and make verbal warnings. High rates of residential mobility and high-rise housing disrupt the ability to establish and maintain social ties. Institutions (schools, churches, police) can act as surrogates, but unstable communities often lack strong institutions.