SOCL 2505 Lecture : Lecture 2 Crime Deviance History And Perspectives
Chapter 1
Critical thinking: read something,
Don’t believe, question it.
Sociological perspective: way to recognize
patterns in society. View personal life to
findings. Allow us to determine the accuracy
of our perceptions. EX 1: Katrina (race-
evacuation, poverty- mortgage percentage,
social order disruption- school closer) EX 2:
LSU football player bar fight. (LSU economy-
money involvement, Law- arrests, race-
African Americans and whites)
Two ways sociological perspective is
studied:
Macro- large scale, broad categories,
employment rate, divorce rates
Micro- small scale, how individuals behave
in society, problems of unemployed people &
victims of divorce rate& war.
Sociology & Popular Wisdom:
People’s common beliefs can be proved
wrong in sociology. Assumed all time high
for divorce rate, false. Less marriages, less
divorce.
Other Social Sciences:
Economics: how goods, service, wealth are
produced. Consumed, and distributed in
society. Exchange theory. Also with
exchange of love, trust, power, etc.
Anthro: Different people act in different
societies. 2 types (1.physical anthro- study of
physical traits i.e. pottery, weapons, genetic
mutation. 2. Cultural anthro- live and study a
society as whole)
Political Science: power, Gov., political
process. How we manage society despite
diff. keeps in check. Conflict Theory (cause of
social action & change)
Psychology: human mental process &
individual behavior. How we work/why. Has
branch called social psych(how we influence
society/ how it influences us. Combo of
psych. and sociology.
History: chronological recording of events.
Descriptive. Every historical event is diff. &
unique.
Social Work: newest branch. Basic science
(knowledge of its own) vs. applied science
(use standard principals).
Development Of Sociology:
August Compt: father of Sociology. Born in
France. Came up with term, but first called
social physics. Study society like study
sciences. Law of Human Process (three
phases of intellectual process 1. Theological,
2. Metaphysical 3. Scientific.)
Society was a type of organism. Based on 1.
Social Statics (structure, without change) 2.
Social dynamics (process of society, with
change)
Herbert Spencer: British man & similar to
Compt. Theory of Social Evolution (human
societies pass through evolutionary process
like natural selection.) “Survival of the
fittest”- societies that adapt to surrounds
survive & thrive. Change will happen on its
own, do not plan. This will disrupt society.
Karl Marx: Born in Germany. Believed that
Social Conflict was core of society (source of
all change). Economic Determinism (all
change and conflict in society is based upon
economics- considered economy a SUPER
STRUCTURE of societal life).
Exploitation(one person/ several people
Chapter 2
Methodology: rules and procedures to guide
research
Scientific Method: a way to systematically
formulating problems through data
collection, observation and experimentation,
and testing a hypothesis.
Concept: tools to help us share meanings. An
abstract terms that helps us perceive things
a certain way. (Norm and status). I.E.
marriage history and dollar are both
concepts that cannot be changed
Theory: two or more make up a concept. I.E.
years of marriage and level of income are
both variables. These things are variables
that come off of concepts.
Proposition: statement about the nature of
some phenomenon. Relationship between
variables “social activity is related to student
grades”
Hypothesis: this is what a proposition that
can be formulated and tested is called
“students who attend more than 1 activates
have a higher average than those who don’t”
Theory: set of logically related propositions
that can be tested. Should be stated in
abstract terms.
Relationships: use the continued wife abuse
VS. Jail time example
Positive relationship: one goes up so done
the other (arrests go up, abuse goes up- for
those without a job)
Negative relationship: one goes up the other
down. (Arrests go up, abuse goes down)
Types of relationships:
- Direct: ”X” directly affects “Y”
- Indirect: certain variable placed in-
between two points
I.E. father’s income effects sons’ income
(direct relationship) Fathers income pays for
boys’ education (interverting variable),
which gets him a good job, making him more
income (indirect relationship)
-Spurious: common cause (use coke &
sprite sale example, CC is weekend)
separates “X” &”Y”
-Interaction: strength of relationship
depends on 3rd factor.
Types of Variables:
- Independent variable: the cause
- Dependent variable: the effect
- Inverting variable
- Control Variable: use in interaction
relationships. A third variable that affects
the outcome
The Standards of Scientific Inquiry:
Objectivity: research must be completely
unbiased. No personal values or beliefs
involved.
Replication: different person is able to go out
a replicate you experiment and get the same
results. Most things can be replicated, some
cannot be (like earthquake effects in certain
areas)
Precision: anything studied should be
measured in a precise, valid way. Some
terms are hard to measure (abstract terms
like happiness) other are not.
Three Types of Research:
Descriptive research: describes social reality
and facts about the social world. 2 things
that make descriptive research (1.
Reliability- weather or not same
Chapter 3
Elements of Culture:
- Culture: system of ideas, values, beliefs, etc.
shared by society.
- All things that society shares are called
cultural elements 2 types of culture elements
(1. Nonmaterial- beliefs & ideas, 2. Material –
food eaten, clothing, technology)
Symbols: something used to represent
something else. Culture thrives on peoples
understanding of symbols. Symbols have
diff. meaning in diff. places. Used for
purposes like store info, communicate
abstract terms, & understand reality.
LANGUAGE: most important type of symbol.
It is the systematic usage of speech &
hearing to convey messages. Is a universal
Symbol (meaning all societies have one,
although diff.) Language not only verbal &
written, but is acted out. The distance people
stand from one another in speech can
convey a meaning. Edward Sapir said that
language determines how people see world
(different languages allow people to
interpret diff.) This is knows as the Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis: Whorf, a student of Sapir
helped recognize theory.
Values: ideas shared by a society. Based off
of judgments and norms. Many have both
positive and negative parts. RITUAL- a way
to support set values (I.E. fourth of July
celebration). Sometimes values become in
conflict, placed in hierarchy, most important
taken care of 1st.
Norms: rules of conduct expected in society.
How people should and shouldn’t behave. 3
types of Norms (1. Folkways- customs or
conventions things like wearing odd
clothing. Consequences to action are mild, 2.
Mores- more important than folkway.
Moralistically normal, based on values and
beliefs. Serious consequences like expulsion
from group sever ridicule. They have taboos,
defined, as “thou shall not”. 3. Laws- written
rules that people follow. Speed limits do not
kill. Have serious consequences usually
involving criminal punishment.) “Pathology
of Normalcy”- created by Erich Fromm.
States that cultural norms sometime are
harmful, we need to follow norms unless
they are harmful to us.
Technology and Material Culture:
Technology: a part of material culturalism.
Most all production uses technology in some
form. Products of technology are called
artifacts (Each society has particular
artifacts. Material artifacts reflect non-
material culture. They clue us in on society’s
level of technology integration.)
Culture Materialism: the idea that societies
develop differently depending on the
environment they must adapt to and making
use of the resources they have. I.E. Eskimo
build igloos because ice is the only recourse
they have to build a structure, or houses are
built differently in different areas to adapt to
weather conditions.
Cultural Lag: Ogburn came up with the term.
There are 2 ways to look at it (1. Means that
technology is too advanced and society
cannot keep up. I.E. porn is on the Internet
for anyone to access, thins mean young teen
can access, this is not good for them, but
there is no way to stop it from happening. 2.
When
Document Summary
Sociological perspective: way to recognize patterns in society. Allow us to determine the accuracy of our perceptions. Ex 1: katrina (race- evacuation, poverty- mortgage percentage, social order disruption- school closer) ex 2: Lsu football player bar fight. (lsu economy- money involvement, law- arrests, race- Macro- large scale, broad categories, employment rate, divorce rates. Micro- small scale, how individuals behave in society, problems of unemployed people & victims of divorce rate& war. People"s common beliefs can be proved wrong in sociology. Assumed all time high for divorce rate, false. Also with exchange of love, trust, power, etc. 2 types (1. physical anthro- study of physical traits i. e. pottery, weapons, genetic mutation. Cultural anthro- live and study a society as whole) How we manage society despite diff. keeps in check. Conflict theory (cause of social action & change) Has branch called social psych(how we influence society/ how it influences us. Basic science (knowledge of its own) vs. applied science (use standard principals).
