SOC 1500 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Juvenile Delinquency, Émile Durkheim, Social Disorganization Theory

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

Document Summary

Sociological theories of crime focus on groups of people: not necessarily interested in why individuals commit crimes, but are interested in why certain demographics commit crimes. Sociological criminologists study group characteristics (social class, gender, age, culture, etc. ) Founding father of sociology (along with max weber and karl marx) Durkheim"s work had a substantial influence on criminological thinking in the 20th and. Particular interest in suicide: using official statistics from european countries (death records, etc. Children from broken families or bad neighbourhoods are relatively likely to commit crime, unless someone steps into the role of the parent. Bursik and grasmik (1993) established three different forms of social control that are influenced by structural factors: personal social control (neighbours do not know one another) No or few personal relationships between neighbours, so friendships and personal networks do not exist within these communities: parochial social control (residents take an active approach by observing strangers) High rate of distrust within the neighbourhood.