SOC222 Lecture 12: Lecture 12 Class Notes .docx
27 Oct 2012
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Document Summary
Virtually all theoretical explanations for delinquent behaviour focus on male youth in conflict with the law. Criminology, like many other disciplines, is androcentric. Definition of androcentric: focusing solely on the experiences of males, assuming the male experience describes the human experience, leads to the invisibility of women in studies of delinquency. Feminism is a set of theories and strategies for social change that take gender as their central focus in attempting to understand social institutions, processes, and relationships. Women and girls suffer oppression and discrimination in a society run for men by men who have passed laws and created customs to perpetuate their privileged position. Anomie theory: cannot be applied to females because women are socialized to be successful in relationships, to get married, and to raise families, not to achieve financial success. Subcultural theory: cannot explain why women who have achieved goals commit crimes. Differential association theory: is better for explaining why females commit less crime than men.
