SOC229 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Cabaret Balkan, Anomie, Business Cycle
1 Feb 2018
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The powder keg theory of prison riots: most riots occur in overcrowded, high-security prisons, powder keg theory states that riots occur because violent men are subjected to bad prison conditions and react by rioting. Critique: good prisons have riots too: explosive institutions- similar to a powder keg, riots also occur in some better prisons, critique: prison conditions significantly improved in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. However, there was a huge increase in prison riots contradictory: critique: over predicts how often prison riots occur. Robert merto(cid:374)"s theory of a(cid:374)o(cid:373)ie crime is overly distributed in lower ses status. In american society, money is the most important thing and often trumps other social values: socialized to use the most socially approved means to obtain financial success. Getting an education, working hard, saving, investing, entrepreneurship, etc: within society there is a disconnect between socially approved goals and socially approved means. This means the emphasis is on the goals and not on the means.
