SOC205H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Lawbreakers, Power (Social And Political), Critical Theory
Document Summary
Purpose of punishment is to treat and reform. Attempts to explain all crime leads to over prediction. Study instead how crime occurs in the individual. There is over prediction: it tries to explain all criminal behaviour rather than looking a particular criminal behaviour. Assumption that we all agree on what is criminal behaviour and how it should be different: assumes that there is consensus , ignore power differences, different behaviour. Positivist: focus on what causes crime, focus on individual factors rooted in biological, psychological or social explanations, assume society is based on consensus, assumes social scientific work is value-neutral. Critical criminology is a contested umbrella term that encompasses a range of theories that question how power differentials, hierarchies, and inequalities contribute to crime, punishment and society. For our purposes, cc includes: labeling has some positivist aspects but still considered critical approach, marxist, feminist, critical race and aboriginal approaches, poststructuralism. Social unrest- civil rights movement, vietnam movement, etc.
