CRIM 1650 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ernest Burgess, Social Disorganization Theory, Differential Association

• School: York University
• Department: Criminology
• Course: CRIM 1650
• Professor: cladiuocalagari

Document Summary

Sociological theories of crime focus on the effects of social structure, social institutions, social organization, social class, social roles, social norms and social learning. Sociological theories emerged in response to biological and positivist explanations which did not adequately account for the complexities of human social behaviour. Certain theories explain certain crimes better than other theories. Emile durkheim and structural-functionalism: all parts (social structures) of society work (function) together in an interrelated way to create smooth balance and equilibrium so society works like a self-regulating system, and has organic solidarity . The organic model of society society can be compared to a human body with separate functioning parts. Modern society is like a human body, we can use the way the body works to understand how the society works. Human society is so complex that we need more than one theory to make sense of it. Social control and social regulation, because we have these people are always in check.