CRIM 3652 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Neoliberalism, Think Tank, Class Conflict
17 Mar 2016
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Document Summary
Almost automatically, if we are studying crime, we are messing around with some of the most powerful constructs the state has at its disposal . Crime is historically contingened, changes over time based on conditions, Social control to define what is criminal and who the criminals are. Politics is defined by being the state, the co-corporations. Broader political dynamics come into play that affects how we do research. Origins of social science: sociology, criminology, (the study of society and crime in the 19th century, after having the age of reason, the enlightenment period) Society is social relations followed natural laws (social science is applying those principles to understand society) Quantitative research is often seen as objective and value neutral since it is numbers (finding the truth) Lombroso is an example of the use of science to define criminality, that was highly problematic but at that time was the truth .
