SOC 2070 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Routine Activity Theory, White-Collar Crime, Anomie

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2070
• Professor: Andrew Robinson

Document Summary

There are 2 distinct but interlocking enterprises that make up the study of deviance: essentialism: objectivity, real, scientifically explainable, constructionism: rules, judgements, labelling, contexts, audiences. All positivists believe than an objective common core or threads hold all deviance and crime together non believed that they are just a matter of social convention or construction. Positivism is the application of scientific method to the study of human behaviour. 3 assumptions: empiricism: material world is real and science can know the world through the senses. I trust my senses to tell me what is true . Things that are not directly or indirectly observable through the senses cannot be explained/integrated into theoretical and conceptual perspectives and therefore are not scientific. This poses a problem because most human behaviour cannot been seen at the moment enacted: objectivism: deviant behaviour is an objective ad real phenomena that can be distinguished from conforming behaviour.