SOC 1500 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Social Constructionism, Official Statistics, Participant Observation
29 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Labelling theorists: argue that deviance is made up/constructed, grounded in social constructionism the processes which certain things come to be defined or responded to study why things become labelled as criminal. Constructionist view: deviance exists on a continuum, laws change over time. Natural crimes inherently illegal in all places. Academics study crime empirically: empirical systematic collection of observable data, criminologists focus on two things, measuring crime in society, understanding the nature of crime. Media portrayals of crime: violence is commonplace, not often neutral, victims are random, cjs is too soft on criminals. Impact of the media: public knowledge about crime often comes from mass media, the way crime is portrayed in the media differs from empirical accounts can fuel moral panics. The demonic era: criminal behaviour caused by evil, strongly based on religion, evil spirits removed from exorcism and trepanation drilling into skull to release evil spirits and get rid of crime.
