CRM 2302 Study Guide - Final Guide: Florian Znaniecki, Conflict Theories, Anomie
16 May 2018
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Introduction to the Course
What is a theory?
●Definition: a set of statement or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomenons. A
series of concepts and principles that serve as the tool for social scientists. Theories explain why
and how things work, it’s a way to see how things work around us. Theories can be seen as a
“lens” or “theoretical lens” and can be understood as a lens through which we look, serving to
focus or distort what we see. They also help us produce knowledge. They are not random (they’re
structured). Theories should always have real world applications as they’re not just ideas. We
theorize in our everyday life but they’re not conceptualized.
Paradigms in Social Sciences (Positivism vs. Constructivism)
●Paradigms are a way we organize theories, how we separate them into categories.
●The two common paradigms are: positivism and constructivism.
●These are the four elements that distinguishes theories from each other as theories will have
different levels:
1. Ontology: what is reality?
■It’s a part of metaphysics, a division of philosophy that is concerned with the
fundamental nature of reality (their being, cause or identity)
■Ontology is the study of existence = the study of how we determine if things
exist or not, as well as the classification of existence.
2. Epistemology: how do we access reality?
■Epistemology is the study of knowledge acquisition. It involves an awareness of
certain aspects of reality and it seeks to discover what’s
known and how
it’s
known.
■It’s also considered a branch of philosophy = explains why our minds relate to
reality and how these relationships are either valid or invalid.
3. Theory: how can we explain reality?
4. Methodology: how do we go about finding out?
■Allows us to gather information to confirm our theories;
■Methods vary.
A Brief History of Criminological Theories: What Led Up to Societal Reactions
●Why is it important to look at history when it comes to theories?
○Theories take time and context and context is important because it allows you to get a
better picture of when the theory was developed; why things happened when they did.
●Theory and chronology
○Theories feed off of each other - theories do not replace other theories and they don’t
disappear. Theories can be cyclical meaning that they may reappear depending where we
are at (context!). Where was science when the theory appeared can give you a better
sense of why it was developed.
● Blurring the lines
○Theories may overlap but that’s usually how theories progress.
Deterministic Theories
●Later half of the 19th century
○No “free will” - believed there is a fixed component that causes crime that is out of
people’s control, these factors vary depending on the researcher.
●Industrial revolution
○Period of massive change in society & how it’s organized leads to a change in behaviour.
○Development of science (positivism): science is starting to base their theories on facts.
●Hygiene and moral concerns
○Fear of people from the “outside” rural areas, that are now coming to live within the
cities.
○What does it mean for crime at that period? Deviance and delinquency becomes a hot
topic as people start to notice more.
●Criminal anthropology
○The birth of “Italian School of Positivist Criminology” (Lombroso, Ferri)
■Started to view crime as a pathology - crime affects some people more than
others.
■Lombroso looked at atavistic traits (primitive), which were physical and
biological traits that, according to him, made people criminals.
■Ferri looked at social atavism.
●The birth of a sociology of crime
○Instead of concentrating on the person, they started focusing on society as a whole.
○Durkheim believed crime is a normal part of life as crime is not pathological
- he studied
suicide and viewed it as a social problem;
○Merton studied goals and means and stated the problem was that not everyone has the
same means to reach those goals which would lead to deviance from people who cannot
obtain their goals by conventional methods/means.
○Anomie is a condition of instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values
or from a value of purpose or ideas. In other words, when norms change rapidly, the
society is now in the state of anomie.
The Chicago School
●Early 20th century:
○Increase in social and industrial activity;
○Major starting point for sociology;
○They used the city of Chicago as their laboratory;
○The main events that occurred:
■Massive immigration towards major cities increased crime rates and deviancy
due to many people coming into the country were poor and uneducated.
■Urbanization is a process in which a city grows and becomes more urban.
■Developments of new research methods to know more about urban deviance.
Researchers would do field research to find out more about the people living in
those areas with surveys, interviews and observing.
●Social disorganization (Thomas and Znaniecki, Park and Burgess)
○Thomas and Znaniecki “The Polish Peasant” stated that the environment causes deviance.
●The gang (Thrasher)
○Different gangs occurs in different areas; people are not criminals - it’s the area that
makes them criminal
.
Etiological Paradigm (Acting Out)
●Study the causes and consequences of deviance. The role of criminology is to intervene and solve
the problem of crime. These theorists take the existence of deviance for granted because:
○The belief that everyone shares one reality;
○They do not question the criminal justice system;
○Do not analyze power from a relational standpoint;
■Society is supposed to be organized that way;
■Believed there is only one type of crime.
From Consensus to Conflict
●Crime becomes ideological, and turns to political and economical problems;
●The question of “power” takes centre stage.
Societal Reaction Theories: A Glimpse Thinking Differently About Crime
●Crime is not a product of the individual or his environment; It’s the result of a social process.
●Crime is subjective, not objective.
●Why or how do certain behaviours become identified and defined as crimes?
○Killing someone is not a crime in the context of war, self-defense, suicide
○Murder is a crime (mens rea).
●Crime is not a consensus but the result of a definition by those in power.
●The cause of deviance is the reaction that society has to behaviours.
○Deviancy/crime is found in people’s reactions to the behaviour.
●Valier (2002) reading presents how theories in a radical criminology perspective rethinks crime
and crime.
○Moving beyond the “crime problem”: criminologists question the status quo because the
“crime problem” perspective sees crime inside
society as part of nature.
○Radical criminology looks at norms in society
(context of protest/social change):
■Appropriate behaviour in a situation, whether it’s formal or informal;
■Ways of understanding information and how we should react to them.
○The 3 claims of radical criminology:
1. The role of criminalization: looks at the process of how something becomes
criminal;
2. The identity of criminal: criminals are seen as political revolutionaries/fight the
power of distribution, criminals are the ones who refuse inequality.
3. Class-based considerations of crime: focus on what the ruling class does - not the
working class because the ruling class has the power to determine what’s
criminal and what isn’t.
Document Summary
Definition: a set of statement or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomenons. A series of concepts and principles that serve as the tool for social scientists . Theories explain why and how things work, it"s a way to see how things work around us. Lens or theoretical lens and can be understood as a lens through which we look, serving to focus or distort what we see. Theories should always have real world applications as they"re not just ideas. We theorize in our everyday life but they"re not conceptualized. Paradigms are a way we organize theories, how we separate them into categories. The two common paradigms are: positivism and constructivism. It"s a part of metaphysics , a division of philosophy that is concerned with the. Epistemology is the study of knowledge acquisition . It involves an awareness of certain aspects of reality and it seeks to discover what"s known and how it"s known.
