SOC 2700 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-6: Behaviorism, Social Capital, Social Disorganization Theory

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Stephanie Howells

Document Summary

Lombroso: relied on darwin"s theory of evolution and stated that criminals were biological throwbacks, argued that various physical characteristics were linked to crime, atavism (evolutionary throwback) Distinguishes 3 major classes of criminals: born criminals 1/3 of all offenders, insane criminals- idiots, imbeciles, etc, criminaloids- no special mental or emotional make up (majority of all criminals) Sheldon: body type theory, 3 body types, endomorph- round, larger, fat, boxy + viscerotonic- relaxed, chill, extroverted, mesomorph- athletic and muscular + somotonic- aggressive, assertive, ectomorph- tall, skinny, lean + cerebrotnic- sensitive, health issues, introverted. Hitchings and mednick: studied unfluence of adoption vs genetics, found that boys are more likely to commit a crime in their biological father had a criminal record. Environmentally induced biological components of behavior: several biological factors (drugs, alcohol intake, many relationships between drugs and alcohol abuse and violent behavior. There are 2 main psychological theories: focus on intelligence, focus on personality.