The main argument starts with Durkheim who explains that sociology can be a science. Durkheim uses the example of suicide and how we can study such a personal and individual act in an objective manner using statistics. From his studies of suicides Durkheim found that there were patterns in the suicide rate which meant that the act wasn’t a product of the individuals motives but instead a social fact. The suicide therefore had to be a result of wider social forces which we have no control over. Durkheim went on to explain that the social facts responsible for determining the suicide rate were the levels of integration and regulation an individual has in a society.
The main idea of the chivalry thesis is this prospect that men are socialised to act in a way more chivalrous – or gentlemanly – toward women so they end up convicting men more than women. Otto Pollak (1950) argued that women’s crimes are less likely to end up in official statistics due to the fact that “men don’t like to accuse or punish women” so the criminal justice system is more lenient toward them. The chivalry thesis can be supported by the work of Graham and Bowling who used self-report studies and found that men still commit more crimes than women although the gap is now smaller. They also found that women are more likely to be cautioned whereas men are more likely to be arrested. Nevertheless, the chivalry thesis also has many criticisms including results from a study carried out in a
Durkheim’s study on suicide is viewed as a well-known paradigm in sociological studies. The purpose of this essay is to explain how Durkheim was able to show the social causes of suicide through the analysis of statistics across several countries (Hassan, 1998). Durkheim chose to study suicide because in the 19th century sociology was not entirely recognised as an area of academic interest (Finchman, Langer, Scourfield & Shiner, 2011). In addition to this, Durkheim wanted to show that suicide was not just an individual act and that sociology played a part. This essay also intends to explore how Durkheim was able to
Emile Durkheim – ‘Le Suicide: Etude de Sociologe’ 1897 Emile Durkheim (1858-1916) is regarded as one of the founder of the discipline of sociology. He, along with the triumvirate of Marx and Max Weber laid the foundations to which, at present, has been cultivated into social science. Durkheim wrote a groundbreaking book ‘Le Suicide: Etude de Sociologe’ 1897, that propelled the study of sociology through its empirical-based approach. Through the use of statistics, Durkheim wanted to establish and demonstrate that suicide rates are dependent upon the degree to which individuals were integrated into society and the degree to which society regulates each individual’s behaviour. He concluded that there is significance in the rates of suicide to the probable social cohesion of the individual in society.
Sociologists have the ability to analyse the happenings in this world through many different methods. Each situation may call for an alternative method of observation, depending on the delicacy of the task in hand. Some research methods allow a sociologist to merge with the group that is being observed, perhaps providing them with a greater understanding of the situation they are dealing with. Other methods enable a sociologist to remain hidden or anonymous and observe from a distance. A sociologist may take the first approach when dealing with an issue such as alcohol abuse and merge with a group whose aim is to help alcoholics such as alcoholics anonymous.
The article I researched, discussed suicide by jumping, and explains how certain researched helped to find the data that implies that “[suicide by this method tends to be higher in cities, city states, or countries that have extensive high-rise housing. Most suicides by jumping occur from high-rise residential housing units. However, our knowledge about suicide by jumping tends to be limited to a small number of reports from sites, often bridges, which become well-known as places from which to take one's life. Media reports of newsworthy suicides from these sites appear to encourage imitative behavior. ]” (Suicide by jumping: A review of research and prevention strategies.
Allport, in an attempt to define social psychology said it scientifically tried to explain the cognitions of the individual (for example behaviours) and how they are “influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of human beings” (Allport, 1954). In this essay I intend to start with writing about a few different social psychologists and a couple of famous studies to give a bit of background, before the crisis in social psychology. I then aim to develop this into showing what brought about the crisis - its contributions; I will address the various critiques of early experimental social psychology. After the contributions I will write about what happen after the “crisis” and assess if it had a big outcome on the discipline of social psychology. Social psychology has in roots in the beginning of the 20th century in America.
In it’s simplest definition, victimology is the study of the victim or victims of a particular offender (Wallace & Roberson 2011: 3). However, two other definitions expound deeper into victimology: (1) victimology is the study of crime victims and the psychological effects of being a victim (Def, Random House Dictionary, 2011), and (2) victimology is the study of the ways in which the behavior of crime victims may have or have not contributed to their victimization (Def, Merriam-Webster, 2011). The early works about victims were first written by criminologist, as early as the mid 1700’s. The term victimology was coined by Beniamin Mendelsohn in 1974 (Dussich, 2000). Several criminologist (Hentig, Mendelsohn and Ellenberger) examined victim-offender interactions and stressed reciprocal influences and role reversals.
What are the major approaches that criminologists use to explain crime? Explain each of them. Which approach or approaches would be of greatest practical use to the security manager? Since ancient times, criminologists study various theories of crime in order to place measures that may reduce or eliminate specific crime risks. They are trying to use different approaches to explain crime by different category of theory, such as psychology, biology and sociology.
For example,suicide rates in Protestans is found to behigher than Catholics because the social integration is low. Therefore it proves that the functionalists concept of socialization that is said to be too deterministic is true because social intergration plays an important roles in ensuring the society to act in harmony. Interactionists argues that individuals act on their own and interactions with others that creates socialization, not just constrained by moral codes or economic relations which comes from ‘society outside’. Without this interactions society is cease to exist. H. Blumer