“It is a person’s environment that leads them into criminal and deviant behaviour.” This essay will firstly define deviance and crime in sociological terms. It will explore how deviance and crime are defined and who defines them as such. Considering the moral and legal aspects of deviance and crime. Secondly this essay will consider some of the many ideas and perspectives around the reason for and the continuation of crime and deviance in society. As a conclusion this essay will take into consideration whether the perspectives outlined are external or internal in their description of reasons for crime and deviance and try and determine the relevance of the arguments.
While some common-sense statements can be true and are able to be supported with evidence, it is best to examine them critically before accepting them as fact. The Sociological Imagination is centred around critical thinking and differs vastly from from common-sense explanations. The Sociological Imagination is a concept developed by American sociologist C. Wright Mills and is used to allow sociologists to “grasp the interplay of man and society, of biography and history, of self and world” (Mills, 1959, page 4). It asks us to question how society has ended up the way it has and our own positions within society. To use our Sociological
Additionally psychologists look at social cognition the other way round, to determine social phenomena through an individuals’ cognitions. Psychologist Gudjohnsson was one of the main researchers into social cognition. His Study with Bownes looked into the attribution of blame and type of crime committed. In this particular study it is important to note that our behaviour can be caused by internal attributions and external attributions. Internal being where a person attributes the cause of behaviour within themselves and external referring to the social and environmental factors - blaming the situation.
Sociologists do not simply declare their beliefs indisputable truths – they do research to determine whether those beliefs are correct. Their investigations are rooted in the scientific method that distinguishes the sociological perspective from “commonsense” interpretations of the world. The sociological perspective emphasizes that people’s thoughts and action are strongly influenced by the groups to which they belong as well as by impinging social factors such as beliefs, values, practices and institutions. From birth to death individuals are imbedded within and influenced by groups and larger structures. As sociologists our main goal is to understand social situations and look for repeating patterns in society.
There is increasing interest in something called "phenomenological sociology." If this interest is to be sustained, indeed if this sub-discipline is to contribute to our knowledge of the social world, we must become clear on what phenomenological sociology is and can become. At present serious problems exist in the writings of many sociologists who have contributed to, and implicitly defined, this approach to sociology. In general, they display only a metaphorical understanding of phenomenology as a philosophy and as a set of methods. In addition, and partly as a result, they fail to understand the relationship between sociology and phenomenology.
The differential association theory argued that crime was the result of environmental influences on people and not from biological and psychological abnormalities. Sutherland’s general theory was that criminal behaviour is learnt in the social environment. He said that the main difference between law abiding behaviour and criminal behaviour is in what is learnt rather than how it is learnt. (Joubert, Joubert & Ovens, 2012:105). DEFINITION Differential association is a concept that was developed by E. H. Sutherland.
These concept explain crime at levels of the society, the individual, and the group. An individual’s potential for criminality depends on the competition between associations that treat criminal behavior positively and those who treat it negatively (Vandelay, 2010, p.1) The main points of Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory are the nine propositions which are one that criminal behavior is learned second which is similar to the first proposition is that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other people in an attempt to communicate. The third main point or proposition is that the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. The fourth main point is that when criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes; the techniques of committing the crime which are sometimes complicated or very simple and the specific motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The fifth main point is the specific direction of motives and drive is learned from the definition of the legal codes whether it is favorable or unfavorable.
What arguments would a sociologist use to counter the idea that “Biology is destiny”? The idea that “biology is destiny” is an intrinsic element of what is known as the genetic self, the nature part of the nature or nurture debate. A sociologist will use points with grounds in social influences on the self to argue that rather than biology, there are other elements such as socialization that affect how we behave and are “destined” to be. This paper demonstrates the ideas and research of several sociologists to counter the ‘destiny of biology’ as it were, to show that development and behaviour are not pre-determined by genetics but instead by other, social-related factors, and goes on to level the argument with the notion that perhaps both are mutually influential on one another in the outcome of the self. Determinism is the philosophical doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.
Provide a critical response to the statement that “Criminology is the science of law- making, law- breaking, and law- enforcing” (Sherman, 2013:1) Lawrence Sherman defines criminology as the science of law- making, law- breaking, and law enforcing. This statement holds true to a large extent. A similar definition stressing both the theoretical and applied nature of a science of crime is the one formulated by Edwin H. Sutherland, according to which: “Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as social phenomenon. It includes within its scope the process of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting toward the breaking of laws….the objectivity of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principled and of other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment or prevention” (The Florida State University, n.d.) Criminology should be more than law- making, law- breaking, and law enforcing. Criminological studies tend to be gender biased and focus largely on crimes of the powerless (street crimes).
This data deals with the quality of human experience. They argue that numerical data is itself a product of human interactions, and therefore it would be relevant to observe these ‘numerical’ data being constructed. Considering the above points, it is understood that the type of sociological theory/perspective a researcher follows or uses, does force the researcher to use a certain type of data. Research methods may also affect the researcher’s objectivity. I will list the different types of research methods and how they contribute in affecting the researcher’s objectivity.