THE SOCIOLOGICAL SCHOOL

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The sociological school of thought emanates from the term “sociology” as a concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines sociology as “the study of social organisation and institutions and of collective behaviour and interaction, including the individual’s relationship to the group”. The approach looks on the consideration of group antagonisms and criminality i.e. the approach examines the ways in which society is structured and the demand it makes on its members. The Sutherland’s theory of Differential Association suggests that crime is learned in everyday situations through a process of cultural transmission. The Anomie theory suggests that crime is bound up with tension, stress, and strains within societies; most commonly, there is a breakdown of the smooth working of society etc. The approach is divided into five images. They are not mutually exclusive-indeed, they benefit from each other, as they each have somewhat different emphases.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this unit, you should be able to:

1. examine the sociological approach to causes of crimes
2. discuss Edwin H. Sutherland theory of Differential Associationand its applicability 
3.  explain the Robert K. Merton theory of Structures Strains andAnomie 
4.  describe the family factors as they relate to crimes and delinquencies
5.  explain Robert Park’s Cultural Transmission Theory which explains why some communities persist in having high rates of deviance, such as crime and delinquency .

3.0 MAIN CONTENT

3.1 Sociological Approach to Crimes

Sociological theories emphasis the influences of social environment in which individuals find themselves. When individuals engage in criminal behaviour, they do so within the context of the particular society in which they live. Sociological explanations focus on ways in which such factors may prompt or encourage some individuals to engage in abnormal behaviour. The nature of the explanation that one finds most useful for a particular form of criminal behaviour will considerably affect one’s approach to solutions. Therefore, it would be necessary to subdivide the sociological explanations of crime into various sub-headings, namely:

1. Differential Association theory
2. Anomie and Structural Strains
3. Family Factors
4. Theories of the Sub-cultural Nature of Crime
5. Cultural Transmission theory

(1) Differential Association Theory

Edwin H. Sutherland (1883 – 1950) is one of the classical Chicago schools. Others are Frederik M. Thrasher (1892 – 1962), Edward F. Frazier (1894 -1962), Clifford Shaw (1895 – 1957) and Henry D. Mckay (1899 – 1980). The theoretical impact of the Chicago school was a paradigm shift from the notion that criminal behaviours entailed the study of the individual (i.e psychology), to a richer understanding that criminal behaviours are found in the study of the social structure (i.e sociology) that shape and influence people’s lives. Sutherland in his book, “Principles of Criminology” published in 1939 made a key contribution to criminology in his ‘Differential Association theory”. Sutherland argued that all criminal behaviour is a normal learning process. We learn crime in much the same way as we learn everything else. How we act therefore depends on how those around us desire us to act. How much we deviate from or conform to the norms depends on the differences in how we associate with others. Learning any social patterns; be it conventional or deviant acts, occur as a result of association. That is, boys become deviants (delinquent) due to their attachments to others who engage in and approved criminal acts. In this view, the causes of deviance do not lie on individuality but rather in the normal process of social influence.

Edwin H. Sutherland formulated the principles of differential learning theory in nine propositions in 1947 before he dies in 1950. The propositions are:

1.  criminal behaviour is learned; far from being genetic or biological
2.  criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication
3.  the principal part of the learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal groups
4.  when criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes (a techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes very simple; and (b) the specificdirection of motives, drives, rationalisation and attitudes
5.  the specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of legal codes as favourable and unfavourable 
6.  a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions unfavourable to violation of law
7.  differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity
8. the process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning
9. though criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values (carrabine, 2004).

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1

According to Sutherland, what are the basic factors which influence criminal behaviours?

(2) Anomie and Structural Strains

The concept of Anomie as a form of sociological interpretations of criminal behaviour is linked to the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917) who awarded three different meanings to anomie or normlessness:

(a) a failure to internalise the norms of the society (e.g. the secret
societies)
(b) an inability to adjust to changing norms
(c) the tension resulting from conflict within the norm themselves.

Robert K. Merton (1910 – 2003), the Harvard sociologist, went one step further to popularise the concept. In one of the most cited discussions of the twentieth century, Merton’s social structure and Anomie (1938), Merton explains crime on the basis of structural strain or frustration as a result of person’s position in the social structure, especially the stratification system. He noted that the American society places enormous emphasis on the pursuit of material success. He observed that the humans have a natural tendency to observe norms which are reflected by the personalities called conscience. Yet, some people often act against their conscience because of the terrible strain upon them. Distinguishing between a social structure (which provided economic roots to success) and a culture (which provided norms, value and goals), Merton argued that criminal behaviour occurred where there was distortion between them [means and goals]. Strain theory portrays a deviant as a person torn between guilt and desire, with desire gaining the upper hand (Stark, 1987). The index of success in the society is material possession. In stable societies, Merton noted that the conventional success was achieved through talent and hardwork. But in unstable societies, what was important is not the prescribed legitimate means but the goals. In the latter society, there is proclaimation of equal opportunity for everybody but in reality the opportunity was a mirage.

(b) Innovation
As a result, offenders may seek wealth through one or other kind of crimes – say, by dealing in Cocaine. Merton called this type of behaviour innovation – the attempt to achieve a culturally approved goal (wealth) by unconventional means (crime). See the Table above. Innovation accepts the goal of success while rejecting the conventional means of becoming rich. They believed that hard work, honesty, saving, investment and education cannot give them the ultimate goals, rather through cheats.

They make money illegally. The deviant behaviours exist in form of burglaries, robberies, drug trafficking, prostitution, and other types of crime.

(c) Ritualism

In the Merton’s scheme of things, it is the means-goal gap. Seeing that the goal of material success was very hard, people abandon it. They resolve the strain of limited success by abandoning cultural goals in favour of almost compulsive efforts to live respectably. In essence, they embrace the rules to the point that they lose sight of their larger goals. They believed that “a good name is greater than silver and gold”. They are honest in character.

(d) Retreatism

Retreatism was the rejection of both the cultural goal of material success and access to the approved means. They may adopt an alternative lifestyle as a vagrant, pursue altered states of consciousness. Retreatism entails removing oneself from a reality that just does not seem workable. In effect, they are “dropouts”. They include the alcoholics, drug-addicts and ‘Area-boys’.

They don’t believe in hardwork, honesty, investment and education, even in seeking wealth.

(e) Rebellion

In contrast to retreatism, Merton termed rebellion which involves the rejection of both the cultural definition of success and the normative means of achieving it. People therefore invented a new cultural goal and new means of achieving the desires. That is, they advocated radical alternatives to the existing social order. These are people who dedicate their lives to revolutionary organisations or transformative social movements; substituting new cultural goals and new means of adaptation.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2

Differentiate between Merton’s five modes of individual adaptation to Anomie.

(3) Family Factors

The sociological explanation of crime has been associated with family influence. No more potent factor exists than the influence of criminal behaviour as a causal relationship of the experience of the child in the family. These influences could be as a factor of broken homes, family tensions, and criminality in the family, etc.

It is often suggested that the broken home- broken by the death of one or both the parents, by divorce or separation of the spouses or desertion, is a major cause of crime. Glueck S. and Glueck E. T. in their 1950 study, “unraveling Juvenile Delinquency” estimated that about 40 per cent of delinquents in America came from broken homes.

A distinguished American psychiatrist, David Abrahamsen, has stressed the striking relationship of tension to delinquency. In his article – “Family Tension: Basic cause of Criminal Behaviour (1949)” Abrahamsen found out “that those families which produced criminals showed a greater prevalence of unhealthy emotional conditions among the family members – that is, family tension – than did the families of the non-delinquent group .The family tensions, manifested through hostility hatred, resentment, nagging, psychosomatic disorders, engendered and sustained emotional disturbances in both children and parents alike” (Williams Hall, 1984).

The influences of other members of the family who have already experienced criminal behaviour include not only the siblings, but other relatives who had been found to be correlated to a family pathology with crime. The Gluecks in their earlier studies of Juvenile Delinquency (1950) observed that 80 per cent of offenders had been reared in homes where there were other criminal members. They looked also that about 90 per cent of the delinquent boys came from homes where drunkenness, crime or immorality had occurred. The effect of having a criminal brother was found to be almost as great as that of having a criminal father.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 3

How does the family factor contribute to the sociological explanation of crime?

(4) Theories of the Sub-Culture

Sociological theories sought to explain crime in terms of cultural or sub-cultural differences .They perceived the different areas of the city where crime was concentrated as areas of social disorganisation, where a different set of values or sub-culture prevailed which powerfully influenced behaviour in the direction of deviant behaviour, so that the area became a high crime area i.e. a delinquent area. Clifford Shaw and Henry D. Mckay and Frederik Thrasher, Bernard Lander and others studied “delinquency area” and criminal sub-cultures. It can be said that the studies of sub-cultures of a criminal nature on gang delinquencies, general nature and theory of culture conflict have influenced and have permeated many modern developments in sociological criminology.
Thus, Albert k. Cohen studied delinquent boys and delinquent sub-cultures .He disagreed that delinquent behaviour is directly caused by the desire for material goals. He explained that individuals brought up in a working class environment are likely to desire the general goals of the environment and have less opportunity to achieve them due to educational failure. Consequently, working class boys suffer from “status frustration”, which causes them to reject the school system, and form a delinquent sub-culture. According to Walter Miller (1958), delinquent sub-cultures are based on a number of “focal concerns” that reflect the values and traditions of “lower-class” life .These focal concerns include “toughness”, excitement” and “smartness”. The sub-cultural approach stresses the collective response as crucial, rather than seeing criminal behaviour as an individual response to failure, as Merton argued.

Richard A. Cloward Richard and Lloyd E. Ohlin “Delinquency and Opportunity” (1960) argued that there is greater pressure towards criminality on the working classes because they have less opportunity to “succeed” by legitimate means. Cloward and Ohlin identified the following sub-cultures:

1. a criminal sub-culture, where criminal youths [delinquencies] are closely connected with adult criminals .The criminal youth is at the top hierarchy, where there is a development in alternative means to financial success
2.  a conflict sub-culture, a very unstable area, where the offenders seek to resolve their frustrations and problems through violence a retreat or escapist sub-culture.
3.  They are neither criminal sub-culture nor the conflict sub-culture. They are retreatists who turn to drink, drugs, sex and other forms of withdrawal from the widersocial order. 

Sub-cultural theories have suggested that crime and delinquency can, ironically, represent conformity. In modern society, there are a range of sub-groups with their own sub cultures that include norms, values and attitudes that differ from and conflict with those of the rest of the society. Conformity within such sub-groups will involve some form of deviance from and conflict with the wider society.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4

Express the views of Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin in the criminal behaviours of the sub-culture.

(5) Cultural Transmission Theory

Cultural transmission theory is closely tied to a school of sociological thought. This explanation has support in the works of Robert Park, a Chicago school of sociology. Park borrowed the ideas from the field of ecology, a branch of biology in which animals and plants are studied in relation to one another and to their natural habitat. Park reasoned that there is also ecology of the organisation of human communities. He used the concepts such as “symbiosis” which refers to how organisms of different species can live together to their mutual benefit, applied it to humans and formulated a theory of human ecology.

Cultural transmission theory postulates that deviance is sociologically transmitted from one generation to the next when communities or neighbourhoods develop cultural traditions and values that tolerate or encourage deviant conduct and rule- breaking. This theory offers explanations of why some communities persist in having high rates of deviance, such as crime and delinquency.

The central tenet of cultural transmission theory is that deviance can be passed down from generation to generation because community traditions and values are either permissive toward or supportive of violating conventional rules of conduct, including criminal laws.
The rationale of cultural transmission theory is best stated by Shaw and Mckay, who studied the variations in crime and delinquency rates over a fifty-year period in Chicago. Shaw and Mckay observed that delinquency rates vary widely by neighbourhoods. The highest rates tend to be nearest the central business and industrial districts, decreasing

as one move from the city center to the edge of the city. Some countries are more likely to develop a sub-cultural tradition than others, especially when inner-city districts, which are often the transition areas for ethnic groups and immigrants, tolerate deviance and law-breaking. Rapid changes in residential composition can lead to community difficulties in adjusting to the diversity of cultural backgrounds. At the same time, an influx of new businesses and industry can also introduce disruptive elements by bringing in new workers and by radically altering the social and physical environment of the community. These changes usually create value conflict which weaken the informal, as well as the formal social control and may result in social control break down. This process is referred to as social disorganisation; and Shaw ands McKay interpreted these phenomena as symptoms of social disorganisation (Magill, 1995): the community residents became more susceptible to deviant behaviour patterns; The “delinquency areas” tend to be characterised by physical deterioration, economic insecurity, family disintegration, conflicting cultural standards, and little concerted action by the community residents to solve the common problems.
Shaw and Mckay also observed that when communities or neighbourhoods went into decline, more prosperous families would relocate as soon as it is possible to other neighbourhoods or sub-urban areas.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 4

What are the views of Robert Park, et al, as to the breakdown of the conventional rules and values in a community?

4.0 CONCLUSION

In this unit, we have observed that the major explanations of criminal behaviour today are sociological. All sociological explanations assumed that social variables and structures, rather than biological or psychological state of mind are the major cause of crimes. Thus, it is the social environment rather than the individual or group that lives in an area that is responsible for criminal behaviours.

5.0 SUMMARY

In this unit, we have discussed the sociological theories of crime. We examined the Edwin H. Sutherland’s Differential Association theory; the Robert K. Merton’s Anomie and Structural Strains and the Family Factors of the Gluecks and that of the psychiatrist, David Abrahamsen.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

With the aid of the Merton’s Mode of Individual Adaptation to Anomie explain how each adaptation results in the breakdown of the smooth working of the society.