• There are various different ways in which crime can be explained. Individual Positivism is just one of these, as part of a specific theory block. This block focuses on the individual, and how they are the cause and reason. Psychological and biological nature is the explanation behind crime.
Introduction
• Sociological Positivism focuses on pathologies that are social. This takes into account external factors, such as the society an individual lives in or the choices that the individual makes. This looms in on inequality, especially within class. This explains why the working class culture are supposedly more likely to be involved in crime.
Theory development and key authors:
• Lombroso (1835-1909) was an Italian Criminologist who aimed to find an explanation for crime pathologically. Often referred to as the father of criminology, he wrote a book, ‘The Criminal Man,’ and wanted to find exactly what it was that made an individual the type to commit a crime. In his book he argued that he was able to separate features physically which stereotyped what was seen as a ‘typical’ criminal. He believed that criminals had certain ear types or skull shapes. (Case et al, 2017.)
• William Sheldon (1898-1977) was an American psychologist who argued that criminals depended on body type, and introduced Somatotyping. He focused on biological traits of the offender and identified 3 bodytypes; Endomorphs, Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs. His research concluded that of these, Mesomorphs were the most likely to commit a crime. (Case et al, 2017).
• Hans Eysenck (1916-1977) was a little different to past researchers, where most 20th Century sociologists focused on the biological and psychological side of offenders, he wanted to build a theory of criminal behaviour regarding personality. He argued that different personality traits combined with the individual itself affected the offending level. (Burke, 2017). He used a spectrum to explain this. The positioning of a person on this allowed explanation for social norms and values, thus some individuals being led into a non-legitimate life. (Case et al, 2017.) Theory development and key authors:
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) – laid the groundwork for Academic sociology in France and is now widely known as one of the most famous sociologists of the 19th/20th century. His main argument was that capitalism was a big contributing factor and its economic issues that came with it. He stated that Anomie was caused by this, in which norms and values in society can disappear due to a general change in society. Durkheim also wrote a book called ‘Suicide’ and examined the different factors that may have led an individual to suicide, such as marital status or occupation.
• Robert Merton (1910-2003) – Merton took the ideas that Durkheim presented and introduced what is known as strain theory. He believed that all Americans wanted the ‘American Dream,’ but for some Americans this would not be possible, due to not everyone having the same opportunities In life. He did have a slightly different idea to Durkheim, as he believed not that it was the criminal and non-criminal who had different goals, but instead lacked the means to achieve them. (Hale et al, 2013). This is why criminals ended up down the Criminal route, as they took illegitimate ways to reach their goals.
Key concepts
• Darwinism & Evolution
• Phrenology
• Genetics
• Irrational Theory
• Pathology Key concepts
• Anomie – Merton – ‘the relation between desire and the means of achieving those desires.’ (Case et al, 2017.)
Real world implications
• Unrealistic as does not account for human decision making and rational choice – would be legitimate if humans were robots, however they are not and therefore there are gaps in this work. Real world implications:
• Economic issues – affects living costs and thus different areas have higher crime rates than others. Low economic capital in areas = less opportunities for young people thus leading down illegitimate routes.
Key strengths and weaknesses
• Argues that people are born with certain traits and tendencies which is seen as a strength.
• Rejects other explanations for crime such as social inequality, and is also seen as deterministic. Argues that people are born the way they are and fails to account for rational choice. (Newburn, 2017.) Key strengths and weaknesses
• Helps to explain rational events in the instance of crime and therefore does not assume rationality. Sociological Positivism accepts social inequality – allows room for improvement regarding social policies and change.
• Does not account for low income areas and legitimate civillians.
Research/ measurement:
• Qualitative data – looks into the individual as a person. Uses this data to compare to other individuals and build explanations and stereotypes which then transforms into quantitative research.
• Quantitative data – Positivists prefer quantitative data. Research/ measurement:
• Quantitative data – easy to calculate using figures and statistics.
Conclusion
Positivism focuses generally on the study of society to reveal the truth about the functions and operations. It predominantly uses quantitative data, such as experiments, statistics and any other qualitative data. The general idea is that the data can be used to affect social change, and individual and sociological positivism both show different areas of this with regards to crime. Individual positivism data can be used to then look into sociological positivism in more depth. This is due to the initial explanation of the offender, which then links to the offence and the reasoning behind that. These link closely. It is clear to say that over the last century research has flourished, and this is now contributing to change within society.