Sociology of inequality

1995

                    SOCIOLOGY OF INEQUALITY

                      

BY F.H

.....    In July, 1992, the federal government's Department of Fisheries minister, Brian Tobin, announced that all cod fishing off the coast of Newfoundland would be banned for an indefinite period.  Through this announcement, 30,000 Newfoundland fishermen and fishery workers found themselves unemployed.  The federal government in Ottawa gave the workers a $1.9 billion five-year compensation program ending in the spring of 1999.  Part of this program included training programs which are supposed to allow unemployed fishermen to acquire skills and training to find equitable jobs. 

.....    Many of the fishermen have been outraged, either at the federal government, or at other fishermen who had recently been issued groundfishing licenses.

.....    Newfoundland fishermen have been portray many social inequities in comparison to the average Canadian citizen.  The wealth of most of these fishermen is found in their business and living assets.  Their boats, fishing gear, and their housing property are their main assets.  "...many fishermen invested as much as $500,000 in enterprises that now have little value.  "If they have to move out and go somewhere, they have to give up in many cases a half-million dollars in gear, houses and building."" (Globe & Mail, 28-01-'95) 

.....    The income of most fishermen has come from fishing (in the fishing season) and unemployment benefits (in the off-season).  The average range of a fishermen's yearly salary was from $20,000 to $50,000.

.....    The status of the fishermen is that of a manual labourer.  Most fishermen hold no high school education, and have no skilled labour.  They are mostly from British descent, and are seen from the Canadian mainland as a separate society similar to Quebec.  The dependency on unemployment insurance benefits for the fishermen has given the province of Newfoundland a negative image in the eyes of mainland Canadians. 

.....    The biggest social setback for the fishermen has been their power.  The federal government in Ottawa issues the groundfishing licenses, they service the unemployment insurance program, and they hold the permission allowing the Newfoundland fishermen to fish for cod. The fishermen have no political or ideological power.  Both are negligible due to low education standards and the small representation of MP's in Ottawa's Parliament. 

.....    The only power which the fishermen did hold, was economic power.  However, this power has dwindled with the onset of the cod fishing moratorium.  Most of the income potential for the 30,000 fishermen has shrunk.  Of the 15,000 fishing licenses existing in Newfoundland in 1993, the federal government planned to buy back two-thirds. 

.....    The existence of social stratification and cultural differences have had a large impact on the Newfoundland fishermen.  The basis of a staple-based economy, and a leakage of funds has also made a large impact on Newfoundland's economy. 

.....    The evidence of social stratification has been discussed previously.  With low education standards, low average incomes, and negligible investment from the federal government, Newfoundland's fishermen have been almost completely neglected.   ..... A look at Newfoundland's banking history portrays a rational picture as to why no other industries have been introduced in the past 50 years.  Many of the Canadian-based chartered banks have been taking deposits from Newfoundland's population for the past 50 years.  Unfortunately, these deposits were lend to mainland Canadian business, rather than Newfoundland enterprises.  The outflow of capital has resulted in Newfoundland holding one of the lowest investment ratios in the country. 

.....    Today, a large part of Newfoundland's economy is staple-based.  To those who are unfamiliar with this economic term, a staple-based economy is an economy such as Canada's in the 17th and 18th centuries.  During these centuries, much of Canada's income was derived from selling furs, logs, and some agricultural goods.  The dependency of Newfoundland's well-being on fish, has made this province very vulnerable. 

.....    Who is thus to blame?  The government of Canada, the chartered banks, foreign fishermen, or the Newfoundland fishermen?  Regardless of the blame, Newfoundland has a very big problem.  20,000 fishermen remain jobless today.  Before a solution is given by the federal and provincial governments, they must first learn from its past mistakes. 

.....    The lack of focus on formal education has created a large unskilled labour pool in Newfoundland.  Also, by issuing licenses with "its eyes closed", the federal government had oversupplied the Atlantic Ocean with too many fishermen. 

.....    The solution to Newfoundland's fishermen is comprehensive.  The focus of the solution can be found handily, by looking at those industries which have enjoyed tremendous growth in the past five to ten years in North America.  Most of the growth has been seen in the technology, information systems, mass media, and telecommunications sector. 

.....    In the spring of 1995, New Brunswich was awarded a contract from Bell Canada Enterprises to maintain a national switching centre for telecommunications.  The main reason that New Brunswick received this contract, was due to low transportation costs for equipment, big tax breaks, and a well-trained labour pool.  Newfoundland could learn from this example, and begin to focus on educating its fishermen in skills which will be needed from the present time to the future.

 .....   Another example of a "success story" is the Republic of Ireland.  Since the late 1980's, Ireland has been sent thousands of insurance documents to be typed and sent back to insurance companies.  Although this task is relatively simple and takes little training, Ireland has been enjoying a high income per capita relative to earlier times.  By hiring a consulting firm to conduct research for high-demand skills, Newfoundland could be ensured of training its fishermen with useful skills. 

.....    In recent months, after some drilling was completed, large deposits of diamonds were discovered in Labrodor.  The completion of the Hibernia oil project is also nearing.  What does this mean for Newfoundland?  If prices for oil and diamonds remain at profitable levels, then both these projects will be in need of skilled labour to extract the respective resources.  Newfoundland might want study the need for this labour, and if it exists, act immediately to train the fishermen with the necessary skills to acquire those jobs.

.....    The last option, which most Newfoundlanders would like the least, would be the relocation of employment to another area of the country where job prospects are less bleak.  

The origins of modern criminology

Criminology 203

What is a Theory?

• The body of rules, ideas, principles, and techniques that applies to a particular subject, especially when seen as distinct from actual practice.

Foundations of Criminology: "The Big Three"

1.   The State, Power and Crime

 2.Choice, Opportunity and-Deterrence

3.Human Development and Crime   

Strengths and weaknesses of criminology

Strenghts

o   Diversity (several ideas, schoold of thought)

o   Examines both micro and macro levels of crime

o   Examines the effects across various points of the life cycle

Weaknesses

o   Inability to develop a single paradigm

o   Immaturity

o   Constant disagreement between schoars, that remain within an overriding paradigm.

Differences between Classical and Positicist:

o   Classical school argues: Individuals freely choose to engage in crime, as we are rational human beings.

o   Positivist school argues: Crime is due to forces beyond an individual’s control.

“Demonic perspective”

Crime was said to be the result of supernatural forces. People engaged in crime because they succumbed to the temptations of evil forces, such as satan, or because they were possessed by evil forces.

Punishments were designed to “purge the body of a sinner of traces of the devil and thereby restore the body of the community as a whole to its proper relation to God.

The demonic perspective was dominant throught out the 1700’s. when it was challenged during the age of enlightment by a group of individuals who came to be known as t6he “Classical” Criminologists”

                       

Classical Theory

o   Dominant through the 1700’s

o   Positive

o   Moved us away from the “demonic persective”

o   Cesare beccaria was the first and most prominent classical criminologist

o   Argues crime is caused by observed and measurable things such as the absence of effective punishments

o   Classical school of thoughts challenged by cesare Lombroso and his idea of genetic throwbacks”

o   He was also the frst to emphasize the scientifictesting of theories.

o   Lombriso argued individuals deffer in their motications for crime and the differences are due to forces beyond one’s control. (Biological and social factors)

o   Developed in reaction to the harsh and corrupt legal system of the 1700’s

o    The laws of that legal system were vague and crimes usually resulted in an overly harsh punishment

o   Beccaria and other classical theorists assume people act in a rational manner that results in the greates pleasure and least pain.

Assumptions of the classical theory

o   Everone is motivated to engage in crime in pursuit of their own self interest.

o   People are rational and engage in crime to minimize their pain and maximize their pleasure.

o   Whether or not people engage in crime is mostly dependent upon the swiftness, certainty and appropiateness of the punishment.

Beccaria was the father of classical theory

The essential idea is that individuals are rational beings who persue their own interests, trying to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. And unless they are deterred by the threat of swift, certain and appropriately severe punishments, they may commit crimes (Harm to others) in their pursuit of self interest.

Beccaria believed that “if punishments are very severe, men are naturally led to the perpetration of other crimes, to avoid the punishment due to the first”

“Beccaria”

Laws are the conditions , under which men, naturally independent, united themselves in society.

Some motives therefore that strike the senses, were necessary to prevent the despotism of each individual from plunging society into its former chaos. Such motives are the punishments established against infractions of the laws.

Judges, in criminal cases have no right to interpret the penal laws, because they are not legislators.

Crimes will be less frequent in proportion as the code of laws is more universally read and understood.

Punishments which I would call political obstacles prevent the fatal effects of private interest.

The end of punishment is no other than to prevent the criminal from doing further injury to society, and to prevent others from committing the like offence.

The more immediately after the commission of a crime a punishment is inflicted the more just and useful it will be.

Crimes are more effectually prevented by the certainty than the severity of punishment.

Deterrence Theory

o   Strongly reflects the ideas of the classical theory

o   Focuses on the impact of official punishments of crime

o   Became popular in the 19970’s after the United States abandoned the idea of rehabilitation and focused on controlling crime with severe punishment.

o   Deterrence theory focuses on two types of deterrence

i)                    Specific deterrence

ii)                  General deterrence

Specific deterrence means that punishing offender for their crimes deters those specific offenders from further crime. General deterrence means that punishing some offender deters people in the general population from crime, including those who were not punished.

Nagin defines general deterrence as the “imposition of sanctions on one person (n order to) demonstrate to the rest of the public the expected costs of a criminal act, and thereby discourage criminal behavior in the general population.

In Contrast, andenaer states that if persons are “deterred by the actual experience of punishment, we speak of special deterrence”

Rational choice Theory

o   Again, assumes offenders are rational people who seek to0 maximize theory pleasure and minimize their pain.

o   Not only examines costs and benefits of crime, but individual traits, attitudes towards crime and the extent to which individuals have been reinforced and punished for crime.

o   Individual must decide if they are willing to become involved in crime

o   Next, the decision of what type of crime to commit needs to be made.

o   Not only does the choice to

Like classical and deterrence theories, rational choice theory assumes that offenders are rational people who seek to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain.

Clarke and Cornish state that a variety of individual and social factors influence the individual’s estimate of the benefits and costs of crime.

First, individuals decide whether they are willing to become involved in crime to satisfy their needs. Second, once individuals decide they are ready to engage in crime, they must decide to commit a particular offense.

Its staring point was an assumption that offenders seek to benefit themselves by their criminal behavior: t6hat this involves the making of decisions and of choices, however rudimentary on occasion these processes might be.

A crime specific focus was adopted, not only because different crimes may meet different needs, but also because the situational context of decision making and the i9nformation being handled will vary greatly among offenders.

It was argued that a decision making approach to crime requires that a fundamental involvement and criminal events, Criminal involvement.

The rational choice perspective is intended to provide a framework for understanding all forms of crime.

The Positivist school

o   Negative

o   Lombroso’s challenge to the classical school of thought allowed him to present his theory for the first time in the Positivist school of thought in 1876

o   Lombroso presented criminals as “genetic throwbacks”

o   Traits of criminals according to Lombroso: Large jaw and cheekbones, swollen or protruding lips, arm span greater that one’s height, excessive wrinkling, etc.

o   The criminal greatly resembled the primitive caveman.

o   Lombroso also continued with trend of scientifically studying criminals

o   It was his vast study of criminal and non criminals that allowed him to recognize environmental factors play a large role in committing a crime.

o   Lombroso realized there are several types of criminals. The “born Criminals” only making up a third of the population

Lombroso is the father of positive school

Lombroso argued that many criminals are “genetic Throwbacks” or primitive people in the midst of modern technology. Their primitive, savage state is what leads them to engage in crime. Criminals, then, are not normal, rational individuals who choose to engage in crime to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. Rather they are fundamentally different then noncriminals, and these differences compel them to engage in crime.

The positive school argues that crime is due to forces beyond the individuals control, Biological, psychological, or social forces. The positive school is distinguished by its search for these forces or causes of crime and by its reliance on the “scientific method” in this search.

A central part of the theory argues that many criminals are less evolved than noncriminals.

Lombroso’s theory was discredited when subsequent research failed to find that criminals differ from non criminals in terms of physical features he listed.

                                  

Individuals traits and crime

Certain types pf environment, including family, school, peer groups, and community, are said to increase the likelihood of crime.

New theories are focusing on a broader range of biological factors; including genetic inheritance and “biological harms” such as head injury, exposure to toxins such as lead and birth complications. Second they better specify how these biological factors lead to crime.

Third most biological theories now recognize that the social environment influences whether biological factors lead to the development of certain traits and whether these traits lead to crime.

|Evidence suggests that there may be a genetic component to those traits conducive to crime and that such traits conducive to crime and that such traits may also stem from |”biological harms” of a nongenetic nature, such as head injury, exposure to certain toxic substances, and some types of birth complications.

A central part of the theory argues that many criminals are less evolved than non criminals.

Lombroso’s theory was discredited when subsequent research failed to find that criminals differ from noncriminals in terms of physical features he listed.

Certain types of environments, including family, school, peer group, and community, are said to increase the likelihood of crime.

In recent years criminologists have began to focus on a broader range of biological factors including genetic inheritance and biological harms. “such as head injuries, exposure to toxins such as lead, and birth complications. “ Second they better specify how these biological factors lead to crime. Third, most biological theories now recognize that the social environment influences whether biological factors lead to the development of certain traits and whether these traits lead to crime.

Evidence suggests that there may be a genetic component to these traits conducive to crime and that such traits may also stem from “biological harms” of a nongenetic nature, such as head injury, exposure to certain toxic substances and some types of birth complications.

If crime is genetically inherited, we would expect identical twins to be more similar in crime than fraternal twins. Most studies indicate that this is the case. Twin studies however suffer from certain problems. Most notably some evidence suggests that identical twins- because of their more similar appearances and traits are more likely to spend time together and be treated the same than fraternal twins.

Adoption studies focus on children who were separated from their biological parents early in life. The traits of these children are compared to the traits of their biological parents. If crime is inherited we would expect more crime among adopted children whose biological parents are criminal than among adopted children whose biological parents are not criminals. Most data suggests that this is the case.

Twin and adoption studies suggest that there is some genetic basis for crime, but they do not identify those genes that may influence the predisposition for crime.

Studies suggests that crime is most likely when the individual possesses a biological predisposition for crime and is in an environment conductive to crime.

These theories all argue that genes have an effect on traits conductive to crime and that under some conditions individuals with such traits “might be able to reproduce at fairly high rates” Thereby passing their genes on to others.

The interactive effect of biological factors, traits, and the social environment on crime

Bio social theories

The evidence is generally supportive of the idea that crime is especially likely when biologically predisposed individuals are in environments conducive to crime. Some studies find that biological factors are most likely to lead to crime in advantaged rather than disadvantaged environments.

Such findings are usually explained by arguing that biological factors are most important when the “social push” for crime is minimal.

In sum biological factors and the individual traits influenced by such factors play6a central role in the explanation of crime. They influence the social environments in which people find themselves and likely play a major role in determining how people respond to such environments.

The central and Autonomic nervous system

Most researchers suggest that genetic inheritance and biological harms contribute to traits and crime through their effect on the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord) and the autonomic nervous system (which controls the heart ate and gland secretions, among other things, and influences the emotional reaction to stimuli)

Genetic factors and biological harms may also contribute to dysfunctions in the left hemisphere of the brain that have been linked to low verbal IQ scores. And biological factors may affect the autonomic nervous system, which data suggesting that criminals are under aroused.

This underarausal may contribute to such traits as impulsivity, sensation seeking, the inability to learn from punishment, and hyperactivity. Individuals who are under aroused are less affected by punishment and require more to stimulate them.

Environmental influences on traits

Whether individuals develop such traits depends on the socialization efforts f parents and others.

Biological characteristics and criminal disposition.

Rowe argues that genetic factors and biological harms affect individual traits through their impact on the central nervous system and autonomic nervous system (which includes the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems)

Finding the physiological basis of criminal disposition

Deficits in the prefrontal cortex may reduce the executive function- that is, the ability to plan and to reflect on one’s actions. Impaired executive function implies impulsive and disorganized behavior, a focus on the present rather than on the future.

Serotonin levels

A consistent association has been found between low cerebral spinal fluid SM Levels and suicidal impulses, suicide attempts, and completed suicides. Spinal Fuid SM levels are also lower in violent criminals. Furthermore people with suicidal ideation are sometimes impulsively aggressive, and their aggression is associated with lower Sm levels.

Heart rate tests of criminal disposition

Heart rate is physiological activity that is exquisitely sensitive to many environmental demands. Although the heart is a peripheral organ from the brain, the activity of the brain, including a psychological appraisal of situations, determines heart rate through the nervous system.

All 14 studies found a lower resting heart rate to be associated with a greater rate of crime.

Skin conductance Tests of criminal disposition

Skin conductance is measured by recording how much the fingers sweat.

Association have been found between a weak skin conductance response and criminal disposition.

One underlying factor for both a weaker skin conductance and lower resting heart rate may e a lower state of arousal in the brain.

Tests of brain anatomy and function

Raine and his colleagues have explored the relationship between brain images and criminal disposition.

Their general finding is that the frontal lobes- the brain region most involved in higher thought proves and in the integration of emotions and thought- may malfunction in the brain of criminally disposed individuals.

Routine activity theory

o   Three elements are necessary for a crime to occur

i)                    Motivated offenders

ii)                  Suitable targets

iii)                Lack of capable guardians

Rational choice theory argues that individuals choose to engage in crime. But “people make choices, but they cannot choose the choices available to them.”

According to this theoretical approach, three elements are necessary for a crime to occur: Motivated offender must come in contact with suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians.

According to the theory the supply of suitable targets and the pretense of capable guardians are a function of our everyday or “routine activity”

   It argues that in order for crime to occur, motivated offenders must converge with suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians. It also argues that the probability of this occurring is influenced by our “routine activities” including our work, family, leisure, and consumption activities.

Unraveling juvenile delinquency

The delinquents as a group are distinguishable from the non-\delinquents: (1) physically, in being essentially mesomorphic in constitution (solid, closely knit, muscular) (2) Temperamentally, in being restlessly energetic, impulsive, extroverted, aggressive, destructive (often sadistic) – traits which may be related more or less to the erratic growth pattern and its physiological correlates or consequences. (3) in attitude y being hostile defiant, resentful, suspicious, stubborn, socially assertive, adventurous, unconventional, non-submissive to authority. (4) Psychologically, in tending to direct and concrete, rather than symbolic, intellectual expression, and in being less methodical in their approach to problems (5) socio-culturally, in having been reared to a far greater extent than the control group in homes of little understanding, affection, stability, or moral fibre by parents usually unfit to be effective guides and prote4ctors or according to psychoanalytic theory, desirable sources for emulation an the construction of a consistent well balanced and socially normal superego during the early stages of character development. Nahile in individual cases the stresses contributed by any one of the above pressure-areas of dissocial behavior tendency may adequately account for persistence in delinquency as dependent upon the interplay of the conditions and forces from all these areas.

Containment theory

Walter Reckless believed that individuals are exposed to an array of conditions that could predispose them to break the law. These criminal propensities might be "pushes," which might come either from troubled psyches or from pressures generated by stressful circumstances outside the individual. Or these propensities might derive from "pulls" such as family members, friends, or older role models in the neighborhood who are engaged in, and seemingly enjoying and profiting from, various criminal enterprises.

Reckless recognized that pushes and pulls toward crime were not evenly distributed in society, and thus that not everyone was equally motivated to break the law.

He understood that pushes and pulls varied across communities.

Outer containment is similar to what criminologists today call”

informal social control"

Inner containment involves possessing conventional beliefs, a commitment to goals, a self concept as a "good" person, the ability to handle distress, and a strong conscience- among other things.

A middle range theory

Containment theory does not explain criminal or delinquent activity which is a part of "normal" and "expected" roles and activities in some families and communities.

Between these two extremes in the spectrum of crime and delinquency is a very large middle range of norm violation.

Containment theory seeks to explain this large middle range of offenders.

Containment theory seeks to ferret out more specifically the inner and outer controls over normative behavior.

Social bond theory

Delinquency and social bonds are inversely related. Second, the concept of social bonds has four elements- Attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief-

A General Theory of crime

Some criminologists see crime as a by product of people with low self control who have high criminogenic propensities, coming into contact with illegal opportunities.

Self control not opportunities will be the primary determinant of people's involvement in crime across their life course.

A power control theory of gender and delinquency

In patriarchal families, girls are raised in a "cult of domesticity"

In which the goal is to have them to grow up to be house wives like their mothers.

In egalitarian families, however, the goal is to prepare both daughters and sons for the labor force.

In patriarchal families, boys are more involved in delinquency than girls because they experience fewer controls and develop preferences for taking risks. In egalitarian families however, boys and girls are exposed to comparable levels of parental control and thus their risk preferences and involvement in delinquency are similar.

A theory of differential association

Sutherland’s theory is that criminal behavior is learned by interacting with others, especially intimate others.  It states that “a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to law violation over definitions unfavorable to violation of law”

Factors such as social class, race, and broken homes influence crime because they affect the likelihood that individuals will associate with others who present definitions favorable to crime.

Association with delinquent others is the best predictor of crime, and that these delinquent others partly influence crime by leading the individual to adopt beliefs conducive to crime.

1. Criminal behavior is learned.
2. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.
3. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.
4. When criminal behavior is learned the learning includes a) Techniques of committing the crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes very simple b) the specific direction of motives, drive, rationalizations and attitudes.
5. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable.
6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of law.
7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
8. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
9. While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

Techniques of Neutralization

The dominant view was that delinquents held values which were the opposite of middle-class values.

The first part their article presents evidence suggesting that delinquents do not generally approve of delinquency.  The second part of their article presents and alternative formulation, in which they contend that delinquents are able to engage in delinquency by employing certain “techniques of neutralization.”  Although delinquents believe that delinquency is generally bad, they claim that their delinquent acts are justified for any one of several reasons (e.g., the victim had it coming, they didn’t really hurt anybody.)  These justifications are said to be sured before the delinquent act, and they make the delinquent act possible by neutralizing the individual’s belief that it is bad.

A Social Learning Theory of Crime

Akers argues that we learn to engage in crime through exposure to and the adoption of definitions favorable to crime. Akers, however, more fully describes the nature of such definitions.

He argues that crime may also be learned though imitation and differential reinforcement.

The Central Concepts and Propositions of Social Learning Theory

The basic assumption in social learning theory is that the same learning process in a context of social structure, interaction, and situation, produces both conforming and deviant behavior.  The difference lies in the direction…[of] the balance of influences on behavior.

Differential association.  Differential association refers to the process whereby one is exposed to normative definitions favorable or unfavorable to illegal or law-abiding behavior.

Differential reinforcement.  Differential reinforcement refers to the balance of anticipated or actual rewards and punishments that follow or are consequences of behavior.

The Social Learning Process:  Sequence and Feedback Effects

This process is one is which the balance of learned definitions, imitation of criminal or deviant models, and the anticipated balance of reinforcement produces the initial delinquent or deviant act.  The facilitative effects of these variables continue in the repetition of acts, although imitation becomes less important than it was in the first commission of the act.  After initiation, the actual social and non-social reinforces and punishers affect whether or not the acts will be repeated and at what level of frequency.  Not only the behavior itself, but also the definitions are affected by the consequences of the initial act.  Whether a deviant act will be committed in a situation that presents the opportunity depends on the learning history of the individual and the set of reinforcement contingencies in that situation.

Social Structure and Social Learning

Akers has proposed a SSSL (social structure and social learning) model in which social structural factors are hypothesized to have an indirect effect on the individual’s conduct.  They affect the social learning variables of differential association, differential reinforcement, definitions, and imitation which, in turn, have a direct impact on the individual’s conduct. 

Four dimension of social structure that provide the contexts within which social learning variables operate:

i)                    Differential Social Organization

ii)                  Differential Location in the Social Structure

a.       Class, gender, race and ethnicity, marital status, and age

iii)                Theoretically Defined Structural Variables

a.       Anomie, class oppression, social disorganization, group conflict, patriarchy

iv)                Differential Social Location refers to individuals’ membership in and relationship to:

a.       Family, friendship/peer groups, leisure groups, colleagues, and work groups

The Thesis of a Subculture of Violence

Wolfgang and Ferracuti draw on Sutherland’s differential association theory….

..Among other things, they note that the subculture of violence is not completely at odds with the larger culture, it does not unconditionally approve of violence, and it is not share to the same extent by all members of the “subsociety.”  The subculture is most prominent among young adults, and it defines violence as an expected, even required response to a range of situations.  Violence is only required in certain situations.  The subculture is learned in interaction with others, although they note that personality variables may influence the extents to which the subcultural attitudes are assimilated.  Individuals who assimilate the subculture of violence will interpret certain situations differently than other people.

The code of the streets

Andeerson argues that there exists a “code of the streets” in poor, inner city African-american communities. While most people do not accept the values underlying this code, the code places all young African American men unfer much preassure to respond to certain situacions –Shows of disrepct- with violence.

While most people are opposed to the subculture, the subcultured  nevertheless shapes the behavior of most communitiy residents. Further, the influence of the subculture4 is pervasive, affecting one’s behavior in a wide range of situacions and most especially affecting how one interprets and responds to challenges.

Decent and street families

Decent residents judge themselves to be so while judgiung others to be of the street, and street individuals often present themselves as decent, drawing distinctions between themselves and other people.

SO-Called decent families tend to accept mainstream vbalues more fully and attempt mainstream values more fully and attpemt to instill them in their children.

Decent Parents tend to be strict in their child rearing practices, encouraging children to respect authority and walk a straight moral line.

So called street parents, in contrast often show a lack of consideration for other people and have a rather superficial sense of family and community.

Microlevel learning theories

Sutherland’s theory of differential assocation was a microlevel earning theory. It sates that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with others particularly intimatye others like friends and family.

Indiiduals are most likely to engage in crime if they are exposed to definitions favorable to law violation 1) Early in life, 2) on a relatively frequent basis, 3) Over a long period of time, and 4) from sources they like and respect.

Macro Level Learning theories

The Macro level version of learning theory argue that there are certain groups in the nited States with values that are conducive to crime or that approve of or justify crime in cerain circumstances.

Other theorists have argued that young people constitute a deviant subculture. In particular, young people are said to approve of certain minoir forms of crime, like gambling and underage drinking, and to hold values that are conducive to crime.

The origins of these deviant subcultures

Strain theory

Individuals who are unable to achieve valued goals through legitimate channels may attempt to achieve them throught illegitimate channels or they may substitute alternative goals which they are capable of achieving in their place. 

What is Learned helplessness

Psychology 242

Chapter 2

Question 2: Describe Learned helplessness. How it is developed in laboratory animals and how does it help us to understand human depression?

Learned Helplessness was established though experimental tests on rats in Lab controlled environment. The scientist would shock the rats to see what the patterned of behaviors was. When the rats would realize that they had no control over their environment they would become “depressed.”

This experiment led to the conclusion that people reacted the same way. When faced with the experience of helplessness they tend to become depressed, Just like the rats did. The real breakthrough in Psychology was when Seligmen realize that different people have different views of the same situation, meaning that what one person views as a workable situation another may see it as an impossible situation to cope with and therefore become depressed.

Chapter 3

Question 1: The DSM-IV is based on a multiaxial system. Explain the content of each axis and its contribution to understanding the patient?

The DSM-IV system was an upgrade of the DSM-III. It brought about certain changes to the old coding system, For example the in the new DSM only personality disorders and mental retardation is coded in Axis II. “Pervasive developmental disorders that were previously in coded on Axis II are now in Axis I.” Certain disorders that had not been useful were replaced, or completely deleted from the DSM, while other disorders where added to it.

This new DSM helps psychologists diagnose certain disorders in a more efficient manner. For example according to the book there is a case of a patient whom they call “Frank.” In his case

“Initial observation indicates an anxiety disorder on Axis I, specifically obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, he might also have long standing personality traits that lead him systematically to avoid social contact. If so, there might a diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder on Axis II. Unless Frank has an identifiable medical condition, there is nothing on Axis III. Job and marital difficulties would coded on Axis IV where we note psychosocial or environmental problems that are not part of the disorder but might make it worse.”

This patient has a little bit of everything in the Mix, but nothing so severe that he would be diagnosis with anything in the new DSM the reason being that in the DSM one must first rate the severity of the disorder before they are given a label.  

Chapter 4

Question 1: Explain the unique ways that monozygotic twins raised in separate environments help us to understand the genetic influences of psychopathology?

By studying Monozygotic twins one can distinguish whether or not certain disorders are genetic or a product of our environment. After several studies Michael Lyons came to the conclusion that in juvenile anti-social behavior would be the result of environments not genetic factors.  Yet in adulthood, anti-social behavior is greatly due to genetic factors.  This leads to the assumption that in early stages of development, behavior is due the environment, and not genetics.  Whereas in adulthood, it is the genetic factor that influences one’s psychological disorder to develop. 

Question 2

Describe the procedures of the cross-sectional and longitudinal research methods.  What are the uses and limitations of these methods?

Cross-sectional design is when researchers take a sample population of different age groups and compare them on some characteristics.  What this means is that they will take a group of people who are around or about the same age and question them on a subject to find their opinions.  They can then use this information to develop a hypothesis.  This method of research is preferred by most academics, because it can be done in short amount of time.  However, this method cannot answer how the individuals came about their opinion or how they will develop because of that opinion.  Longitude designs is when researchers follow one group over time and record all of the changes and experiences the members go through in the years.  This method can be very accurate in asserting why certain members of the group develop certain disorders which can lead to a hypothesis.  Unfortunately, this type of research can take up to 25 years.  And not many institutions can be the financial burden that goes along with longitudinal. 

Chapter 5

Question 3

Discuss panic disorder including symptoms, cause, and treatment. What is panic attack? Explain the differences between the three types of panic attacks.

There are three types of panic attacks that are described in the DSM/IV:  The first is situational bound.  In this case you will only have the symptoms of the panic attack in certain situations or places, but not anywhere else.  However, in unexpected panic attacks, you will never know when or where your next attack will happen.  Standing in the middle is the third type of panic attack which is situational predisposed. 

Panic attacks are defined by a sudden sense of fear which is usually accompanied by heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, and sometimes dizziness.  The only way to treat panic attacks is by confronting the fears and anxieties of the patient in a controlled environment so the patient can be aware that there is nothing to be afraid of. 

Chapter 7

Question 3

Compare and contrast the clinical symptoms of major depression and mania. Explain what is meant by mixed mania.

Major depression is characterized by cognitive symptoms that last at least two weeks or more.  This means that the subject will experience the feeling worthlessness, indecisiveness, and helplessness.  Most times they will also disturbed physical functions such as altered sleeping patterns, changes of appetite, losses and gain of weight, and/or loss of energy.  Subjects that experience a depressive episode will typically lose interest in the most common household tasks, and the inability to enjoy life, whereas mania is characterized by a feeling of euphoria.  Subjects experiencing mania can find joy in the most mundane of tasks.  Some patients go as far as comparing “their daily experience of mania to a continuous sexual orgasm.”  Some of the physical elements of mania can be:  Requiring very little sleep, rapid incoherent speech, and the feeling that they can do anything.

The combination of both a manic and depressive episode contributes to what is known as a mixed mania.  When an individual can “experience manic symptoms but feel somewhat depressed or anxious at the same time.”

Chapter 8

Question 1

In what ways do anorexia and bulimia patients tend to be similar and in what ways do they differ?  Make certain to include the similarities and differences in the symptoms of the disorders as well as the dysfunctional thoughts typically associated with each disorder.

Bulimia nervosa is characterized by the subject eating large amounts of food and then purging.  Purging can include self-induced vomiting, or the use of laxatives and diuretics, as well as excessive exercise.  Some subjects will fast for long periods before succumbing to another out-of-control binge.  The most important characteristic present in bulimia is the feeling that self-esteem will only be determined by the subject’s weight.  The same is true for subjects who suffer from anorexia.  Both anorexia and bulimia subjects have a powerful and controlling fear of gaining weight and losing control over eating.  In the case of anorexia, subjects will cease to eat.  With anorexia the subjects experience a feeling of control over their bodies and their diets, which is not true for subjects suffering from bulimia.  Subjects with bulimia usually have a history of anorexia where they use fasting to lose weight. Anorexia usually develops when a subject chooses to loose weight and succeeds. The subject then develops a fear of gaining weight and does anything to keep that from happening.

Question 3: What are the differences between nightmares and sleep terrors? Describe what we know about sleep terrors, including the ages at which it generally occurs and how it has been treated?

There is not a lot of research on nightmares or sleep terrors; some of the things that are known are that in both cases the subjects are children. Nightmares are characterized as very bad dreams that makes the subject awaken from his or her sleep, while night terrors are usually bad dreams which the subject does not remember, the subject would have screamed, Usually his or her heart will be palpitating and they will be sweating but they will not remember why. Another distinction is that Nightmares occur during REM sleep while night terrors occur during NREM sleep.

The first prescription for this type of cases is time, Doctors will usually ask the parents to wait and see if the nightmares or night terrors disappear on their own. If night terrors persist then the Doctors might ask the parents to awaken the child half an hour prior to the time when the night terror usually occurs, this will occur every night making it a little bit later every night until the child finally gets to sleep all night. Although the effects have not been researched or proven there are times when someone experiencing this symptoms might be prescribed antidepressants.

Question 4: Describe the Diagnostic criteria, neurological elements, and treatment for circadian sleep disorder?

To be diagnosed with circadian sleep disorder the subject would have to contains several criteria’s, one of which is that the developmental stages of the disorder begins by having interrupted sleep which brakes the normal sleep pattern, this interruption to sleep must create a disruption in the subjects life or social environment, it must also not be in conjuncture to any other mental or sleep disorder.

Our brain has ways of letting us know when it is time to go to sleep. Our biological clock is in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleous in the Hypothalamus which is connected to our eyes. Essentially what happens is that our eyes perceive darkness (Night) and let our brain know that it is time to sleep, the Brain then produces melatonin to help us go to sleep. Melatonin is produced in the pineal gland. It is when a subject suffers from a disruption in this process that he or she develops Circadian Sleep Disorder.

There are several ways to treat Circadian Sleep Disorder; one of them is the use of several drugs. Among these drugs are Benzodiazepine, Trizolm and Zolpidem and more. Drugs are used for short term treatment and are not suggested for long term treatment, the reason being that drugs can develop a dependency. Environmental treatments might include using a bright light. In this case the subject would sit in front of a bright light for a couple of hours so that the brain can receive the correct message and reset the internal clock. Other treatments might involve the forcing of the subject to go to sleep earlier, or later, this depends on which one is the problem, until the subject is back to a normal rhythm.    

The truth about the loch ness monster

This picture taken by a London Surgeon named Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson in April of 1934, was the beginning of modern lore in regards to Nessie the Loch ness Monster.

 However this picture was later claimed to have been an elaborate hoax performed by Duke wetherell according to his step son Christian Spurling. Mr Spurling said that his stepfather had faked the picture, having had Christian Spurling make the body shown in the picture out of a toy submarine and some tinplate.

 Mr Spurling claimed in a 1975 article that his step father had made the picture along with Maurice chambers. Strangely enough, It was Maurice chambers that Colonel Robert Wilson had claimed he was on his way to see when Nessie appeared. 

 Ian Wetherell also claimed that he had seen other pictures, in which the shoreline was clearly visible, and that these pictures had been discarded due to the obvious flaw in Nessie’s size when calculated with the Horizon.

 As the story goes, Wetherell decided to make the hoax after having been ridicule by the newspaper the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail had sent wetherell to find out the truth about Nessie, while there wetherell found tracks of a four toed creature that he believed was over twenty feet long. He made plaster molds of it, and made the find public, however when the London Museum of History claimed the footprints where those of a Hippo the Daily Mail decided to ridicule Wetherell in a most unrespectful manner. 

Wetherell’s vengeance was to create the monster, and have Wilson claimed that he himself had taken the picture.

 The plan was to later laugh publicly at the Daily Mail when they came forth to tell the truth about the Hoax.

 However so much publicity was brought on by the picture, that all that had taken part of the hoax decided to keep quiet.

 Does this mean that Nessie never truly existed? 

The simple answer is NO. 

there is something in the depths of the Loch Ness Lake. 

There are too many sightings that have been reported since the 1800’s for it not to be real.

 However what it is may not be a monster at all. At least not in the sense of a sea creature from Myth. 

 In October 13, 2013 ABC News did a report about a Marine Science instructor named Jasmine Santana. Santana was Snorkeling in Toyon Bay when she noticed an eye looking at her from the floor of the sandy bottom.

 A little exploration revealed the carcass of an 18 foot Oar fish. The Find was extremely rare, Oar fish are seldom seen, and their bodies almost never recovered. 

This specimen was 18 feet long, however Oar fish are known to grow to up to 50 feet . 

 It took 20 people to finally bring out the Oar fish out of the water. 

Oar fish usually live in the deep parts of the ocean, which is why most humans have never truly seen one. Although Oar fish are not mythological creatures, the idea that this could be what is truly inside the deep water of the loch ness lake only makes sense. 

After all Oar fish only swim between 600 feet and 3 thousand feet under the ocean, can grow to 50 feet in lengths and be over 300 pounds.

 So even if you do see Nessie, know that you are still witnessing something amazing, and that most of us will never see!

Kids that fly????

Mermaids...New evidence

You decide...