The Contribution Of The Chicago School Of Criminology Criminology Essay

The Contribution Of The Chicago School Of Criminology Criminology Essay To understand the contribution of the Chicago School of criminology is to understand how the confluence of geography, urbanisation, economics, immigration and the exchange of social theory between Europe and America combined to create new ways of looking at society. This essay will critically evaluate the contribution of the Chicago School, touching on these contributing factors to its development, prestige and influence. This essay will also note the limitations of the Chicago School that arise from the specificity of its location and its reliance on certain ideologies and research methods. In conclusion, this essay will argue that the same combination of factors that created the schools dominance in the field of criminology makes it vulnerable to social change. The Chicago School had its basis in the University of Chicago sociology department, which is the oldest in the United States and was established in 1892 (Lilly et al, 2007, p. 36). DEramo Thomson (2003) note this was a period of rapid social transformation. Chicago was a major railroad hub and became a huge industrial centre in its own right, notably its meat-packing industry (DEramo Thomson, 2003, p. 7). Chicago was an excellent place to carry out sociological fieldwork because it exemplified the post-industrial concentration of population in urban areas. The city grew from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1910 (Lilly et al, 2007, p. 34) providing a perfect Petri dish for the Chicago Schools study of human behaviour. The concentration of industry and therefore economic opportunity prompted an influx of immigrants and led to rapid changes in living patterns. Urbanisation was a major characteristic of the Industrial Revolution, and many cities grew very rapidly, so criminologists in other cities could easily generalise from the work of the Chicago School (Fine, 1995, p. 300). The most significant contribution of the Chicago School is the idea of social ecology. It holds that crime is a response to unstable environment and abnormal living conditions (Treadwell, 2006, p. 47). This is no longer a particularly radical idea, which is an indicator of the continued prominence of the Chicago School. For centuries, crime was viewed as a moral failure (ibid.) in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Criminals were sinners. What the Chicago School recognised was that urban life was distinct from rural life and its hectic, anonymous nature influenced peoples behaviour (Carrabine, 2004, p. 51). Chicago School criminologists were quick to draw a link between juvenile delinquency and the economic and geographic patterns of urban development. Thanks to the population boom they were able to study in detail, over a short span of time, the shifts from inner city to suburbs, and the differences in crime rates between affluent suburbs and the inner city poor (Treadwell, 2006). It is still possible to read first-hand observations in the Chicago School monographs written by sociologists such as Beirne and Thomas, on topics including hobos, prostitutes, dance halls and organised crime (Carrabine, 2004, p. 50). These books are a permanent testimony to the influence of the Chicago School, as well as offering a contemporary historical account of the development of criminology. Theories developed by the Chicago School are still central tenets of criminology whether modern researchers agree or are trying to discredit them. One of their primary assertions was that disruption, e.g. immigration, economic shifts and family instability, tends to cause crime, which has been affirmed by modern studies showing that social disorder, weak friendship networks and low community involvement produce higher crime rates (Lanier Henry, 2004, p. 214). Underlying the focus on identifying where crime is located geographically and socially is the influence of Emile Durkheim, who believed crime is an inevitable and necessary party of society (Beirne Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 97). This ideology naturally tends towards identifying crime and its causes, rather than believing it can be eliminated. The ongoing influence of the Chicago School prompted further sociological studies with a similar ethos of identifying where crime would come from. In the 1930s and 1940s sociological soc ial psychology, a study of group behaviour that emphasises group dynamics and socialisation (Siegel, 2008, p. 9), developed based in part on the Schools social ecology principles. Treadwell (2006) remarks that one of the Chicago Schools main contributions to criminology are its qualitative research methods. Robert Ezra Park, chair of the Department of Sociology, had a passion for walking the streets of the worlds great cities, observing the full range of human turbulence and triumphà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ he led a group of dedicated sociologists in direct, systematic observation of urban life (Carrabine, 2004, p. 50). Park taught his methods of direct observation to generations of students in his thirty-year career the University, ensuring the future study of criminology would be grounded in first-person observation. This seems axiomatic, however, it marked a shift from morally-determined ideas about crime that made assumptions based on belief, rather than observation. Sociologists such as Thresher and Shaw took to the streets, bars and juvenile courts of Chicago to observe people going about their daily lives (Treadwell, 2006). This pattern of study offered marginali sed people to report their own lives (ibid.). Subsequently research has tended to gravitate around methods pioneered by the Chicago School, such as direct interviews with subjects. This has also been construed as a weakness of the school, though, with critics arguing that the qualitative nature of its studies can result in the undue influence of the researchers personal bias (Fine, 1995, p. 139). While this inspired other sociologists to devote more attention to research techniques the subjectivist Chicago school method (ibid, p. 139) is still widely used in criminology. The structure of research in criminology has been shaped by the Chicago School in other ways, as well. It was home to some of the most influential voices in early criminology including urban sociologists such as W.I. Thomas, Robert Ezra Park, Ernest W. Burgess, and Louis Wirth (Siegel, 2008, p. 7) who pioneered social ecology. Significantly, Park, Burgess and Wirth were sociologists, teaching and conducting criminological research as part of the sociology department. As a result most criminologists have been trained in sociology, and many sociology departments are home to criminology courses (ibid. p. 162) This is more than an academic coincidence. To place criminology in the realm of sociology is to implicitly accept as a starting point the idea that criminal behaviour is rooted in society, not personal morality. This represents a radical shift from almost two thousand years of Judeo-Christian belief. In order to understand how important it is, imagine, for example, that criminology developed as an offshoot of economics. Not only would the style of research be vastly different, it seems likely the types of crime it studied would be different. White collar crime, such as fraud and embezzlement, might well be considered more serious and worthy of study than crimes against persons, such as assault or burglary. However, because criminology started with sociology the relationships between individuals, and between individuals and the larger culture, remain the primary subject of study. By focusing on relationships between people, and their environmental interactions, the Chicago School tended towards certain conclusions. Shaw McKay found that certain areas had consistently high delinquency rates despite rapid turnover of the population, this tended to support the idea that the environment itself was at least partly responsible for generating crime (Beirne Messerschmidt, 2000, p. 123). Furthermore, Shaw and McKay the first to identify what became known as white flight the phenomenon of well-off, well-educated (usually white) people moving out of urban centres to more affluent suburbs, leaving cities with concentrations of poor, less-educated citizens, often concentrated in ethnic or racial groups (ibid, p. 122). This pattern of movement and separation helps explain the observation that certain areas are more crime-prone. It is not the result of more criminals flocking to certain areas, but rather that the bad living conditions and poor infrastructure create barri ers community, and offer opportunities or even incentives for criminal behaviour. However, because of the sociological focus, what subsequent studies looked at were social concerns, rather than economic. Sutherland put forth the theory that criminal behaviour is learned, just like any other kind of behaviour (Hagan, 2007, p. 159). The learning takes place within groups, and includes learning how to commit criminal acts, and developing justifications for doing so (ibid.). This is based on the idea that if people are concentrated in areas with limited opportunity and/or close proximity to criminals, they are more likely to learn deviant behaviour. However, an equally valid line of reasoning would be all the people in a particular area are equally poor, so they turn to crime not as a learned behaviour but as an individual response to the economic conditions. Thanks to the Chicago School, though, the notion of learned criminal behaviour gained primacy. This can be seen in entertainment, like the film The Usual Suspects and TV drama Prison Break, whose plots involve groups of criminals brought together in prison who then plot and commit more crimes together. Despite making its main focus sociology the Chicago School does acknowledge that economics is the root of a great deal of criminal behaviour. Siegel (2008) argues the culture of poverty leads to apathy, cynicism and a sense of (p. 163) though again that is a sociological analysis of an economic situation. Nevertheless, the extensive Chicago School studies involving marginalised classes such as prostitutes and gangs (Carrabine, 2004, p. 52) offered rich data and established patterns for further study. The methodology, if not the ideological starting point, remains extremely relevant to thinking on the causes of crime. That is not to overstate the importance of the Chicago School. As previously noted, Chicago in the early twentieth century underwent rapid change thanks to a combination of geographic and economic factors that is unlikely to ever be repeated. The result is that some of the conclusions of the Chicago School, while interesting, are clearly limited in their usefulness. For example, the concentric rings theory of urban growth (Hagan, 2007, p. 154), which is based observations about Chicagos development with an industrial centre with layers of the poor, and then the increasingly affluent, around it. That development pattern applies to many American cities but, Beirne Messerschmidt note, is not equally valid in Europe (2000). Major European cities such as London, Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam have extremely rich, desirable neighbourhoods close to the heart of the city, with poorer neighbourhoods scattered randomly around the outskirts. The Chicago School, working from its specific historical vantage point, failed to take into account different urban growth patterns. Even more critical is the consideration of innovations in technology and communications, which has important implications for how environment is defined. The Chicago School offered a strong counterpoint to explanations that blamed individuals for their criminality (Lilly et al, 2007, p. 34) and focused on the influence of environment. However, they were studying an urban area before the age of mass communication. Contemporary application of Chicago School ideas has to take into account that the nature of technology and therefore the social ecology has changed. Urbanisation is still a powerful driving force and there is still extensive economic migration, but it does not occur at the same rate as in turn-of-the-century Chicago. Modern technology allows people to constantly network and communicate with people outside their physical environment which necessarily changes the definition of what constitutes their community. A migrant living in London might be isolated from their own cult ural group which the Chicago School would argue is a risk for increased criminal behaviour but they can go to an internet cafà © and video-chat with friends in the country of origin. So in an important way they are maintaining a community bond, and they are not disrupted in the same way a 1930s immigrant would have been. Where the influence of the Chicago School can still be felt is that it continues to define terms of study, such as environment, even if the nature of what is being studied has changed. Another area where the Chicago School is less useful is in terms of drawing up plans for preventing crime. Based on the belief that crime is a learned behaviour, caused by environment, it argued that it can in large part be prevented by social programmes (Carrabine, 2004, p. 52). However, Lanier and Henry (2004) note the Chicago School observed that one of the factors in social disorganisation, and therefore crime, was a lack of respect for authority and little faith in social organisations. This presents a catch-22. Social organisations cannot effectively combat crime if people them. The Chicago School does not offer any firm solutions for this problem. Informal social organisations such as churches, parent-teacher associations and sports programmes suggest one way of reaching communities, and these groups are seen to play a major role in reducing criminal behaviour (Lanier Henry, 2004, p. 218). Lanier Henry (2004) note, however, that formal social control in the form of policing is also essential to prevent crime, however this is observational rather than prescriptive. In conclusion, Chicago was a powerhouse of social and intellectual study throughout the twentieth century. Cassidy notes Chicago thinking greatly influenced policymaking in the U.S. and many other parts of the world (Cassidy, 2008, p. 28) however he is talking about the Chicago School of economics, rather than criminology. Cassidy writes about the upheaval within the economic school due to the global recession, and the discrediting of many of the Chicago School of Economics fundamental financial beliefs (ibid). This shows that even the most respected, established schools of academic thought can be critically undermined by social changes. By definition, it is only possible to study what already exists. Though the theories drawn up by the Chicago School regarding criminology make important observations and predictions those are subject to revision based on changes in society. The usefulness of theories and ideologies is ultimately rooted in the real-life. When a culture undergoes radic al changes there are inevitably challenges to accepted ways of thinking and to long-standing academic disciplines. For almost a century the Chicago School has held its place in criminology, but as society changes and its needs change this long tradition could also be displaced.

God silences and comforts Essay

Milton wrote â€Å"When I consider how my light is spent† when he was rapidly losing his eyesight. He contemplates on his life prior to blindness (â€Å"light†) and on his life after –â€Å"dark world and wide. † As a Christian, he questions the current state of his being and laments at how it has rendered him inadequate in serving his Maker. He feels that he now cannot serve God as best as he can due to his handicap. Understandably so, he is bitter, frustrated, and in despair. Often in our lives, we are faced with difficulties of all kinds. We do not like it so we get angry, but we cannot change it so we get cynical. We lash out on God by constantly asking â€Å"Why,† and wallow in self-pity in believing ourselves to be useless. But see, in the poem, this is where God shows Milton that he’s wrong. First and foremost, God in Himself is complete (â€Å"God who doth not need/Either man’s work or His own gifts†). For God, who needs neither man nor man’s abilities to define Him, Milton simply needs to bear his situation and trust in God wholeheartedly. All God requires is for man to serve him as best as he can to the extent that his circumstances allow him to. In Milton’s case, he need not be up to par with the most able and talented people to serve God; His service in light of his condition may in itself, be sufficient. With this, God silences and comforts Milton’s distrusting heart, and Milton yields to Him in unquestioning compliance. Your last name, 2 Reality confronts me with a world where circumstances don’t always go my way. In fact, things can even go so horribly wrong as to leave me feeling completely lost. Like Milton, it takes time for me to fully accept an unfavorable situation beyond my control. I question it, I curse it, and I tell myself that I can be and do better otherwise. In short, I use a bad situation as a convenient excuse to justify my failures and shortcomings. Like many others, I am guilty of humanity’s problem of wanting to control every aspect in life. However, problems constantly remind me that I will always be subject to the unforeseeable and the inevitable. I cannot be so arrogant in that I must always be in control of every situation, but neither can I just let circumstances prevent me from doing my best. Like Milton, I realize that the true test of character is how I act in the most trying times. The best of my ability is seen in how I am able to make the most of what I have. I know that when I do my best, my talents and abilities are never wasted in the eyes of God. Of course, there are still days when I feel that all elements are against my attempts to accomplish something, but that’s all right; I can let go with faith in the fact that I have done my very best. That, perhaps, is all that is really required of me. â€Å"Who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best† –Milton, in referring to his troubles as mild, gave me something more to think about: How often have I thought of my problems as unsurpassable? How often have I believed myself to be the unluckiest of the unlucky? Quite often, I’m afraid. But as I look beyond myself and at the problems of people around me, I shamefully realize how my troubles pale in comparison. There is a whole world of people around me who suffer in ways I cannot even comprehend. Compared to them, my problems are small Your last name, 3 and trivial. If they, in their state, can bear and go on with their lives to the best of their abilities, how much more can I? In fact, history tells us that Milton’s best works were written after he became blind! Truly, I have no excuse to validate a contemptuous disposition. So with an acquired sense of humility, I admit that the only real limit to my abilities is myself. Nowadays, I confess that problems still get to me. As much as I tell myself to â€Å"just grin and bear it,† I still find it hard to do so unquestioningly. But as I think of Milton’s poem, I see things clearly and more rationally. Essentially, God’s message to Milton is that it is not the situation that makes a man, rather, it is what man makes of the situation. For as long as I live out my life as best as I can, I define who I am and what I do. And circumstances, no matter how difficult or shattering, will never defeat me. Works cited: 1.

Children in Advertisements

The ever expanding markets for goods and their unchallenged assault through advertisements are flooding the society with information and ideas, attitudes and imagery which is difficult to control and assimilate. This is affecting the young minds to a great extent especially when entertainment is interspersed with commercial messages. Adults may be able to develop a rational resistance to this onslaught, but children may not. The children of non-TV age did not take advertisements seriously. They heard commercials on radio, read advertisements in comic books, children's magazines and outdoor posters.On the whole, adults as well as children cared little for advertisements. Television changed people/Es perception of advertisements. For the TV advertiser, children are a very attractive target group to be cultivated. They become a pressure group on parents and parents often succumb to children's demands. Sometimes it takes a form of emotional blackmail. They are not buyers. According to Wa dwalkar (1990),† children are parasite consumers. † But, children are potential buyers. They will grow up watching certain brands and kinds of products on television.Long repetitive exposure causes familiarity. In mass communication, familiarity is rightly considered a prerequisite for persuasion and control, and repetition a principle of persuasion. TV advertising for children is an investment for the future too. When they turn into buyers they are already oriented towards buying certain brands and kinds of products. Wadwalkar says, that by taking messages to children, the TV advertiser, at one stroke, has widened the decision making base in the family. No more could adults entirely dictate the purchase of all the different kinds and rands of products. Children cannot be kept entirely out of such decision making. This concerns not so much the quantum of planned purchase, but the occasional, repeat and impulsive purchases. Children are fascinated by TV advertisements. Th ey react to these glamorous, fast paced visuals on TV with their exciting music and their determined sales pitch. TV advertising has entered into daily life- of children. It colors their conversation and play as they speak to one another using slogans, jingles etc. of advertisements.Almost every advertisement that appears on TV contributes to their vocabulary. Advertisements, being short are ideally suited to the concentration, span of even young children. TV advertisements get repeated with such regularity that children learn them. They are in this respect perfectly tied to early learning process. Advertisements put together a series of rapidly changing exciting, visuals to highlight a product. They may not be able to grasp the full meaning of the scene but the focus on the product leaves enough impact on them.In an article on ‘Children and Advertising, Dr. Yadava, Director, IIMC (1989) described how advertising influences behavioural patterns: â€Å"Television advertising f amiliarises the young ones with the world outside and helps them to pick up its mode of expression, its mannerisms and ways of facing it when they grow up. Stimulated feelings of needs and desire tend to occur in the form of powerful imperatives. The intensity with which children experience desire and their inability to assign priorities and accept delays in satisfying them is the common experience of most parents.When these urges remain unfulfilled, such children may grow up with lots of resentment against their parents and the existing social set up. Advertising aimed at children in India is not quite so precise yet, but it's getting there. According to Nabankar Gupta the director of sales and marketing, Videocon, â€Å"The under 16 age group is extremely important for the consumer durable business as they are major influencers in deciding on the product as well as the brand. † Children of this age group are more knowledgeable about product benefits than the parents. Some o f our most successful commercials for washing machines and air coolers use this age group as models to create a direct relationship with the viewer. Doordarshan's code states that any advertisement that endangers the safety of children or creates in them an interest in unhealthy practices shall not be shown. Code No. 23 also provides that no advertisement shall be accepted which leads children to believe that if they do not use or own the product advertised they will be inferior in some way to other children or are likely to be ridiculed for not using it.Despite this, far too many children have begun to associate happiness with acquisition, the one sure sign that consumerism has hit the Indian mind set. As pointed out by Unnikrishan and Bajpai, â€Å"In India, advertising on TV is, today, creating a set of images especially for the Indian child, alongside a host of other dominant images for the rest of its audience. Once internalized, together these become a text of personal succes s and levels of achievement†. Further, they add that, this presentation does not sensitize children to their own or other people's realities.The affluent child might feel convinced that only his or her class of Indians really counts. On the other hand, the child from a poor family class may be forced to acknowledge that the life styles of the affluent class are the only legitimate ones. Increasing westernization (reflected in Indian advertising's choice of style, music and visual message) characterizes the best of television commercials, while a predominantly upper class bias dominates and sets the tone for cultural images swiftly becoming popular and being internalized despite being alien to the majority.Children in every strata of the society are walking around with images of beautiful homes, gadgets that make life comfortable, fun foods and fancy clothes in their minds. The less advantaged children who are being urged to conform to the ways of a society and to a value syste m they can hardly comprehend. They are frightened and frustrated not having the resources to keep up with the demands of the new emerging order. For child viewer, TV advertising holds three types of appeal. 1.Advertisements that appeal directly to the child. It corresponds to the role of children as consumers to whom a certain set of commodities of direct relevance (toys, confectioneries etc. ) appeal. 2. The second group corresponds to the role of the child as a future consumer. This group includes advertisements for all products that are not of immediate relevance to the child including as cars, refrigerators, tyres, cooking, paints etc. 3. The last group corresponds to the role of the child as actor, participant and salesperson.In this group are all the advertisements that feature children. A study by Unnikrishan and Bajpai (1994), on the â€Å"impact of television advertising on children† drew the following conclusions. i. TV messages have different meanings for children from different social segments. ii. Children in India, are being exposed to what might be termed an unreal reality. Television (barring what might appeal on regional networks) often depicts a ‘reality' which fails to mirror Indian society or life for what it is. iii.All children, irrespective of their economic or social status, are influenced by what they see and hear on TV, although the meanings and messages are understood and absorbed differently by children as they bring into their negotiation of TV information, their own experiences. iv. On the average, children in Delhi watch 17 hours of TV every week (which means that at least 50 percents of them watch significantly more than this average figure) children spend more time in front of the small screen than on hobbies and other activities, including home work and meals. . The average 8 year old spends about 68 hours every month, 30 days (of 24 hours each) every year, and one entire year out of 10 exclusively on watching tel evision. vi. Advertising especially when it targets the child, powerfully promotes a consumer culture and the values associated with it. vii. Seventy five percent of children said they loved watching advertisements on TV. When asked whether they liked them better than the programmes themselves, 63. 90 percent of the 5-8 age group said yes, while 43-54 percent of the 8-12 age group and 36. 0 percent of the 13-15 age group said yes. viii. Children below eight see advertisements only as pictures with story lives. Only older children understand the advertisements intention to well. ix. Sixty five percent of children in the 8 to 15 years of age group felt they needed the products they saw on TV. Bhatia (1997) studied the influence of TV advertisements on adolescents of Baroda city . She found moderate impact of TV advertisements on their physical, social, emotional and cognitive development as well as on relationship with their parents.Adolescents were highly influenced by TV advertiseme nts in adopting the ways of expressing one's self. They developed liking for a well decorated home by viewing TV advertisements. They enjoyed seeing their favourite models and sportsman in the advertisements and they expressed that they wanted to become like them. Their general knowledge also increased and they developed ability to differentiate between the different brands of the same product. Some of them understood the motive behind the TV advertisement. Studies on advertising and children by various researchers have highlighted the following findings. 1.Children of all the age group and majority of home makers and male heads watch television in all the peak hour transmission, thus having maximum exposure of advertisements. 2. Many items liked by children were introduced in Indian families through TV advertisements. Most of the products advertised on TV were being purchased by the respondents even when they considered many of these commodities unnecessary. 3. TV advertisements ma de the selected brands of food products popular with children of all income groups. 4. Children started speaking to one another on a ‘lingo' dotted with words, phrases and expressions from TV advertisements.Thus, of all the age groups, advertising especially of television has profound impact on children. The impact of advertising does not function in isolation but it is dependent upon a host of other factors like the nature of advertisement viewing behaviour, socio-economic status, consumer habits and tastes of individuals and their families and the degree and direction of their perceptions. The future of Indian advertising is bright if it takes up it's social responsibility and conducts itself in such a way that it is seen as an important part of the economic development of the country.

Chaucer s Canterbury Tales Features Of Grammar - 851 Words

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales demonstrates features of grammar, phonology and etymology and how these features have changed or not changed as the language has evolved. The patterns of commonalities in grammar can be described as similarities or dissimilarities in sentence structure. The models of phonology are places where sounds remain the same up through Modern English. The examples of etymology are when the origin among words can be connected to the words Modern definition. There are also examples of words whose etymology remains the same, but the definition has changed. There are relationships between Middle English and Modern English grammar. These are cohesive structures; the ways that sentences are built; the noun, verb, etc order. There are many cases of shared features in grammar as demonstrated in the lines listed. 1 Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote - When in April the sweet showers fall Upon first reading, the masculine seems to refer to the â€Å"shoures soote† so that must be something belonging to an unknown him. In most languages descendent from Latin a modifier comes after its subject. Since Latin was still very influential in Chaucer’s time, it’s reasonable to assume that’s why this subject and modifier are in this order. 16 Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, - Of England they to Canterbury went, Did Chaucer mean to indicate these are people of England or are they going from England? To say the sentence â€Å"From England...† makes it moreShow MoreRelated The Tale of Youth1709 Words   |  7 PagesThe Tale of Youth Chaucer’s Squire’s tale has often been disregarded by critics as fragmentary, incoherent, and â€Å"a rambling narrative.† (Lawton 106) These characteristics shed a malevolent light on the tale, and raise questions on the unfinished status in the Canterbury Tales. The argument presents itself due to the interruption of the narrative by the Franklin leaving it without the ending, which has been foreshadowed earlier in the tale. The answer to this enigma is â€Å"pure speculation.† (Lawton