The easiest way that I can explain social structure theory is by using examples from my own life. I grew up in the projects with my single drug addict mother and my little sister. From birth I was raised surrounded by drugs, violence, prostitution and many other crimes. My mom has never worked and we grew up on nothing but government aid. All these things were the perfect environments to create criminals. I was a direct product of my environment growing up. Since from when I can remember, I grew up getting into fights, robbing house, breaking into cars, and using and selling drugs.
This was all a normal life to me. It is what I grew up knowing. Only knowing this life and was able to justify it full heartedly. I was kicked out of high school for fighting and was just headed down the worse path possible. I was following everyone that I grew up around. Finally I took some advice from someone elder that told me back in middle school that thankfully stuck with me. “If you want to be like someone and have the things they have, surround yourself with those people and do what they do”. From then on I have been able to take control of my life and become a functioning and successful member of society.
I went and got my diploma. Then went to college in Kansas for criminal justice. After that I joined the military. Now I am out and seeking to further my education. I drive the car I dreamt of driving as a kid and about to have my first kid with my beautiful and also successive girlfriend. All of this made possible simply by changing my surrounding environment. Social structure theory is defined Siegel (2011), “The view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime” (pg. 470).
The Essay on Country Or City Don Life Environment
Forests, Birds humming, warm breeze, cows mooing, ducks quaking. This is what heaven looks like in my mind not a high Tec city not flying cars or even a space vacation, the natural world is the work of art, and it consist of every element or aspect in life we need to enjoy and relax. I don! |t like to be woken up by the horn of a car, I don! |t wish to be boom bared with noise, I even don! |t wish ...
I believe this to be true.
Growing up in the projects a lot of things were not viewed as crimes in our subculture. Something as simple as fighting was a daily thing to be in or to watch in a struggle for power and respect, but in societies outside of our realm that is unbelievable. Growing up in the projects you have to become tough fast. According to Anderson (1999), “These children of the street, growing up with little supervision, are said to “come up hard. ” They often learn to fight at an early age, using short-tempered adults around them as role models” (pg. 49).
We grew up doing what we saw and were taught. Growing up I had no clue that these things were even slightly that wrong because it was of our social norms. Norms are defined as Henslin (2012), “expectations of “right” behavior” (pg. 45).
If someone disrespected my family, my neighborhood, or me I was expected to fight and that is how we resolved things. By doing this I received positive sanctions from my family and the block. Positive sanctions are defined as Henslin (2012), “a reward or positive reaction for following norms, ranging from a smile to a material reward” (pg. 45).
Other social norms that I grew up learning and doing was selling drugs. Growing up this wasn’t frowned upon by any adult on the block and was encouraged by my mother so I could bring some money into the house. Part of the study of the social structure theory and the study of the information gathered is positivism. In the book The Structure of Social Theory it describes positivism as Johnson (1984) “Positivism is most frequently used to refer to the extension of empiricist models of natural science to the field of human action, by arguing for either a methodological or substantive unity of the two.
The claim for methodological unity leads to behaviorism, while the latter implies reductionist explanations, i. e. the explanation of human action in terms of either ‘heredity’ or ‘environment’. ” (pg. 32).
The Essay on Social Organized Crime Perspective
Social Institution is defined as an organizational system which functions to satisfy basic social needs by providing an ordered framework linking the individuals to the larger culture. This paper will provide more information as to how social institutions apply to organized crime, also which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable when applied to organized crime and criminal ...
According to Henslin (2012) “It was first proposed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857)” (pg. 10).
Since we can study people’s actions and be able to understand them as a science, we can understand crime and what causes it. Criminology: The Core says that there are three branches of the social structure theory. When these theories come together in an environment it will be the ideal circumstances for crime to develop in a community.
One of the first theories is the social disorganization theory. Social disorganization theory is defined as Siegel (2011) “Branch of social structure theory that focuses on the breakdown in inner-city neighborhoods of institutions such as the family, school, and employment. ” (pg. 142).
These theory focuses on the condition in the environment such as: deteriorated neighborhoods, inadequate social control, law-violation gangs and groups, and conflicting social values. This covers a lot of things growing up that there was no real order or even any motivation for order in the aspects of our life.
Being surrounded in this type of environment even if a parent wants to set their child on a good path, it is made almost impossible because of the elements of gangs and strain that everyone around them is going through. Which brings me to the next theory. strain theory is defined as Siegel (2011) “Branch of social structure theory that sees crime as a function of the conflict between people’s goals and the means available to obtain them. ” (pg. 142).
Strain theory focuses on conflict between goals and the means such as: unequal distribution of wealth and power, frustration, and alternative methods of achievement.
What the strain theory focuses on was a huge part of my anger and justification of why I would commit crimes. I viewed a lot of things as just not fair and how someone could just have an easy road and even if they were a screw up, their parents had money and they were going to be someone in life no matter what they did. What is even more infuriating about that was the fact that they took it for granted and didn’t care. Even if I did stray away from the gangs and the crime as much as possible, I still had to make it out of my environment on my own.
The Essay on Theory Of Social Construction
Braxton The theory of social construction states that many concepts that appear naturally are really the result of human actions and choices. The British constructed the myth that the American Indians were savages for their own economic benefit. Because the British needed to have a legitimate and verifiable reason in order for the countrymen of Great Britain to advocate the taking of the lands of ...
I was just a poor kid out of the projects with no skills, no professional references, and no cosigners for college. Just no real help for any direction and I am expected to be a functioning member of society but frowned upon if I didn’t do good in their eyes. In Code of the Street the chapter about the decent daddy goes over really well about how hard it is to distinguish yourself from the community you are associated with even if you are doing all the right things. It was insanely frustrating that even if you did do right, you were viewed the same.
Also it was frustrating that you felt that you were stuck in that place no matter how hard you tried so you start to accept that label that you weren’t ever going to be anything and eventually stopped trying. Whenever you combine the social disorganization theory and the strain theory, you get the cultural deviance theory. Cultural deviance theory is defined as Siegel (2011) “Branch of social structure theory that sees strain and social disorganization together resulting in a unique lower-class culture that conflicts with conventional social norms. ” (pg.
142).
Cultural deviance theory focuses on what occurs from the combination of the two other theories. It looks at the development of subcultures as a result of disorganization and stress and the subcultural values in opposition to conventional values. Growing up in this environment we did learn to create our own subculture and accept that we were different from them. By doing this, it made me have no remorse for the people that I was committing crimes against. I was labeled as a criminal that wasn’t ever going to be anything and I accepted that role.
Labeling theory is Henslin (2012) “the view that the labels people are given affect their own and others’ perceptions of them, thus channeling their behavior into either deviance or conformity. ” (pg. 197).
I did accept the label that they gave me and if I was going to be called something or thought of a certain way no matter what, I might as well do it since I am already considered it. So burglarizing people’s houses or cars didn’t seem like a crime to me because I saw it as they have the money anyways and doesn’t affect or hurt them. I am going to take from them since they have it.
The Term Paper on Young People as a Social Problem
In the wake of the alarming rate of juvenile delinquency and the accumulating cases of teenage suicide since the mid 90's, it's not surprising to see that the majority started to accuse young people as a source of social problem. Nowadays, some may even consider young people as a group of easily-agitated gangsters euipped with the potential ability and the desire to disrupt the present social ...
I wasn’t viewing these as crimes or showing any remorse for it because I saw them as different than me. Same as robbing people we caught slippin the neighborhood. It was like what ever, his mommy and daddy would just give him more money. I would do these things on a day-to-day basis and didn’t even see them as crimes. This is a huge part of why I believe that crime happens and is the root of crime. These types of environments brew criminals and like on my behalf that the criminals just see it as a normal way of life and don’t really consider most the crimes that they commit to be actually crimes.
Crime becomes a way of life and ways of survival to people that grow up in these types of environments. If we want to prevent crimes we need to address the branches of the social structure theory. The reason that I am considered a good functioning member of society now is because I followed the lucky advice that I stumbled upon which was “If you want to be like someone and have the things they have, surround yourself with those people and do what they do”. Even though I received that advice, that doesn’t mean that it was easy to obtain.
I got really lucky with some of the people that stayed in my life. Also, the programs that were established on the block helped out a lot as well. Just the simple fact of seeing a better life and being surrounded by positive reinforcement for people is enough to give you something small to strive for. If we want to help prevent crime we need to get it at the source. By taking care of the lower-class neighborhoods and implementing programs to keep kids busy with good role models or help with resume writing and training for job interviews.
You are able to instill positive hope of moving forward and transitioning out of the place that they feel that they are stuck in. From my experience the cards that I was dealt and the environment that I grew up in, I was set to be a carrier criminal. But with the programs they placed on my block and positive people I surrounded with, it alleviated the strain and frustration that I was feeling and made me change my ways knowing that I was actually able to be better.
The Essay on Punishment of Crimes in the Us Criminal Justice System
Punishment of Crimes in the US Criminal Justice System One of the greatest challenges facing the criminal justice system is the need to balance the rights of accused criminals against society’s interest in imposing punishments on those convicted of crimes. The U. S. criminal justice system deals with punishment of those in violation of the law in several ways; retribution, incapacitation, ...
