Module 10 Journal
Module 10 Journal
“Reading Content”
This module is a sum of all the theories we’ve touched based on throughout the semester. What we are doing here is looking back at what we’ve learned about the search for theoretical insights into crime and criminals. Our book, Understanding Crime, gives us two examples of experiments that help us decide whether or not there should be emphasizes on specific research designs in the search to understand crime. The two projects are (1) Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and (2) Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment. Ultimately what we found with both the experimental and longitudinal designs is that they have long histories in criminology. Plus, they are well suited for some criminological studies and crime theory tests.
After we are taken through and shown how each of these studies pays its contributions in different avenues the book asks two more questions. What we have next is our quest for new theories. In this question we learn about John Braithwait and his observations that there is much criminological decay because more energy is spent criticizing the work of other scholars than on building upon that work. Then we had Don Gottfredson that wrote that most criminological theories are “unclear and lacking in justifiable generality.” So as a consequence we see a suggestion from hi that theorists should provide as much detail as possible, including any assumptions about crime, criminals and society. The measurement of key concepts and other abstract information and any limits on the generalizability of the theory, allowed those who come after them the means to determine the adequacy of the theory.
Then we had the analogy of old wine in new casks or new wine in old casks. What they were trying to tell us here was that we need to refer to the resurgence of theoretical and research interest in social disorganization theory, as well as the reduction of strain, in order to consider old wine in new bottles, especially given that their ties to the original theories are clear and well stated.
Our last question we run into is the most difficult to predict and this is the movement toward new questions and especially new paradigms. We find that in the final decade of the twentieth century, postmodernist’s criminologists added their voices to those questioning the dominant paradigms. Ultimately, the theme here is that we have exhausted the creative energy of “modern” ideas and theories, and are entering a new era with new theories, opportunities, and directions.
Overall we find that the study of crime and society’s response to it have come a long way since the day of our earliest theorists. Much work remains to be done, and part of that work must include the development of a spirit of cooperation that transcends the many limitations ahead. One recurring theme that I’m taking from these reading materials is that the goal of a given theory is to work at any time and in any place. Otherwise, this entity may not facilitate the development of cross-national studies in crime and criminals grounded in theory.
We did have an article on Stuttering by Petrunik and Shearing, which called attention to the fact that stutters, like other stigmatized persons, seek to manage two interrelated problems. What we found is that they were concerned both with preserving an acceptable identity and with preserving orderly interaction so that they can get on with the business of living. Ultimately, the article tells us that the repertoire of tactics stutters develops, and by implication the limits they place on their involvement in social life, depend on the importance they attach to these objectives.
Another reading that we had involved what they refer to as “tearooms.” We learn that these "tearooms" as these facilities are called in the language of the homosexual subculture, have several characteristics that make them attractive as locales for sexual encounters without involvement. What we found is that these public facilities are provided by society at large, however, much remains for the participants to provide for themselves. "Silence in these settings is the product of years of interaction." Purposively, it is a normative response to the demand for privacy without involvement, a rule that has been developed and taught. The primary task of this article actually attempted to describe for us as readers the social structure of impersonal sex, the mechanism that makes it possible.
“Internet Content”
Our last module has got to be the most interesting one’s that we’ve come across yet. We not only get to take a look at deviant behavior but we get to see some that we are more familiar with, such as check forgers, topless dancers, and these so called tearooms. This first site I found deals with the “inside story” of some topless dancers and how these shows put the sin back in sin city. It’s a very interesting article and it can be found at:
http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/22/22-177.htm
http://new.blackvoices.com/travel/sns-nudeshows-
vegas,0,6790584.story?coll=bv-travel-headlines
This other site deals along the same lines with these topless/exotic dancers but it approaches this concept more at the society reactions level. It can be found at: http://216.239.57.104/search?
q=cache:OUkPKjOul7cJ:www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/bernard.pdf+topless+dancers+stigma&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/bernard.html
As for a little note on our future of theories I found a Website that talks about them and is very interesting. This site tells us that the development of crime theories is an evolutionary process that continues today. Crime is still a vastly complex, poorly understood phenomenon, and of course, there are no absolutes when it comes to human behavior. Read on for more information…
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/crime_motivation/14.html?sect=19
http://courses.smsu.edu/mkc096f/gangbook/SOLUTIONS/THEORIES/theories.htm
“So what”
This section like we’ve seen from many other modules is here to pretty much sum up issues or to vent. I just want to make some comments from our last chapter, which dealt with the future of crime theory. In this chapter as you all probably saw, we talk about the different isms. There were postmodernism, deconstructive postmodernists, constructive postmodernists, instrumentalism and expressive individualism. The latter two are two in which we deal with in our society more than you realize it.
The theme of instrumentalism individualism, especially as related to the cultural trend of “by any means necessary,” is a central component of what we call the American Dream. In this world we see all sorts of things like competing images and symbols that not only appear in contemporary life but also are viewed as commodities and marketed worldwide by media and informational technologies. You’ve all seen this…O.J.Simpson, movies like Phone booth, silence of the lamb and tears of the sun. Movies and celebrity cases seem to be blurring the distinction between fiction and reality in the postmodern era.
I guess what really gets to me about this era is that the media has such dominance in shaping our culture. Postmodernism emphasizes that the idea that culture has become more fluid and relative, appropriated by the individual actor to meet situational needs. Culture itself is a fusion of competing images; each individual has the more complex task of interpreting both behavior and the rapidly shifting cultural environment. This “self” becomes conflicted by all of this and what do we see, nothing but more trouble making sense of the environment around their place in space and time.
On another note one article that we had assigned dealt with topless dancers and how they manage the stigma in a deviant occupation. This was pretty interesting seeing how I know so many girls that I went to college with that would go to our neighboring state and dance. I didn’t realize until after reading this article just how much stress they deal with. This paper actually described and analyzed how these topless dancers are able to manage the stigma related to their deviant occupation. What I found is that this stigma is couched within a symbolic interactionists framework, and it relies heavily on dramaturgical analysis, especially Erving Goffman's work on stigma and the management of "spoiled identities," to show just how these dancers socially and symbolically redefined their work in an effort to reduce or neutralize negative attitudes toward it and them. All I have to say is that this double standard is a tough one.
“Reading Content”
This module is a sum of all the theories we’ve touched based on throughout the semester. What we are doing here is looking back at what we’ve learned about the search for theoretical insights into crime and criminals. Our book, Understanding Crime, gives us two examples of experiments that help us decide whether or not there should be emphasizes on specific research designs in the search to understand crime. The two projects are (1) Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and (2) Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment. Ultimately what we found with both the experimental and longitudinal designs is that they have long histories in criminology. Plus, they are well suited for some criminological studies and crime theory tests.
After we are taken through and shown how each of these studies pays its contributions in different avenues the book asks two more questions. What we have next is our quest for new theories. In this question we learn about John Braithwait and his observations that there is much criminological decay because more energy is spent criticizing the work of other scholars than on building upon that work. Then we had Don Gottfredson that wrote that most criminological theories are “unclear and lacking in justifiable generality.” So as a consequence we see a suggestion from hi that theorists should provide as much detail as possible, including any assumptions about crime, criminals and society. The measurement of key concepts and other abstract information and any limits on the generalizability of the theory, allowed those who come after them the means to determine the adequacy of the theory.
Then we had the analogy of old wine in new casks or new wine in old casks. What they were trying to tell us here was that we need to refer to the resurgence of theoretical and research interest in social disorganization theory, as well as the reduction of strain, in order to consider old wine in new bottles, especially given that their ties to the original theories are clear and well stated.
Our last question we run into is the most difficult to predict and this is the movement toward new questions and especially new paradigms. We find that in the final decade of the twentieth century, postmodernist’s criminologists added their voices to those questioning the dominant paradigms. Ultimately, the theme here is that we have exhausted the creative energy of “modern” ideas and theories, and are entering a new era with new theories, opportunities, and directions.
Overall we find that the study of crime and society’s response to it have come a long way since the day of our earliest theorists. Much work remains to be done, and part of that work must include the development of a spirit of cooperation that transcends the many limitations ahead. One recurring theme that I’m taking from these reading materials is that the goal of a given theory is to work at any time and in any place. Otherwise, this entity may not facilitate the development of cross-national studies in crime and criminals grounded in theory.
We did have an article on Stuttering by Petrunik and Shearing, which called attention to the fact that stutters, like other stigmatized persons, seek to manage two interrelated problems. What we found is that they were concerned both with preserving an acceptable identity and with preserving orderly interaction so that they can get on with the business of living. Ultimately, the article tells us that the repertoire of tactics stutters develops, and by implication the limits they place on their involvement in social life, depend on the importance they attach to these objectives.
Another reading that we had involved what they refer to as “tearooms.” We learn that these "tearooms" as these facilities are called in the language of the homosexual subculture, have several characteristics that make them attractive as locales for sexual encounters without involvement. What we found is that these public facilities are provided by society at large, however, much remains for the participants to provide for themselves. "Silence in these settings is the product of years of interaction." Purposively, it is a normative response to the demand for privacy without involvement, a rule that has been developed and taught. The primary task of this article actually attempted to describe for us as readers the social structure of impersonal sex, the mechanism that makes it possible.
“Internet Content”
Our last module has got to be the most interesting one’s that we’ve come across yet. We not only get to take a look at deviant behavior but we get to see some that we are more familiar with, such as check forgers, topless dancers, and these so called tearooms. This first site I found deals with the “inside story” of some topless dancers and how these shows put the sin back in sin city. It’s a very interesting article and it can be found at:
http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/22/22-177.htm
http://new.blackvoices.com/travel/sns-nudeshows-
vegas,0,6790584.story?coll=bv-travel-headlines
This other site deals along the same lines with these topless/exotic dancers but it approaches this concept more at the society reactions level. It can be found at: http://216.239.57.104/search?
q=cache:OUkPKjOul7cJ:www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/bernard.pdf+topless+dancers+stigma&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol10is1/bernard.html
As for a little note on our future of theories I found a Website that talks about them and is very interesting. This site tells us that the development of crime theories is an evolutionary process that continues today. Crime is still a vastly complex, poorly understood phenomenon, and of course, there are no absolutes when it comes to human behavior. Read on for more information…
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/crime_motivation/14.html?sect=19
http://courses.smsu.edu/mkc096f/gangbook/SOLUTIONS/THEORIES/theories.htm
“So what”
This section like we’ve seen from many other modules is here to pretty much sum up issues or to vent. I just want to make some comments from our last chapter, which dealt with the future of crime theory. In this chapter as you all probably saw, we talk about the different isms. There were postmodernism, deconstructive postmodernists, constructive postmodernists, instrumentalism and expressive individualism. The latter two are two in which we deal with in our society more than you realize it.
The theme of instrumentalism individualism, especially as related to the cultural trend of “by any means necessary,” is a central component of what we call the American Dream. In this world we see all sorts of things like competing images and symbols that not only appear in contemporary life but also are viewed as commodities and marketed worldwide by media and informational technologies. You’ve all seen this…O.J.Simpson, movies like Phone booth, silence of the lamb and tears of the sun. Movies and celebrity cases seem to be blurring the distinction between fiction and reality in the postmodern era.
I guess what really gets to me about this era is that the media has such dominance in shaping our culture. Postmodernism emphasizes that the idea that culture has become more fluid and relative, appropriated by the individual actor to meet situational needs. Culture itself is a fusion of competing images; each individual has the more complex task of interpreting both behavior and the rapidly shifting cultural environment. This “self” becomes conflicted by all of this and what do we see, nothing but more trouble making sense of the environment around their place in space and time.
On another note one article that we had assigned dealt with topless dancers and how they manage the stigma in a deviant occupation. This was pretty interesting seeing how I know so many girls that I went to college with that would go to our neighboring state and dance. I didn’t realize until after reading this article just how much stress they deal with. This paper actually described and analyzed how these topless dancers are able to manage the stigma related to their deviant occupation. What I found is that this stigma is couched within a symbolic interactionists framework, and it relies heavily on dramaturgical analysis, especially Erving Goffman's work on stigma and the management of "spoiled identities," to show just how these dancers socially and symbolically redefined their work in an effort to reduce or neutralize negative attitudes toward it and them. All I have to say is that this double standard is a tough one.
