Edwin Sutherland’s theory of Differential Association evolved from the Chicago School of sociology, which observed that crime occurred more frequently in areas lacking social organization and institutions of social control (Gomme, 37). Crime was usually explained by multiple factors – such as social class, age, race, and urban or rural location. Sutherland developed his theory […]
Category Archives: Sociology
Robert Merton’s personal adaptations to anomie (aka “strain theory”)
Like many sociologists and criminologists, Robert Merton was interested in explaining the root of social deviance; however, unlike most theorists, who posited that crime and deviance arise from individual causes (such as a biological “defect”) (Cullen & Agnew, 171), Merton argued that certain groups participate in criminal behaviour because they are“responding normally to the social […]
The ‘Chinaman’ in the basement: Visual den narratives of the late-nineteenth century
Historically, art and literature have served a fundamental role in mirroring (and perhaps creating) a society’s cultural climate; they have become the means through which a society comes to ‘know’ itself. By artistically or literally depicting categories of people, or ‘social types’, one is easily able to comprehend society at large. Yet the socio-cultural worldview […]
The ‘housewife’ and the ‘cityman’: A match made in suburbia?
Last night, for the first time, I ventured to Pointe Claire, Quebec. Pointe Claire is what one could call a typical suburb of Montreal – a small residential sprawl located far enough away from the city to function independently and retain a certain sense of community, yet close enough for its residents to commute to the city centre – for employment, health care, shopping or entertainment – in about thirty minutes.
Post-Modern Tremblings
Whilst critics continue to dispute the categorization of filmic Noir, the very texts that spawned this filmic (r)evolution have been largely dismissed as predictable ‘junk’ for the plebian masses, unspectacular in their normalcy as standard Modernist works. So I wonder: what is it that makes these texts so plain and ordinary, and so Modernist that they require no further attention? Furthermore, in aligning these texts with one particular school (‘Modernism’), are we not limiting their potential to convey a marked unique or progressive ideology?