Sociology I Deviance & Crime Internet Connection #6

Transcription

1 Sociology I Name Deviance & Crime Internet Connection #6 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control If all societies have norms, or standards guiding behavior; it is also true that all societies have deviance, or violations of these norms. Emile Durkheim wrote long ago that a society without deviance is impossible, because there will always be some people who sometimes violate norms. The collective conscience, said Durkheim, is never strong enough to percent all norm violation If it were that strong, he added, the society would be very stagnant, because this would also be a society where people were unable to think creatively. Creative thinking presupposes a society w here the collective conscience is weal enough that people are able to be independent thinkers. Yet such a society will also have people who choose to violate norms. You cannot have the firs type of society without also having the second. Deviance takes many forms. Some types of deviance involve violations of norms that, in the grand scheme of things, are not that serious, for example dyeing your hair green or jaywalking, whereas other kinds of deviance involve much more important norms, such as murder, rape, and robbery. The later types typically involve violations of formal, written norms, or criminal laws, and thus are more commonly called crimes. This brief description might imply that something automatically is or is not deviant, but sociologists emphasize that what is considered deviant often depends on the reactions of others and the circumstances in which any particular act occurs. In this context, consider killing,. If you kill someone because you re angry at him or her, you ve committed a homicide, perhaps our most serious street crime. But if you kill someone on the battlefield, you re instead doing your duty for your country, and if you kill many people on the battlefield, you may b e considered a hero. In each case, killing ahs occurred; in the first case you go to prison or may even be executed, whereas in the second case you may get a metal. We are going to revisit Durkheim s discussion of urban society versus past societies. Durkheim acknowledged that the new order (urban/large city living) afforded unprecedented opportunities for creative expression and individualism. Yet, it also fostered an anonymous atmosphere, in which almost anyone could become prey to anyone else, who wanted to "use" them. In the less regulated social environment of the city, crime would become a more commonplace occurrence. 1

2 The GSS contains a standard measure of fear of crime: Is there any area around here that is, within a mile where you would be afraid to walk alone at night? We will examine this view in this and the next several questions. Step 1: Go to the SDA website: Step 2: Row Variable: FEAR Step 3: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 4: No Weight Step 5: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 6: Run Table 1a. What percent of GSS respondents express fear of crime as measured by the question? % b. As measured by this question, more than half of GSS respondents fear crime in their neighborhoods. True False Gender. Several possible correlates of fear of crime have been investigated. One of these is gender. Because women feel vulnerable to rape and sexual assault, our hypothesis is that: Hypothesis: night. Women will be more likely than men to be afraid to walk in their neighborhoods at Step 3: Row Variable: Step 4: Column Variable: FEAR SEX Step 4: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 5: No Weight Step 6: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 7: Run Table 2

3 2a. What percent of women fear walking in their neighborhoods? % b. What percent of men fear walking in their neighborhoods? % c. Divide the percent in answer 2a by the percent in answer 2b (2a/2b). Then complete the following sentence by filling in the blank with your final results: Women are about times more likely than men to fear walking in their neighborhoods at night. d. What is the value of P? p = e. Is this a weak, moderate, or strong relationship? WEAK MODERATE STRONG f.. Is the hypothesis supported? YES NO Age. Age may also affect fear of crime. In particular, the elderly are thought to be more afraid than younger people of crime. Unlike the previous correlates, this relationship has nothing to do with the actual chances of being victimized by violent crime (or, in the case of women, by rape and sexual assault), as the elderly are less likely than younger people to be victimized in this manner. However, like women, they feel more vulnerable to violent crime because of their age. Our hypothesis is that: The elderly are more likely than younger people to fear walking alone in their neighborhoods at night. Step 1: Row Variable: FEAR Step 2: Column Variable: Age(r: 18-64; 65-*) Step 3: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 4: No Weight 3

4 Step 5: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 6: Run Table 3a. What percent of the elderly (age 65+) fear walking in their neighborhoods? % b. What percent of younger people (18 64) fear walking in their neighborhoods? % c. Divide the percent in answer 3a by the percent in answer 3b. Then complete the following sentence by filling in the blank with your final results: The elderly are about times more likely than younger people to fear walking in their neighborhoods at night. d. What is the value of P? p = e. Is the hypothesis supported? YES NO Family Income. Yet another possible correlate is family income. Because poorer people are more likely than wealthier people to be victimized by violent crime, our hypothesis is that fear of crime will be higher among lowerincome groups than among higher-income groups. Hypothesis: Fear of crime will be higher among lower-income groups than among higher-income groups. Step 1: Row Variable: Step 2: Column Variable: FEAR rincom06(r: 1-17" Low";18-23 "High") Step 3: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 4: No Weight Step 5: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box 4

5 Step 6: Run Table 4a. What percent of the lower income fear walking in their neighborhoods? % b. What percent of the higher income fear walking in their neighborhoods? % c. Divide the percent in answer 4a by the percent in answer 4b. Then complete the following sentence by filling in the blank with your final results: Lower income are about times more likely than higher income people to fear walking in their neighborhoods at night. d. What is the value of P? p = e. Gamma Value is: f. Is this a weak, moderate, or strong relationship? WEAK MODERATE STRONG g. Is the hypothesis supported? YES NO Place of Residence. So far the correlates of fear of crime that we have examined are characteristics of people. Characteristics of the locations in which they live may also matter. One such characteristic that may be related to fear of crime is place of residence urban or rural. Because urban residents are more likely to be victimized by violent crime, our hypothesis is that urban (city dwellers) are more afraid than rural residents to walk in their neighborhoods at night. Hypothesis: night. People who live in large cities are more fearful to walk in their neighborhoods at Step 1: Row Variable: FEAR Step 2: Column Variable: 5

6 srcbelt(r: 1-2 "Large City"; 3-4 "Suburbanite"; 5 "Small city"; 6 "Rural and farm") Step 3: Selection Filer: year(2010) (Notice the year change) Step 4: No Weight Step 5: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 6: Run Table Please answer the following questions that asked. 5a. What percent of urban (large city) residents fear walking in their neighborhoods? % b. What percent of rural & farm residents fear walking in their neighborhoods? % c. Divide the percent in answer 5a by the percent in answer 5b. Then complete the following sentence by filling in the blank with your final results: Women are about times more likely than men to fear walking in their neighborhoods at night. d. What is the value of P? p = e. What is the value of Gamma? f. Is this a weak, moderate, or strong relationship? WEAK MODERATE STRONG g. Is the hypothesis supported? YES NO We have seen that women are more afraid than men of walking near their homes at night and that African 6

7 Americans are more afraid than whites. If you combine these two ets of findings, black women should be more afraid than black men, white women, or white men. Let s find out. Step 1: Row Variable: Step 2: Column Variable: Step 3: Control Variable: FEAR SEX race (r: 1 "White"; 2 "Black") Step 3: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 4: No Weight Step 5: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 6: Run Table 6. List the percent for each race/gender combination that answers yes to the question of fear of walking around home at night. (Notice that you must look at different tables based on race.) Black Women White Women Black Men White Men % % % % b. Look at P, is the hypothesis supported? YES NO c. Divide the percent for black women by the percent for white men. Round the results to one decimal place. Then complete the following sentence by filling in the blank with your final result: Black women are about times more likely then white men to fear walking in their neighborhoods at night. d. This table indicates that race and gender interact to produce fear of crime. Write a brief essay explaining how and why the table indicates this interacting effect. (Hint: First see what difference race makes when you look only at women and then men, and then see what difference gender makes when you look only at whites and then blacks. 7

8 Spending on Law Enforcement. We have seen above that fear of walking in one s neighborhood at night varies considerably by income, sex, and race. It seems logical to assume that those who are most fearful will also favor greater spending on law enforcement, as people generally believe that more money for the police and the courts will result in less crime in the streets. (This belief is not as self-evidently true as many people think.) We can also develop hypotheses about other factors that would affect attitudes toward law-enforcement spending, and you will be asked to so in this section. We can analyze the issue of support for law-enforcement spending by means of the variable NATCRIME, which asks whether the respondent thinks that we re spending too much, too little, or the right amount on law enforcement. Hypothesis: The majority of the population will think that we spend either too much or just about right on law enforcement. Step 1: Row Variable: NATCRIME(r:1 "Too Little"; 2 "About Right"; 3 "Too Much") Step 2: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 3: No Weight Step 4: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 5: Run Table Please answer the following questions that asked. 7a. What percent of GSS respondents think law enforcement spending is too little? % b. What percent of GSS respondents think law enforcement spending is about right? % 8

9 c. What percent of GSS respondents think law enforcement spending is too much? % e. Is the hypothesis supported? YES NO e. What do you think? Is law enforcement spending about right, too much or too little? Another analysis might be to explore a possible relationship between NATCRIME and GENDER. What do you think the hypothesis should be when looking at sex? Make sure that you know the definition of hypothesis and please look at hypotheses that I have created. 8a. Your testable hypothesis is: Now let s test your hypothesis: Step 1: Select the option "Frequencies or crosstabulation" and click Step 2: Row Variable: NATCRIME(r:1 "Too Little"; 2 "About Right"; 3 "Too Much") Step 3: Column Variable: SEX Step 4: Selection Filer: year(2012) Step 5: No Weight Step 6: Select Statistics, Question Text and Table Options box Step 7: Run Table Please answer the following questions that asked. 9

10 b. What percent of women say that too little is spend on law enforcement? % c. What percent of men say that too little is spent on law enforcement? % d. What is the value of P? p = e. Is it statistically significant? YES NO f. Is your hypothesis supported? YES NO g. Is this a weak, moderate, or strong relationship? WEAK MODERATE STRONG h. Summary your findings. What do the majority of adults think about spending on halting the rising crime rate? Is there a gender difference? 10

11 Internet Connection #6 Name Answer Sheet: Deviance, Crime & Social Control Class Time: Please transfer all your answers to this answer sheet and turn in for grading. Fear 1a. % b. Circle One: TRUE FALSE Sex 2a. % b. % c. Times more likely d. Value of P = e. Circle one: YES NO f. Circle one: WEAK MODERATE STRONG 11

12 Age 3a. % b. % c. Times more likely d. Value of P = e. Circle one: YES NO Family Income 4a. % b. % c. Times more likely d. Value of P = e. GAMMA VALUE: f. Circle one: WEAK MODERATE STRONG g. Circle one: YES NO Place of Residence 5a. % b. % 12

13 c. Times more likely d. Value of P = e. GAMMA VALUE: f. Circle one: WEAK MODERATE STRONG g. Circle one: YES NO Gender and Race 6a. Black Women % White Women Black Men White Men % % % b. Circle one: YES NO c. Black women are about times more likely than white men to fear walking I their neighborhoods at night. d. Write a brief essay explaining how and why the table indicates this interacting effect. (Hint: First see what difference race makes when you look only at women and then men, and then see what difference gender makes when you look only at whites and then blacks). 7a. Spending too little: % 13

14 b. Spending about right % c. Spending too much? % c. Circle one: YES NO d. What do you think? Is law enforcement spending about right, too much or about right? 8a. Your testable hypothesis is: b. Women % c. Men % d. Value of P: e. Significant? YES NO f. Hypothesis supported: YES N0 g. Is this a weak, moderate, or strong relationship? WEAK MODERATE STRONG h. Summarize your findings. 14

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