CJA 384 wk 3
Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper
By: Name
CJA/384
November 10, 2014
Name
Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper In this paper, the writer will discuss and explain the term social institution, as it applies to organized crime. The writer will also discuss which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable when applied to organized crime and criminal behavior.
Social Institution
The "Sociology Guide " (2014) website defines the term social institution as “a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organising relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.” It is easy to relate social institutions with organized crime groups; organized crime group are forms of social institutions.
Organized crime organizations follow a complex structure of positions, roles and norms. Criminal crime organizations have their own social rules, norms and values that they adhere to and live by. They do not “rat” each other out, they follow orders, they live by the rule of law within their structure and they have consequences for those who do not follow these norms.
Empirical and Speculative Theories One of the most popular theories with organized crime is the alien conspiracy theory. This theory blames outsiders and their influences for the prevalence of organized crime in U.S. society. Over the years, images of well dressed immigrants with machine guns who live by the code of silence have becoem associated with this theory (Lyman & Potter, 2007, Chapter 1). This theory states that the mafia was born and gained prominence during the 1860s in Sicily, and that those immigrants have since become responsible for the foundations of U.S. organized crime. There are about twenty-five Italian crime families known as
By: Name
CJA/384
November 10, 2014
Name
Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper In this paper, the writer will discuss and explain the term social institution, as it applies to organized crime. The writer will also discuss which empirical and speculative theories are most applicable when applied to organized crime and criminal behavior.
Social Institution
The "Sociology Guide " (2014) website defines the term social institution as “a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organising relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.” It is easy to relate social institutions with organized crime groups; organized crime group are forms of social institutions.
Organized crime organizations follow a complex structure of positions, roles and norms. Criminal crime organizations have their own social rules, norms and values that they adhere to and live by. They do not “rat” each other out, they follow orders, they live by the rule of law within their structure and they have consequences for those who do not follow these norms.
Empirical and Speculative Theories One of the most popular theories with organized crime is the alien conspiracy theory. This theory blames outsiders and their influences for the prevalence of organized crime in U.S. society. Over the years, images of well dressed immigrants with machine guns who live by the code of silence have becoem associated with this theory (Lyman & Potter, 2007, Chapter 1). This theory states that the mafia was born and gained prominence during the 1860s in Sicily, and that those immigrants have since become responsible for the foundations of U.S. organized crime. There are about twenty-five Italian crime families known as