Reading materials CST summary
Seminar 1; Hirschi chapter 1 and 2
Chapter 1; perspectives on delinquency
- Offers theories to explain delinquent behaviour and why individuals may engage.
1. Strain theory
o Delinquency arises from the inability to achieve socially approved goals
through legitimate means.
o Criticism; overemphasises the role of frustration
2. Control theory
o Delinquency occurs when an individual’s bonds to society are weakened.
o Asking why people conform
3. Cultural deviance theory
o Deviance results from conforming to the values of a social group that is in
conflict with the larger society
o This means that individuals may engage in delinquent acts, because these are
supported in their subculture (KKK)
Chapter 2: a control theory of delinquency
- Explanation of control theory in detail.
1. Attachment
o The emotional bond (parents, peers, teachers).
o Strong attachments discourage delinquent behaviour, because individuals care
about the opinions of those they are attached to.
2. Commitment
o The investment one has in activities and goals
o The greater the commitment, the more one has to lose by engaging in
delinquency.
3. Involvement
o Participation in activities that cost time and reduce opportunities for
delinquency
o Being busy with productive activities leaves less time for deviant behaviour
4. Belief
o Acceptance of social norms and laws
o The strength of one’s believe in societal rules, which influences their
likelihood of engaging in delinquency
- These elements are interconnected, meaning that strong attachments often lead to
higher commitment, involvement and belief in societal norms.
, Seminar 2; Black Skin, White Masks - Frantz Fanon
Chapter 1 ; the Negro and language
- Language is a tool of power.
- Language is fundamental in the colonised’s life. Language is a way of asserting one’s
existence to others.
- A black man needs to navigate two identities; his black identity and his white identity.
- This duality is a result of colonialist subjugation, which has imposed a sense of
inferiority on the colonised. The mastery of the coloniser’s language leads to a higher
status, and a closer approximation to ‘humanity’.
- The colonised people experience a cultural alienation, since they adapt to the
coloniser’s culture, leaving their own culture behind. This creates a deep seated
inferiority complex and a sense of loss of cultural identity.
Chapter 2: the fact of blackness
- Black men in a white-dominated world experience a existential crisis. Black
individuals were objectified, and reduced to their skin colour, which leads to a
fragmented sense of self.
- The black individual is forced to see themselves through the eyes of the white world.
This led to a double consciousness and the constant struggle for recognition and
validation.
- The impact of racism; the dehumanisation of black individual and the implement of
an oppressive identity upon them. The black person becomes trapped in the cycle, of
continuously trying to assert their humanity, while being undermined by racial
stereotypes.
- The black individuals have a desire for liberation and want a reclamation of the black
identity. Fanon expresses the need for black individuals to assert their own humanity
and resist the internalisation of racist ideologies.
One dimensional Man – Marcuse
- Advanced industrial civilisations are characterised by democratic unfreedom
- Technological productivity has made it possible to satisfy all human wants
- A society which is capable of satisfying all individual needs deprives individual rights
and liberties of their basic function
- The contemporary industrial society tends to be totalitarian
- Society imposes false repressive needs on individuals which perpetuate misery and
injustice
o Individuals cannot recognise these false needs, because they are manipulated
to their very instincts
o Societies suppress needs that would prompt people to seek liberation
- One dimensional though; society prevents critical thinking by imposing these false
needs.
- Tehchnological rationality;
Seminar 1; Hirschi chapter 1 and 2
Chapter 1; perspectives on delinquency
- Offers theories to explain delinquent behaviour and why individuals may engage.
1. Strain theory
o Delinquency arises from the inability to achieve socially approved goals
through legitimate means.
o Criticism; overemphasises the role of frustration
2. Control theory
o Delinquency occurs when an individual’s bonds to society are weakened.
o Asking why people conform
3. Cultural deviance theory
o Deviance results from conforming to the values of a social group that is in
conflict with the larger society
o This means that individuals may engage in delinquent acts, because these are
supported in their subculture (KKK)
Chapter 2: a control theory of delinquency
- Explanation of control theory in detail.
1. Attachment
o The emotional bond (parents, peers, teachers).
o Strong attachments discourage delinquent behaviour, because individuals care
about the opinions of those they are attached to.
2. Commitment
o The investment one has in activities and goals
o The greater the commitment, the more one has to lose by engaging in
delinquency.
3. Involvement
o Participation in activities that cost time and reduce opportunities for
delinquency
o Being busy with productive activities leaves less time for deviant behaviour
4. Belief
o Acceptance of social norms and laws
o The strength of one’s believe in societal rules, which influences their
likelihood of engaging in delinquency
- These elements are interconnected, meaning that strong attachments often lead to
higher commitment, involvement and belief in societal norms.
, Seminar 2; Black Skin, White Masks - Frantz Fanon
Chapter 1 ; the Negro and language
- Language is a tool of power.
- Language is fundamental in the colonised’s life. Language is a way of asserting one’s
existence to others.
- A black man needs to navigate two identities; his black identity and his white identity.
- This duality is a result of colonialist subjugation, which has imposed a sense of
inferiority on the colonised. The mastery of the coloniser’s language leads to a higher
status, and a closer approximation to ‘humanity’.
- The colonised people experience a cultural alienation, since they adapt to the
coloniser’s culture, leaving their own culture behind. This creates a deep seated
inferiority complex and a sense of loss of cultural identity.
Chapter 2: the fact of blackness
- Black men in a white-dominated world experience a existential crisis. Black
individuals were objectified, and reduced to their skin colour, which leads to a
fragmented sense of self.
- The black individual is forced to see themselves through the eyes of the white world.
This led to a double consciousness and the constant struggle for recognition and
validation.
- The impact of racism; the dehumanisation of black individual and the implement of
an oppressive identity upon them. The black person becomes trapped in the cycle, of
continuously trying to assert their humanity, while being undermined by racial
stereotypes.
- The black individuals have a desire for liberation and want a reclamation of the black
identity. Fanon expresses the need for black individuals to assert their own humanity
and resist the internalisation of racist ideologies.
One dimensional Man – Marcuse
- Advanced industrial civilisations are characterised by democratic unfreedom
- Technological productivity has made it possible to satisfy all human wants
- A society which is capable of satisfying all individual needs deprives individual rights
and liberties of their basic function
- The contemporary industrial society tends to be totalitarian
- Society imposes false repressive needs on individuals which perpetuate misery and
injustice
o Individuals cannot recognise these false needs, because they are manipulated
to their very instincts
o Societies suppress needs that would prompt people to seek liberation
- One dimensional though; society prevents critical thinking by imposing these false
needs.
- Tehchnological rationality;
