SOSYOLOJİYE GİRİŞ - Deneme Sınavı - 2

Although the history of the sociology of law extends up to Aristotle, Ibn Khaldun, Grotius and Montesquieu, whom we could call distant messengers, it has become evident only in the late 19th century. The term “Sociology of Law” was first used by Italian Anzilotti in 1892 as “Sociologia Juridica”. The correct answer is Choice C.

In the post-World War II eras, Talcott Parsons, who underlined the codes and law as the holistic mechanism of social control, and also the critical theorists who developed views on the conflicts of economic and social classes developed the literature. The correct answer is Choice B.

Deviance in the daily language means departing from a recognized path and refers to actions that do not fit the expectations and norms of a particular social group. In general terms, deviance could be defined as the visible violation of cultural norms. The concept of deviance is much broader than the concept of crime, which describes incompatible behavior that violates only one law. Deviances do not always involve an action or preference. Even the presence of some people could be a problem to others. The social bases of deviance could be listed as follows: (1) Deviance varies depending on cultural norms. No thought or behavior is deviant by itself, but they become deviant in terms of their relation to certain norms. (2) People become deviant because the others qualify them as such. (3) The definition of norms and violations of rules by societies involves social power. The correct answer is Choice D.

Examples of organized crime include such activities as smuggling, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, large- scale theft and racketeering. Violence or threat of violence could be resorted to in order to carry out these activities. The correct answer is Choice B.

There are different and sometimes complementary aspects of sociological theories regarding crime and deviance. It will be useful to highlight the common points before moving on to the original ideas of theories. When these theories, which have been developed through the 20th century, are evaluated, the following common points stand out: (1) Deviance is seen in all societies and comprised of functions that can be useful from a social point of view. When these functions are resolved, the crime will be better understood. (2) Deviance depends on conflict. Social strata are related to interests especially economic ones. (3) Deviance is related to the tension, constraint and stress within society. (4) Deviance is strongly related to modern urban life. (5) Deviance is learned from daily life situations. (6) Deviance is caused by the lack of commitment to group values and the principle of compliance with laws. The correct answer is Choice C.

Conflict theories have also macro characteristics just like the functionalist theory and focus on the social structure. In these approaches, the views that deviance is determined by factors such as biology, anomie, social disorder or labels are not accepted. The main argument of conflict theories, based on Marx’s thoughts, is that individuals are actively involved in deviant behaviors as a reaction to the inequalities of capitalist order and that the laws and other norms exist in order to protect the interests of strong members of society. For example, according to sociologist Richard Quinney, the criminal justice system serves the interests of dominant powers. The correct answer is Choice E.

According to the Social Control approach, when the young people’s commitment to moral values and order get weaker, they turn into criminals by means of neutralization techniques. These techniques are as follows: (A) Denial of responsibility: Anyone with a certain background commits a crime. (B) Refusing to harm somebody else: Considering the car theft only as borrowing, thinking that such behaviors as skipping school or substance abuse is not harmful to anyone. (C) Adopting the understanding that the individuals commit crimes, because the society is corrupted. The commitment to criminal groups or gangs gets ahead of commitment to social values. The correct answer is Choice B.

These are the rapid changes that occurred in recent years in Turkey both socially and economically. It has been found out in studies that the families get further fragmented and the individuals from these fragmented families get involved in higher number of crimes. The rate of increase in urban areas is higher than that of rural areas. This is caused by the problems encountered by individuals who try to integrate with a new social environment through urbanization and internal migration. The general view, suggesting that the crime rates have increased in recent years in Turkey, has received considerable support from the public. According to the literature today, crime is related to factors such as education, social groups, social stratification, family relationships, socio- economic status, income, environment, personality traits and mental health, not only to social factors. And punishment of crimes is insufficient. The correct answer is Choice A.

In the process of achieving a certain degree of social life; the values serve an important function in terms of determining which attitudes and behaviors are right or wrong, fair or unfair. It is possible to define social values as basic abstract principles or generalized moral beliefs that guide our attitudes and behaviors. Everything in the life of a society is perceived according to values. Values are the principles such as freedom and equality that define the ideal principles of what is desired and right in a society or group. Values might create conflict in the same way that they provide behavioral rules.

The norms are divided into two categories, namely, official norms and unofficial norms:

Official Norms: These are the official and written rules such as laws, regulations, statutes, circulars and board decisions. The punishments and rewards regarding these norms are predetermined.

Unofficial Norms: These are non-written norms, and punishments and rewards are not explicitly stated for such norms. The individuals might face sanctions such as condemnation, mocking, exclusion and insults.

The anomie that Durkheim has described refers to a state of normlessness and irregularity that arises in periods of social changes and irregularities, in the event that the social order deteriorates or fails to operate. In this case, people become more aggressive and depressed, resulting in an increase in violence, crime and suicide rates. Anomie is related to a social situation, not to a personal state of mind. It is caused by the tension between individual interests and collective cultural conscious. According to Merton, the anomie is the product of a structural stress and caused by the existence of different levels of access to opportunity structures

Every rule that we face as law fulfills a function such as to maintain and protect a certain social connection and prevent it from disintegration. It could be said that there are four basic characteristics of law in general terms; law is normative, comprised of regularity, institutionalism and it is challenging. The function of law as a social concept can be listed as the following:

a. Defines the members of the group and determines mutual relationships

b. Resolves disputes

c. Regulates the behaviors

d. Ensures that the social power is organized and legitimizes it

e. Develops the living conditions

f. Protects from external hazards

g. Realizes the legal organization

Durkheim, Weber and Marx discussed the macro-sociological relationship between law and society in a positivist framework. Marx and Weber primarily focused on the relationship between law and political economy. While the classical sociologists like Durkheim, Weber and Marx provided important contributions in terms of the changing role of the law and its relation to social change, Eugene Elrich, Nicholas Timasheff and George Gurvitch provided the theoretical competence for the sociology of law during the 20thcentury. As Ehrlich was an Austrian lawyer, he lived in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time. His work dating back to 1913 and entitled Fundamental Principles of the Sociology of Law has been translated into many languages and has become one of the masterpieces of the sociology of law.

The subjects that are studied by the sociology of law are as follows:

Justification, functions, placement and evolution of social control systems,

Legal forms of thought in relation to a particular political economic order,

Legitimating principles and effects,

Transfer of correct legal forms of interpretation,

The evolution of the legal language system, the levels of constraint or freedom in the legal order.

Deviance in the daily language means departing from a recognized path and refers to actions that do not fit the expectations and norms of a particular social group. In general terms, deviance could be defined as thevisible violation of cultural norms. Since the norms direct almost all human activities, the limits of the concept of deviance are as broad as possible. For this reason, deviance encompasses the violation of group norms that are not legally expressed or are not mentioned in the law. Deviance could be rewarded, punished or accepted without penalty or reward.

We can classify the types of crime from a different perspective as follows

1. Property-related offenses: theft, etc., intellectual property theft, illegal trade of cultural property.

2. Sexual Crimes: Rape, pornography, sexual crimes on the internet.

3. Emotional Crimes: Hate Crime, search for excitement, revenge, humiliation and fury.

4. Organizational and professional forms of crime

5. Alcohol, Drugs and Health Crimes

The concept of social control refers to the strategies and techniques aimed at preventing the deviant human behavior in a society in order to achieve social order in a broad sense. These strategies and techniques might emerge in all levels of society. Social control is, in a sense, an attempt to regulate the thoughts and behaviors of a society and people, and everyone in a society is subject to social control. We are socialized within family to obey our parents because they are our parents. The groups of friends, universities, bureaucratic organizations and governments set social norms and ensure that their members comply with them. Deviance might deal with formal and informal sanctions, as required by social control. However, the process of social control is usually informal, as in the case of parents who rebuke their children or young people who mock their friends because of their way of dressing. People who display deviant behavior may face disapproval, loss of friends, fines, or even imprisonment. In cases of severe deviance, the criminal justice system, namely, formal intervention emerges.

Conflict theories have also macro characteristics just like the functionalist theory and focus on the social structure. In these approaches, the views that deviance is determined by factors such as biology, anomie, social disorder or labels are not accepted. The main argument of conflict theories, based on Marx’s thoughts, is that individuals are actively involved in deviant behaviors as a reaction to the inequalities of capitalist order and that the laws and other norms exist in order to protect the interests of strong members of society. For example, according to sociologist Richard Quinney, the criminal justice system serves the interests of dominant powers. Crime, according to Quinney, is a definition of conduct created by - such as legislators and law enforcement officers - in a politically organized society.

White-collar crimes are committed by individuals belonging to wealthy segments of society, such as tax evasion, illegal sales, securities and real estate frauds and embezzlement. Measuring the distribution of white-collar crimes is more difficult than other crimes because most of these types of crimes are not included in official statistics. These crimes are actually more harmful than other crimes and are more prevalent in industrial societies. The correct answer is B.

Liberalism usually identified with the philosophies of John Locke, David Hume, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, who emphasize social contract theory, a world where human beings are guided by enlightened self-interest, rationality, and free choice, and argue for the minimum intervention of the state in the lives of individuals.