As mentioned in Chapter 2, scientists pose theories to explain how and why society works the way it does. More specifically, a theory is a statement that describes and explains why social phenomena are related. Social theory helps to explain the underlying mechanisms that guide society and our social interactions (Lemert, 1999). By analyzing society, we explore the causes and consequences of social problems such as racism, discrimination, and the experiences of people of color. Theory in social research helps explain why and how we make choices daily. A wide variety of sociological, psychological, biological, and combined theories attempt to explain the causes of crime. Since this book is written from a sociological lens, we focus most of our chapters on sociological theories. However, we will also discuss theories that attempt to explain crime and have strong connections to race and ethnicity.

Some of the theories we discuss will have a race-neutral focus that was not designed to address racial differences in crime and victimization. The challenge with race-neutral theories is to assume all groups are equal, which we know is not true. We know racism has impacted our institutions, leading to disparate rates of offending and victimization. Other theories will have a race-specific focus, centering their discussion on race and ethnicity. For example, if we were to look at police-reported intimate partner violence (IPV), we would find that Black and Latina women are more likely than white women to report IPV to the police (Lipsky et al., 2005). Research has suggested this is because when police receive reports of IPV, it is more severe. Research has also found that women of color, particularly Black women, experience more severe or fatal IPV overall (Cunradi et al., 2002; Paulozzi, Saltzman, Thompson, and Holmgreen, 2001). A race-specific theory may highlight racial differences to understand trends, whereas a race-neutral theory will focus on IPV rates across all groups.

In this section, we discuss historical and contemporary theories and theorists that examine the causes and consequences of understanding race, racism, crime, discrimination, and other concepts related to our materials. This chapter does not review every theory in criminological literature, but focuses on those that relate to the overall theme of our book.

Different Types of Theories

There are several ways to categorize theories, but similarities in their assumptions, concepts, what they explain, and other factors can help us group them. A paradigm is a perspective or lens through which one views reality. Rather than being right or wrong, true or false, a paradigm is a framework of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that shape the types of questions we ask and how we answer them. Not everyone will group theories the same way, especially since there can be overlap between ideas. Additionally, many subcategories can be used to further distinguish theories from one another. However, there are some traditional and common paradigms in criminology (Figure 4.2).

To test your ability to shift paradigms, what do you see in Figure 4.3? When and where was the picture taken? If you guessed Nazi Germany during WWII, you are incorrect! Taken in 2001, this photo is of a residence in Taiwan; the swastika on the front door communicates that it is a Buddhist household, welcoming visitors. Throughout Asia and Indigenous societies worldwide, the swastika symbolizes peace, happiness, love, and long life, not hatred, antisemitism, racism, or violence that has been associated with the swastika symbol, due to the atrocity of the Holocaust during German-occupied Europe from 1941 to 1945. Considering different paradigms is important to understand our vast human history and contemporary society. We can examine issues of race and ethnicity through different biological, psychological, and sociological theoretical explanations such as conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, intersectionality theory, and critical race theory.

Paradigms are just one tool for organizing theories based on similarities. Criminologists might also think about crime at different levels. As discussed in Chapter 1, macro-level explanations of crime focus on the differences between large groups, while micro-level explanations focus on the differences between individuals or small groups. For example, a criminologist interested in understanding why men commit more crimes than women or why one country has more violent crime than another would likely look to societal structures to develop a macro-level explanation. In contrast, a criminologist interested in how genetic factors impact crime might study patterns of behavior in a group of siblings over their lives to gain a micro-level explanation of crime.

To see an example of a macro-level approach with a broad scope, we can look at the work of German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engle attempting to understand why workers were protesting against factory owners. Their theory of capitalism helps us understand poverty by outlining the ways profit is generated through worker exploitation. They proposed that revolution was an inevitable outcome of the unequal distribution of wealth between the rich, who owned land and factories, and the poor, who didn’t. They were revolutionary thinkers because they followed the money – who had it and who didn’t – to explain conflict in society. Marx himself was poor, unlike many sociologists of the time. By analyzing and critiquing capitalism, Marx explained a hidden part of everyday experience. Think about how taking advantage of people could disproportionately affect people of color. How could this interact with the criminal justice system? Poverty is often connected to crime as a main contributing systemic factor that must be addressed. There are entire books written about how financial resources benefit people, such as The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison by Reimann and Leighton. They ask: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm?

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Licenses and Attributions for Theory in Social Research

Open Content, Shared Previously

“Theory in Social Research” is adapted from:

• “Theory in Social Research” by Kelly Szott and Kimberly Puttman, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
• “Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology” and “The History of Sociology” by Tonja R. Conerly, Kathleen Holmes, and Asha Lal Tamang, Intro to Sociology 3e, OpenStax, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
• “Sociological Theoretical Perspectives” by Erika Gutierrez, Janét Hund, Shaheen Johnson, Carlos Ramos, Lisette Rodriguez, and Joy Tsuhako, ETH 202: Racial and Ethnic Relations, Long Beach City College, Cerritos College, and Saddleback College, which is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Modifications by Shanell Sanchez, revised by Jessica René Peterson, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, include remixing, expanding, and editing for style.

“Different Types of Theories” adapted from “1.4 Criminological Theories: Causes, Crimes, and Consequences” by Jessica René Peterson and Taryn VanderPyl, Introduction to Criminology: An Equity Lens, Open Oregon Educational Resources, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Figure 4.2. “Common criminological paradigms” by Jessica René Peterson is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Figure 4.3. Image of swastika by Janét Hund is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

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Figure 4.4. “President Joe Biden to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for federal contractors” by CNBC Television is licensed under the Standard YouTube License.