The Uses of Psychology

Abstract

As was noted in the introduction to the previous chapter, the allocation of some criminological theories to a discipline called ‘sociology’ and others to one called ‘psychology’ is bound to be to some extent arbitrary. Typically, criminologists have used a mix of sociological and psychological variables in developing their theories; even the most apparently sociological, such as cultural deviance theories, need to incorporate some account of the mental state of offenders if they are to be convincing. Similarly, few theories which are predominantly psychological claim that psychology can explain everything; more typically, they suggest that individual psychology can produce a predisposition to crime, which is activated in vulnerable individuals by social and economic circumstances. Thus the boundary between the two disciplines as applied to criminology is rarely clearcut — certainly it is less definite than some partisans of both psychology and sociology have claimed.