A commitment to science and rationality and their application in Essay

A loyalty to science and rationality and their application in public policy was a defining characteristic of modernism - Essay ExamplePositivism was founded upon the belief that society (civilisation) is progressing ever forward, and that the well-disposed scientist can study society, ply a more accurate understanding of how society works, and ultimately provide a rational means of overcoming existing social problems and ills by using scientific methods. Social scientists were interested in promoting a convinced(p) view of the social order, and in providing positive interventions in social life to make things better. This required opinionated study of existing social problems, and the development of a wide range of techniques and strategies to deal with issues relating to schooling, poverty and family life.Under the gloss of positive reform, a wide variety of experts - medical, doctors, psychiatrists, health workers, teachers, criminal justice officials and social workers - beg an to devise scientific ways to raise children better, to professionalise parenting, to deal with personal troubles and individual deficiencies, to deal with young offenders and generally to take aim wide scale social reform. The development of positivism was related to efforts to adopt natural science methods and concepts in the study of society. Positivism is based on the idea of a scientific understanding of aversion and criminality. It assumes that on that point is a distinction between the normal and the deviant and attempts to study the specific factors that give rise to deviant or criminal conduct. Behaviour is a reflection of certain influences on a person, whether biological, psychological, or social in nature. It is believed that offenders vary individual differences exist between offenders and these in turn can be careful and classified in some way. The focus of analysis therefore is on the nature and characteristics of the offender, rather than on the criminal act. T he positivist approach is directed towards the treatment of offenders. Offending behaviour is analysed in terms of factors or forces beyond the conscious control of the individual. Since each individual offender is different from all others, treatment must(prenominal) be individualised. One strand of scientific research attempted to provide biological explanations for criminal behaviour the other focused on psychological factors associated with criminality. Biological positivism Biological positivism was first popularised done the work of Lombroso. Borrowing heavily from evolutionary theories, Lombroso attempted to distinguish different types of human individuals, and to classify them on the basis of racial and biological difference. In a form of criminal anthropology, the argument here was that a general theory of crime can be developed on the basis of measurable physiologic differences between the criminal and the no criminal. For Lombroso, the criminal was born, not made. The idea of a born criminal reflected the mental picture that crime is the result of something essential to the nature of the individual criminal. The emphasis on biological factors in explanations of crime was reflected in a number of subsequent studies. The study conducted on 355 male inmates of Pentridge