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Project for Soc. 350 (Criminology) on Sheldon Glueck

Historical context of theorist/theory: Sheldon Glueck's academic career and his erratic schooling is one of the leading causes for his apparent status as a semi-outcast among the academia (Coly,Furstenberg,& Phelps, 2002). Glueck attend a host of universities including Georgetown University through 1914-15 and then George Washington University, which is where he received his undergraduate degree in humanities in 1920. After George Washington, he attended National University Law School and received his a law degree and went on to go to Harvard University in 1932 where he became a part of the Department of Social Ethics while earning his doctoral degree. Thus, upon completing of schooling, Glueck possessed a background in humanities, law, and ethics which allowed him to bring a unique perspective to the table in the field of criminology. However, his eclectic education gave him no one specific niche to fall into and he thus was somewhat of an outcast among scholars (Laub & Sampson, 1995). In 1950, Glueck ended up teaching as a Roscoe Pound Professor of Law but his main interest still lie in social science research. However, his position as a law professor did not mix with his social science research desire until his mentors and friends Bernard Glueck and Richard Cabot inspired him, and helped financially back him, while Glueck and his wife studied and produced the work Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency (Coly,Furstenberg,& Phelps, 2002). While Glueck was attending school and afterwards teaching, numerous economic, social, and political upheavals were occurring. During his lifetime the Great Depression, World War One, World War Two, in addition to Roosevelt's death and Truman's presidency as well as numerous other events came to pass. Thus, thanks to the Great Depression and the World Wars, Glueck saw first-hand how people can be influenced through numerous factors which has the potential to lead to delinquency. Even though Glueck's ideas were later hailed as revolutionary during his lifetime this is not the case. The prevalent school of thought was the Chicago school of theory. The Chicago school focuses on human behavior which is influenced through social structures and environmental factors while shunning the idea that genetic and personal characteristics are the main cause of delinquency. The main theorist of the day was Edwin Sutherland. Although in the beginning Sutherland and Glueck were amiable by the end of their careers, Sutherland had taken a decisive turn away from Glueck and criticized him for his methodology and incorporation of psychology (Laub & Sampson, 1991). In the end, Sutherland's research took on a more scientific view while Glueck mixed his research which was a result of his multidisciplinary studies.

What traditions Glueck built upon: Overall, Glueck was a part of the Chicago school. He rejected the traditional idea that crime and delinquency was due to poverty or loose morals. Glueck also denied gang/'group' influences the responsibility of creating crime although he did admit that there are such things as neighborhood influences which can lend itself to crime. Instead of following in the foot steps of past theorists, Glueck and other researches, felt that the family, disciplinary institutions, and emotional factors were much more significant in determinism whether an individual would commit a crime or not (Laub & Sampson, 1991). Glueck had a profile of what a potential offender could resemble both physically and mentally. This aspect of his research is reminiscent of Lombroso's theory of biological characteristics using phrenology. However, Glueck also adhered to the idea of multiple factors in the causation of crime. Thus, Glueck is a mix of classical biologist theory with a twist of Chicago school theory.

Sources: Coly, A., Furstenberg, F.F., & Phelps, E. (2002). Looking at lives: American longitudinal studies of the twentieth century. New York: Russel Sage         Foundation. (http://books.google.com/books?id=84FV8xvKJugC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=Sheldon+Glueck+historical+context&source=bl&ots=ExR-gdgoZS&sig=Hg9sVL7sl-wVLbAAWu6xIiUU3WM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C5Y1U4_9FJPwyAGQ8oCACw&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Sheldon%20Glueck%20historical%20context&f=false)

Laub,J. H., & Sampson, R.J. (1995). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge:Harvard University Press. (http://books.google.com/books?id=dNcNUjn4UQEC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=Sheldon+Glueck+historical+context&source=bl&ots=Uc4QXJakeT&sig=V2oVeKhLXybnv__blLjyRcSSWfg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C5Y1U4_9FJPwyAGQ8oCACw&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Sheldon%20Glueck%20historical%20context&f=false)

Laub,J. H., & Sampson, R.J. (1991). The Sutherland-Glueck debate: On the sociology of criminological knowledge. American Journal of Sociology. 96(6), 6-14. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2781905?uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103758186257