Chicago School: Symbolic Interactionism Approach

The Chicago School is known for its urban sociology and for developing Symbolic Interactionism approach. The Chicago School put a lot of attention to the human behavior, which would be determined by social structures and physical environmental factors than the genetic and personal characteristics. The Chicago School believed that the natural environment which the community inhabits is a major factor in shaping human behavior, and that the city functions as a microcosm for human interactions, relations and stability. The Chicago School was set up and worked at a very unique time in human social history: the establishment and the settlement of a major U.S city. Its main focus and reputation has been upon the premise and theory that it is not biology, genetics etc that determine human behaviour be rather responses to environment and situational circumstances.
Functionalists would believe that crime shows individuals within a society what’s right and wrong. Functionalist Theory, labeling or conflict theory looks at the implementation of crime and crime control procedures rather than attempting to explain the causes of criminal behavior. Functionalists would believe that crime can lead to social change, furthermore crime proves to society that the government does not overly country its people. It is apparent that crime helps the economy stabilize and grow due to crime creating new jobs, such as, law enforcement agencies. Although Functionalists often rely on statistical evidence to back their ides, however the the theory can not explain why individuals turn to crime inpaticular those individuals from a similar background, which is considered a weakness for functionalism (and all sociological approaches). It is apparent that that functionalism deals with probabilities and not individual