Economic Determinism
Definition
The theoretical position, developed most fully by Bonger, that the economic structure of a society, particularly its mode of production, is the primary force shaping the level and distribution of crime within it.
Related terms
- Absolute Poverty
- Deprivation measured against a fixed subsistence threshold, such as inadequate food or shelter, distinct from relative poverty and less central to Bonger's...
- Cartographic School
- An early nineteenth-century movement, led by Guerry and Quetelet, that plotted crime statistics onto geographic maps to study how offending varied by...
- Moral Statistics
- The nineteenth-century term for the systematic study of social phenomena, including crime, suicide, and marriage, using official numerical records rather than individual...
- Relative Poverty
- Deprivation measured against the standard of living and expectations of one's own society, which Bonger treated as a stronger driver of crime...
- Thermic Law of Crime
- Quetelet's finding that violent, personal crime peaks in warmer months and southern regions while property crime peaks in colder months and northern...