“The positivist approach assumes that deviance is real, that it exists in the objective experience of the people who commit deviant acts are those who respond to them.” (Conrad, Schneider 1980) Positivism is a perspective on knowledge and reality that assumes human behavior can be studied and explained by utilizing the same principles and practices used to study the natural behavior. Applying the scientific method to the study of human beings. The view that human behavior and attitudes are influenced by forces both internal and external to the individual. Positivism helps discover and accept the science over theology. Also, faith that the scientific method could provide the source of knowledge and the solutions to society’s problem. For the novel My Lobotomy by Howard Dully, it shows a perfect example how these scientists started to study humans like nature. When it comes to understanding …show more content…
Most was derived from the assumption that behaviors such as; criminal and otherwise, are inherited. Which means that criminals are biologically different than non-criminals. One of the earliest explanations was known as Phrenology which was in the mid-1700’s to mid-1800’s, which viewed the shape and size of the brain and skull as determinants of criminal tendencies. The next early positivist explanation for deviance was in 1876, Cesare Lombroso’s theory of “Atavism” and “The Born Criminal” This was the 1st Major Application of this new science to the study of criminals and deviance. Atavism is derived from the word Ancestors. This refers to the reappearance of characteristics in an organism or family after it has been absent from several generations. According to Lombroso, the connection between criminals and “primitive races” are that they have numerous anomalies in the face, skeleton, and various psychic and sensitive functions, so the resemble those primitive faces. (Lombroso