Main trends of research in the social and human ... - unesdoc - Unesco

602 Pierre de Bie
It may be wondered why it is so difficult, in criminology, to tackle the crucial problems
by rigorous methods, why it is primarily secondary problems that lend themselves
thereto. The reason lies mainly in the complex nature of criminology. Criminology is
the study of the roots of crime, whose causes are, however, multiple, some being psy-
chological in origin, others sociological ... Clearly, then, it can only progress by applying
a number of different methods, which will be borrowed from other sciences (biology,
psychology, psychiatry, sociology), or be inherent to certain fields of criminology in the
broadest sense (criminalistics, penology). This approach entails important theoretical
and practical consequences.
From the theoretical point of view, if criminology is to be more than a mosaic of data
borrowed from auxiliary sciences, its aim must be to effect a synthesis of these data ...
Biological, psychological, sociological and other methods used in criminological research
must therefore all converge to provide this synthesis ...
From the practical point of view, an important consequence of the multiplicity of
methods is the multidisciplinary character acquired by most criminological research.
To be sure, there are opportunities for individual research, and many important dis-
coveries are due to scientists working alone in a closely bounded field (crime statistics
was founded by two such men, working in isolation, Quktelet and Guerry). The more
general the problems under study are, however, the more a multidisciplinary approach
is called for. 3 7
Another series of problems arises in connexion with aging, and the situation
and living conditions of old people. The anxiety of certain countries in face of
the aging of the population, that is, the increase in the proportion of old
people in the community, the modification of their status and role in societies
in which families are dwindling in numbers and which are moving increasingly
in the direction of urbanization, has been the starting point of much research.
Research workers in various branches of the human sciences have, little by
little, specialized, finally coming to be recognized under the new title of gerontol-
ogists.
Gerontology deals with a sphere in which there is a need for social work.
Research workers are in contact with case workers. It lends itself to multidis-
ciplinary problem-focused research, a tendency that is reinforced by the aims
to which the work is directed.
Gerontology is concerned, at one and the same time, with a situation and a process,
with the aging individual and with the group to which he belongs. It therefore calls
for the co-operation of:
- doctors, physiologists and biologists, for the study of physical senescence;
- psychologists and psychiatrists, to measure the changes occurring with age in the
mental, intellectual and affective state;
- sociologists, to study the relations of older persons with society and its various sec-
tions, and to evaluate the position accorded by society to the old (not omitting the
study of life in institutions intended for them);
- demographers, to measure the extent of the phenomenon and the repercussions of
the aging of the population structure, and to outline future prospects;
- specialists from the social services handling casework, to draw up the necessary
inventories and formulate the questions to be put to research workers, and to translate
their advice into practice.
This list is in no way exhaustive and should also include, for example, economists, for
global or sector analyses, specialists in occupational matters (including competent
representatives of trade unions and employers), actuaries, financiers, etc?
Here again, the range of techniques and methods employed is varied, and brings
out the dependence of gerontological research on a diversity of disciplines.