Jonathon Heidt

The Growth of Criminological Theories Jonathon Heidt

In the last 50 years, an extensive array of theorieshas appeared within the field of criminology, manygenerated by the discipline of sociology. With somany different, competing models and perspectivessurfacing, it is often difficult to determine iftheory growth is actually occurring in criminology,or if contemporary theories are merely recycledtheoretical models. The question of growth is animportant one to resolve because criminology, if itis truly a progressive form of social science, oughtto be producing theories that are evolving andimproving, and contributing to the accumulation ofknowledge. In order to assess the degree of theory accumulationin criminology, an existing model of theory growthproposed by David G. Wagner was applied to severaldifferent trajectories in the area of sociologicallybased theories within criminology. The findings ofthis research demonstrate the potential usefulness ofthe model in understanding theory growth anddevelopment within the field of criminology.