Sociology is defined as the study of social organization and institutions & of collective behaviour and interactions, including the individual's relationship to the group. This definition is a catholic definition which encompasses almost every situation in which individuals or groups can influence one another. The Sociological School focussed on the social factor as the only origin of crime.

According to this theory the crime is a definite result of the social factor alone. American criminologists attributed criminality to the social conditions of the criminal. This theory states that the crime causation depends considerably on social interactions. Turning away from individual propensities to commit crime, sociological perspectives look at society as the cause; from biological criminology to sociological/environmental criminology (sometimes called the geography or the ecology of crime).

The prominent social thinkers who supported the sociological school of criminology are Colayanni, Donald Taft, Edwin Sutherland, Robert Merton and Emile Durkheim who studied crime and criminals with reference to society, i.e., its organisation, culture, and causative factors of crime in the institutions of society like family relationships, educational institutions, economic relationships, organised religion and media of mass communication.

Theories Of Sociological School

1. Colayanni's Theory:
   According to Colayanni's theory even the personal psychological factor of crime is a result of the social conditions, which surrounded the life of the criminal especially from the economic perspective. It highlights that criminal can be corrected by the elimination of the bad material conditions which surround his life.
    
2. Donald Taft's Theory:
   Donald Taft was an American criminologist. According to his theory, the criminal is produced by the society itself, and that heredity is not a part in the genesis of crime. The person looks like the raw materials that is shaped by his life since his birth, and the delinquency is a result of the corrupted environment which he was born and grew, namely to the social factor alone.
    
3. Differential Association Theory & Criminality:
   The theory of criminality based on "differential association" has been presented by Sutherland. According to Sutherland, a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law. Criminal behaviour is explained as a product of learning in interaction with other persons, principally within intimate personal groups. It is assumed that any person inevitably assimilates the surrounding culture unless other patterns are in conflict.
   
   He argued that what is actually needed to develop criminal behaviour in many instances is not the crime committing technique but some sort of rationalisation to use the techniques for the criminal purposes.
   However, there has been much criticism that the differential association theory cannot be extended to all crimes as it does not apply to perpetrators of "individual" and "personal" crimes, to white-collar criminals, to persons who commit crimes of passion, and to persons who commit crimes under emotional stress.
    
4. Anomie:
   The word "anomie" is borrowed from the Greek word "anomia" which means without norms or normlessness. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) in his works which included The Division of Labour in Society (1893) & Suicide (1897). Durkheim formulated the concept and used it in particular to explain the behaviour which he referred to as anomie suicide.
   
   According to Durkheim suicide seemed to be the ultimate form of free choice or free will. He showed that the decision to commit this act is largely determined by external, social factors by focussing upon suicide rates, using official records. Durkheim identified four 'ideal types' of suicide. Altruistic ("selfless" suicide), egoistic (self-centred suicide), anomic (suicide due to anomie or a state of normlessness in society), and fatalistic.
   
   Robert K. Merton's Theory Of Anomie:
   "Robert Merton's theory of anomie" first appeared in 1938 in an article titled "Social Structure and Anomie." The term "anomie" was used by Merton for a condition that occurs when discrepancies exist between societal goals and the means available for their achievement.
   
   According to Robert K. Merton's theory of anomie, delinquency (and other forms of deviance) is a response to the unavailability of conventional or socially approved routes to success, and is characteristic of lower-class persons since the social structure strains the cultural values, making action in accord with them readily possible for those occupying certain status within the society and difficult or impossible for others.
   
   For example, the use of unfair means or violence against invigilators in examinations by some students. It is very clear that those who employ such questionable means are not much concerned with the amount of labour needed to distinguish themselves in the examination but would like to secure success leading to degrees, the only thing which they think is relevant for evaluating their academic worth and achievement.
   
   Difference Between Merton's And Durkheim's Theory:
   So, the difference between Merton's "means-end" theory and the theory of "differential association" is that former emphasises differences in access to legitimate means according to position in the social structure, while the latter considers the possibility of unequal opportunities for illegitimate means which is often referred to as the "Chicago tradition".
    
5. The Chicago School Of Criminology:
   Durkheim's ideas also had a significant bearing on the Sociology Department of the University Chicago (Chicago School). Chicago was the place for sociologists to be: a little town with a population of 10,000 in 1860 had become a city of two million people by 1910. Chicago suffered from an ever-increasing crime problem in the 1920s, the era of prohibition; the Depression of the 1930s led to the breakdown of social controls. The Chicago school of criminology arose to study urban areas and crime.
    

At the heart of the Chicago School's perspectives on crime was human/social ecology that examines the interrelationship between humans and environment. Robert E. Park claimed that much of human behaviour, especially the way cities grow, follows the basic principles of ecology. According to Park, the heterogeneous contact of racial and ethnic groups in the city often leads to competition for status and space, as well as conflict, accommodation, acculturation, assimilation, or amalgamation.

Conclusion
The sociological school of criminology emphasizes that crime is primarily a product of societal factors rather than individual traits. Thinkers like Sutherland, Merton, and Durkheim highlighted how economic conditions, cultural conflicts, and social norms shape criminal behavior. Concepts such as Durkheim's anomie and Merton's strain theory reveal how societal pressures and inequalities contribute to deviance.

The Chicago School further demonstrated the impact of urbanization and social disorganization on crime. By addressing these structural issues—like inequality and lack of opportunity—society can reduce the factors that lead to criminal behavior, making this school vital for understanding and preventing crime.