Ecological Perspective on the Relationship between Religion and Crime in terms of Western Societies: The Moral Community Thesis

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 19 - 33, 05.02.2022

Fatma Takmaz Demirel

https://doi.org/10.23834/isrjournal.954888

Abstract

Throughout history, there have been many studies on religion and crime, especially at the sociological level. Researches have been mostly tested using social control, social learning, rational choice theory, control theory. However, the ecological study of the social impact of religion on criminal behavior has been relatively neglected by academics. According to the moral community thesis, individuals commit less or no crime in conservative societies than in secular societies. Individual front towards criminal /social deviation behaviors emerges with the positive or negative effect of the environment on the individual's behavior.
There are hardly any studies on the moral community thesis in Turkey. Studies revealing the effect of religion on crime have mostly been applied in the United States, Europe and China, and different results have been obtained. In Turkey, there have been many studies that reveal the effect of religion on crime but only one study has been conducted to test the moral community thesis. The aim of this study is to emphasize what the moral community thesis is and its place in the literature. After that, it is to bring a new perspective to the studies to be done on the religion-crime relationship in Turkey. In this study, traditional literature review was used and focused on the studies and the findings obtained. The results obtained revealed that the sample was mostly applied to adults and the moral community thesis was supported. It has been observed that studies in this field have increased in recent years.

Keywords

din, ahlaki topluluk tezi, suç, sosyal sapma

Batı Toplumları Açısından Din Suç İlişkisine Ekolojik Bakış Açısı: Ahlaki Topluluk Tezi

Abstract

Tarih boyunca özellikle sosyolojik düzeyde din ve suç üzerine birçok araştırma yapılmıştır. Yapılan araştırmalar çoğunlukla sosyal kontrol, sosyal öğrenme, rasyonel seçim teorisi, kontrol kuramı kullanılarak test edilmiştir. Ancak dinin suç davranışı üzerindeki sosyal etkisinin ekolojik incelemesi akademisyenler tarafından nispeten ihmal edilmiştir. Ahlaki topluluk tezine (moral community thesis) göre muhafazakâr toplumlarda bireylerin suç işleme oranı seküler toplumlara göre azdır ya da hiç yoktur. Bireyin suç/sosyal sapma davranışlarına yönelmesi çevrenin bireyin davranışları üzerindeki olumlu ya da olumsuz etkisi ile ortaya çıkmaktadır.
Türkiye’de ahlaki topluluk tezi ile ilgili çalışma yok denecek kadar azdır. Dinin suç üzerindeki etkisini ortaya koyan çalışmalar çoğunlukla Amerika Bileşik Devletleri, Avrupa ve Çin’de uygulanmıştır. Türkiye’de ise dinin suç üzerindeki etkisini ortaya koyan birçok çalışma yapılmıştır ancak ahlaki topluluk tezini test eden çalışmalar yok denecek kadar azdır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Ahlaki topluluk tezinin ne olduğunu ve literatürdeki yerini vurgulayarak, bundan sonra Türkiye’de din suç ilişkisi üzerine yapılacak çalışmalara yeni bir bakış açısı kazandırmaktır. Bu çalışma ile geleneksel literatür taraması kullanılmış ve konuya ilişkin çalışmalar ve elde edilen bulgulara odaklanılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar değerlendirildiğinde genel olarak örneklemin çoğunlukla yetişkinler üzerine uygulandığını ve ahlaki topluluk tezinin destek bulduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Bu alanda yapılan çalışmaların son yıllarda daha da arttığı görülmüştür.

Keywords

Din, Suç/Sosyal Sapma, Ahlaki Topluluk Tezi, Din, Suç/Sosyal Sapma, Ahlaki Topluluk Tezi

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