The sociology of crime (criminology) is the study of the making, breaking, and enforcing of criminal laws. Its aim is to understand empirically and to develop and test theories explaining criminal behavior, the formation and enforcement of laws, and the operation of crimnal justice system. The roots of modern criminology can be found in the writings of social philosophers, who addressed Hobbes’s question: “How is society possible?” Locke and Rousseau believed that humans are endowed with free will and are self-interested. If this is so, the very existence of society is problematic. If we are all free to maximize our own self-interest we cannot live together. Those who want more and are powerful can simply take from the less powerful. The question then, as now, focuses on how is it possible for us to live together. Criminologists are concerned with discovering answers to this basic question.
