THE INCIDENT The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, occurred on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Twenty-five-year-old Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained Mini- 14 rifle and a hunting knife, shot twenty-eight people before killing himself In total 15 people died with an additional 14 sustaining injuries

THE INCIDENT He began his attack by entering a classroom at the university, where he separated the male and female students. After claiming that he was "fighting feminism", he shot all nine women in the room, killing six. He then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot. Overall, he killed fourteen women and injured ten other women and four men in just under twenty minutes before turning the gun on himself

THE INCIDENT Lépine was the son of a French- Canadian mother and an Algerian father, and had been physically abused by his father. His suicide note claimed political motives and blamed feminists for ruining his life. The note included a list of nineteen Quebec women whom Lépine considered to be feminists and apparently wished to kill.

THE INCIDENT Since the attack, Canadians have debated various interpretations of the events, their significance, and Lépine's motives. Many feminist groups and public officials have characterized the massacre as an anti-feminist attack that is representative of wider societal violence against women. Consequently, the anniversary of the massacre has since been commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Other interpretations emphasize Lépine's abuse as a child or suggest that the massacre was simply the isolated act of a madman, unrelated to larger social issues

THE KILLER Lepine was 25 years old He had enrolled ins several educational programs, he had not finished any of them and was now unemployed Lepine had tried to join the Canadian armed forces, but was rejected due to his personality which was considered unsuitable He was a loner with few close friends He had a keen interest in guns and ammunition but had no criminal record Social scientists tried to answer the question on everyone’s mind WHY??

THE PSYCHOLGICAL EXPLANATION The question for psychologists “what factors in his personality led to the crime?” Psychologists would examine the evidence based on the assumption that an individual’s personality is molded by his or her prior experiences Understanding key events in Lepine’s life would help in understanding his personality Psycholiogsts typically want to interview the subject, not an option in this case They next move to family and friends

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION The Psychological explanation – Lepine’s father was a brutal man, who openly expressed the opinion that women were inferior to men – He would regularly beat both Marc and his mother – Parents were separated when Marc was seven – Marc’s fascination with guns dated from his teenage years when he would spend summers hunting at his uncle’s farm – Unable to establish close relationships with women – Marc came to blame them for his problems – By choosing an engineering course, traditionally dominated by males, his murderous rampage allowed him to act out his hatred

THE ANTHROPLOGISTS EXPLANATION The question for anthropologists: “why do some men act violently towards women, particularly to the point of murder?” Anthropologists would start from an assumption that there are factors in the nature of society itself that encourage some men to act violently towards women One cannot explain a single act of violence without looking at societal reasons Anthropologists would examine statistics and other evidence about violence in Canada They would try to link together information to see if a pattern emerged

THE ANTHROPLOGISTS EXPLANATION The Anthropological Explanation – Believe that Lepine’s murderous rampage was the ultimate act of violence against in women in a society that has traditionally tolerated such violence – One women in five has been or will be abused – One in four has been has been or will be physically abused – Courts have tended to impose lighter sentences on men who abuse wives or girlfriends – Movies tend to glamorize violence, particularly against women – Advertisements regularly exploit women as sex objects in order to sell beer, clothes and just about anything else – e=active e=active

THE SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION The question for sociologists “what common factors are there in the lives of men who have acted with extreme violence toward women?” Sociologists would start with an assumption that the significance of the acts Lepine committed can only be understood when they are compared to others like him and of Canadian men as a whole They would examine the lives of mass murders, especially those who have targeted women as their victims They would then compare then to a control group – The group in an experiment experiencing no changes from conditions

THE SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION The Sociological Explanation – Mass killers as a group display a number of common characteristics They are loners with few friends They come from broken families usually ones where violence has played a major role Most have been sexually or physically abused as children Mass murders have difficulty dealing with emotions Frustration and anger frequently take control of their lives Despite a calm appearance, they are tormented on the inside

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDY Scientists use a set of rules developed by scientists to help them discover their own mistakes Because it is easy to make a mistake by observation alone, scientists quantify their observations Francis Bacon and other s in the 17 th century proposed the scientific method – In order to answer nature’s questions, the scientist must be completely objective and without opinions as information was gathered – safe=active safe=active

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDY Scientists follow seven steps for the Scientific Method 1.Defining the problem 2.Reviewing the literature 3.Forming a hypothesis 4.Choosing a research design 5.Collecting the data 6.Analyzing the data 7.Presenting conclusions

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDY Scientists follow seven steps for the Scientific Method 1.DEFINING THE PROBLEM (OPERATIONAL DEFINITION)  A definition that is stated in terms of measurable characteristics 2.REVIEWING THE LITERATURE  Examining existing research to see how other researchers have examined the issue, the methods they used, and the conclusions they reached 3.FORMING A HYPOTHESIS  Make an educated guess to provide a direction for research

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDY Scientists follow seven steps for the Scientific Method 4.CHOOSING A RESEARCH DESIGN  A plan for collecting, analyzing and evaluating data  Four typical methods  Surveys  Typically collected by interviews of questionnaires  Experimentation  The group to be studied is exposed to a certain condition. The result is measured and compared to a control group  Observation  Two types natural observation, from a distance and participant observation where the researcher appears to be a member of the group being studied  Reviewing old records, documents, archives and official statistics  Secondary analysis  Reviewing old records, documents, archives and official statistics

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF STUDY Scientists follow seven steps for the Scientific Method COLLECTING THE DATA  The data must by carefully recorded as careless data collection can change the research findings 6.ANALYZING THE DATA  This steps allows researchers to see if the data supports the initial hypothesis 7.PRESENTING CONCLUSIONS  Conclusions are drawn from data and research findings are presented to others in such way that if another researcher wanted to reproduce the experiment/observations in exactly the same way, he or she would be able to do so

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA SURVEYS – Often used to provide data on attitudes and opinions from a large number of people – Questionnaires and interviews are the most commonly used techniques – Questionnaire Disadvantage Cannot be certain that the respondents interpreted questions correctly – Questionnaire Advantage Can get a large amount of data in a short period of time DMKE&safe=active DMKE&safe=active

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA SURVEYS – Schedule The list of questions sociologists ask people being surveyed in an interview – Sampling A small number of people drawn from a large population – Interviews Disadvantage Costly to administer and time consuming to administer – Interviews Advantage Make it easier for the researchers understand whether or not the respondents understand the questions Allows for clarifications and noting of context clues

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES – Natural Observation Observe from a distance so that his or her presence will not change or effect the behaviour being studied Disadvantage – Being detached from the observation may cause this missing of some important details Advantage – Do not realize they are being observed

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES – Participant Observation Observers are directly involved in the situation under investigation – Contrived observation A situation is designed and uses a controlled variable to determine how people act is a given situation m/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY &safe=active m/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY &safe=active

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA ANALYSIS OF EXISTING RESOURCES – Historical Method Involves examining materials from the past that contain information of interest to sociologists Most often is comprised of written documents such as letters, diaries, government records and news papers – Content Analysis Counting the number of times a given word, phrase, idea event or other element occurs in a given context The Wordle on line tool is a rudimentary example of this

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA STATISTICAL ANALYSIS – The use of measures of central tendency – Can be very specific and complex – The three most common are Mode – The number occurring most often in the data Median – The number of the value that divides the data into two equal parts Mean – Adding up the numbers in the data and dividing by the total number of cases

HOW SOCIOLOGISTS COLLECT DATA CASE STUDIES – An intensive analysis of a person, group, event, or problem – Case studies rely heavily on observational techniques – These are frequently done by social workers when they are screening parents who wish to adopt children or serve as foster homes – ?v=DMo2RGO9YU4 ?v=DMo2RGO9YU4 =N4McYkNXFQY&safe=active =N4McYkNXFQY&safe=active