Comments on “sex, status, and criminality: A theoretical nexus”

Abstract

Scientific endeavor has as its ultimate objective development of theory to explain the phenomena of interest and to specify how and why various outcomes occur or are expected to occur. To be adequate, such theories must be "integrative," bringing in ideas and explanatory mechanisms from a number of sources. Further, good theories often account for a variety of phenomena with the same causal mechanism, thereby bringing parsimony to scholarly pursuits. Ellis' theory embodies this spirit in trying to explain several different social phenomena using ideas from sociology and biology. Given that such general theories are relatively rare, Ellis is to be especially commended. More such theorizing is needed.