what is a normative theory?
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Kelsen's theory is based on the consideration of a law as a norm, that is, a “should”. Every law can be traced back to another law that validates it as a law, until one reaches the final validating “basic norm”, or, in German, Grundnorm. An effective law, coming from a court, is validated by the statute which tells the court what to do and gives the court the power to make the law. The legislature derives such power from, usually, a constitution. The constitution derives its normative force from the Grundnorm.\n\nKelsen's theory has the essential problem that nothing can be said to explain the Grundnorm and its own validation; he was driven in his later works to admit that it could be considered a fiction. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Kelsen's work was invaluable in bringing into legal discourse the unremittingly reasoned approach that philosophers have long demanded.\n\nMicrosoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Leon Festinger's theory of Cognitive Dissonance is a scientific method of testing three hypotheses on ways to reduce dissonance between attitudes and actions. Because his theory is scientific we must ask ourselves which criteria he uses for evaluating cognitive dissonance. The five requirements for a scientific theory are:\n\nExplanation of Data\nPrediction of Future\nRelative Simplicity\nTestable Hypotheses\nPractical Utility
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A hypothesis is an educated guess.  If you have a lot of supporting evidence but not complete and total (100%) evidence, you might say theory (although that might not be good, because no one seems to know what it means).
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A belief in god based on logic is an oxymoron. Logic is the filter we use to prevent myths from becoming confused with reality. Everything that can be observed and tested for is natural. Therefore by definition, the supernatural must be IMAGINED to exist.
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You are probably talking about Freud's psychoanalytical theories. They are called 'psychodynamic' theories. The branch is 'psychoanalysis'.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_fallacy
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Explain how crime is interpretted is a wide question.  You can use any theory you'd like to run with. Marxist theory, Feminist theory, rational choice, biological criminological theory, detterence theory, etc.\n\nRational Choice Theory (RCT) assumes that offenders make a rational choice to commit crime by weighing up all possiblities and outcomes - they seek to benefit in some way from their offending behaviour.  This also assumes that offenders have considered the possibility of going to prison and have consciously made the decision to commit the crime regardless.\n\nRCT is not a common theory used today - rational choice does not take into account that many offenders simply commit crime because they don't think they'll be caught - in fact they tend not to think at all.\n\nExamples: \n1) White collar crime: a person weighs up all the possiblities and decides to siphon money from their company account in intervals.\n2) Street/ petty crime: a person who robs a lady walking down at night in a park, because he believes he is more likely to successfully rob her and get away with it than if it were daylight and he was somewhere public. \n\nSeems far fetched huh? \n\nI'm sure we go through some sort of mental process before considering to commit/ or not commit a crime, but i'm not convinced offenders are actually thinking in-depth about whether committing a crime would be worth their while or not.\n\nRCT implies criminals are rational, calculated, intelligent, organized, thoughtful and committed when deciding to commit an offence.
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"They are really more like guidelines..."  I heard that once.  Common wisdom is morality is a personal choice, and cannot be obtained by imposing laws.  Laws and penalties can influence behavior by incentive and pushishments.
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Game theory is a branch of mathematics that deals with strategic interactions between agents (individuals, firms, etc.). In game theory, optimal choice depends on the actions of other "players" (as opposed to, for example, classical economic theory, in which optimal choice is made in a "vaccuum"). A central concept in game theory is the Nash equilibrium, in which every player best responds to every other player's strategy. \n\nGame theory has been applied extensively in fields such as economics, political science and evolutionary biology, in order to model the behavior of humans and animals.
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Everyone has their own interpretation of normal, and there are also standards - unwritten but more developed over a period of time, based on religion, morals, ethics, and more commonly, judgemental people who decide that their way(s) is/are normal, and others who don't conform to their way of living are not normal.  There are also social and psychological "norms" that define "different" or abnormal behavior.
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Unless morality is based on the Law of God, the definition of "morally right" simply becomes "whatever I think is morally right", and "morally wrong" becomes "whatever I think is morally wrong". Of course, that would only define my own personal subjective morality, since there would be no such thing as objective morality. Your definition of "morally right" would be "whatever YOU happen to think is right", which might be completely opposite to my definition of "morally right". If morality is completely subjective, why even speak in terms of morality? Morality would consist of "you do whatever you feel like doing, and I'll do whatever I feel like doing". I couldn't judge any action of yours to be immoral, nor could you judge any action of mine, or of terrorists, or of governments, to be immoral. "What's right for you may not be right for me" would be the foundation of morality, whether we werespeaking of murder, rape, child molestation, or any other act. All acts would be morally neutral, and would become "right" or "wrong" only in the minds of individuals. Morality is meaningful only when there is an objective standard against which to compare subjective ideas of morality. An act is objectively moral when it fits the objective standard of morality.
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Type the words "electronic dissertation" and "contingency theory" in your search engine. Also go libraries and bookstores and ask the clerks/librarians to help you.
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It hasn't been "proven" wrong, but there are several alternatives.  Check these sources for in depth information.  I got this information from James P. Hogan's "Kicking the Sacred Cow: Questioning the Unquestionable and Thinking the Impermissible", which covers evolution, cosmology, physics, environmentalism, AIDS, and the general attitude that the most prevalent theories must be right.
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There are several.  First, it is less of a theory (which requires explicitly testable hypotheses, etc.) and more of a perspective on deviance.  More than this, at a conceptual level, it dehumanizes the deviant, as it seems to imply that the fate of a person is determined by the label applied by another.  It also does not seem to distinguish between non-normative behavior such as homosexuality and more malevolent types such mass murder, etc.  In any case, it draws unreaslistic policy implications (drastic overhaul of the criminal justice system, etc.), and in that sense is quite radical...
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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is based on a bio-social theory of borderline personality disorder. Linehan hypothesises that the disorder is a consequence of an emotionally vulnerable individual growing up within a particular set of environmental circumstances which she refers to as the 'Invalidating Environment'.\n\nFor Details:\n\nhttp://www.priory.com/dbt.htm\n\nMay be this is what u looking for.
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A friend of mine has been trying to explain rational behavior in terms of evolution and such.  I think you might be interested in reading it.
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Are we talking sociological definition?  What cultures norms and values do you want?