• Social Control theories attribute crime and delinquency to family structures, education, peer groups etc. • Theorists share a conviction that deviant behavior is expected. • “Why people obey rules” main thing trying to be proven • Critical component of all social control theories is their attempt to explain factors keeping people from committing crimes. Social Heritage • Cynicism of the United States because of Watergate • Conservatism enhanced popularity of control theories, theories themselves not inheritantly conservative. Intellectual Heritage • Connection with strain theories.
DEFINITION Differential association is a concept that was developed by E. H. Sutherland. It describes the function of the learning process whereby criminal behaviour is learnt through social interactions with other people. The learning process can affect any person from any culture. The principles of this concept are set out in nine propositions that explain the process of becoming involved in criminal activities. PROPOSITION 1: CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR IS LEARNT This proposition removes the roles of heredity, human nature and innovation as causes of deviant behaviour (Joubert et al., 2012:106).
The humanist approach doesn’t describe deviance as a behavior, rather defining it by the reaction and it being a subjective experience. The positivists focus on the high consensus deviance, the deviance that the majority agrees upon, such as hurting yourself or someone else. They want to explain the behavior and believe that it’s caused by the social environment. One theory used to explain behavior by the positivists is control theory. Control theory helps explain “crime, deviance, and especially delinquency” (56) In 1969, Travis Hirschi developed control theory.
As a conclusion this essay will take into consideration whether the perspectives outlined are external or internal in their description of reasons for crime and deviance and try and determine the relevance of the arguments. Deviance according to Jary and Jary in the Dictionary of Sociology (2000) is any social behaviour that departs from that regarded as normal or socially acceptable in a society or social context. Deviance will include criminal behaviour; but it's scope is far wider than just criminal behaviour. Deviant behaviour is not necessary criminal - according to the legal code of a given society, culture or country. Crime is defined as an infraction of criminal law.
These concept explain crime at levels of the society, the individual, and the group. An individual’s potential for criminality depends on the competition between associations that treat criminal behavior positively and those who treat it negatively (Vandelay, 2010, p.1) The main points of Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory are the nine propositions which are one that criminal behavior is learned second which is similar to the first proposition is that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other people in an attempt to communicate. The third main point or proposition is that the principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. The fourth main point is that when criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes; the techniques of committing the crime which are sometimes complicated or very simple and the specific motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The fifth main point is the specific direction of motives and drive is learned from the definition of the legal codes whether it is favorable or unfavorable.
Social Learning Theory compared to Social Control Theory Thomas Zane Cordell Professor Thomas Lawrence Social Learning Theory vs. Social Control Theory “The Social learning Theory says that all behavior is learned in much the same way and that such learning includes the acquisition of norms, values, and patterns of behaviors conductive to crime, meaning that crime is also learned and that people learn to commit crime from others “ (Schmalleger, 2011). Criminal behavior is a product of the social environment, not an innate characteristic of particular people (Schmalleger, 2011). A type of Social learning theory is the Differential Association. Edwin Sutherland in 1939 stated that criminality is learned through a process known as Differential Association with others who communicate criminal values and who advocate the commission of crimes. In his famous book, Principles of criminology Sutherland came up with nine principles of criminology on Differential Association (Schmalleger, 2011).
“Deviance is a normal and necessary part of any society” (Durkheim). Terrorism, Poverty, Unemployment, Drug abuse, Governments, Child abuse and Neglect are all of these social problems? Sociology tells us that our experiences are often caused by social forces. Social problems can account for two elements to be shown as problem, it must be looped to a social situation involving people in society. Crime can only be a social problem if it breaks rules in the social system.
Differential association “Sutherland introduced the concept of differential association, which he developed into a theory to explain the process by which an individual engages in criminal behaviour” (http://www.oup.com/ us/pdf/reid/Reid_ Chapter6.pdf) which is the first of Akers key elements is differential association. This refers to ones exposure to, and interactions with, others. The impact of this exposure may vary according to the rate of recurrence, how long the exposure and the intensity of this exposure, to others. Definitions The second of Akers key elements is definitions. This element refers to attitudes or level of approval individuals hold regarding morals and laws in general as well as specific deviant behaviours.
The social learning theory states that people learn from one another through observation, imitation and modelling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviourist and cognitive learning theories because it takes into mediating cognitive factors such as attention, memory, and motivation. In crime, the social learning theory plays an important role in explaining offending behaviour. It is explained through the differential association theory developed by Surtherland (1939). The theory claims that learning crime takes place through observing people (like peers, parents and so on), from there if the person if exposed to more pro-criminal attitudes than anti-criminal attitudes then they are more likely to offend.
7. Evaluate Social Identity Theory, making reference to relevant studies Social Identity theory was developed by Tajfel (1979) to explain the relationship between social groups. Tajfel believed that social identity is the part of one’s self concept that is driven from the membership of a certain social group they belong to, which also contribute to one’s self-esteem. Examples of social identities may include racial group, nationality, social group and sports group. The three fundamental cognitive processes underlying social identity theory include categorization of our groups and other groups, identification of ourselves with the values and behavior of our groups, and comparison between us and other groups.