Social Process Theories - Criminology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Sociology of Crime and Punishment

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Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Process Docsity.com Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Process Lesson Overview • Learning Theories – Differential Association Theories • Control Theories – Containment theory – Neutralization and Drift Theory – Social Bonding Theory – Self-Control Theory • Life Course Theories Docsity.com Learning Theories • Differential Association Theory – 9 propositions Criminal behavior is learned Learned through interaction with others through communication Occurs within intimate personal groups Learning includes techniques and specific motives, drives, rationalizations and attitudes Definition of legal codes as favorable or unfavorable Docsity.com Differential Association Theory – 9 propositions (cont.) Excess of definitions favorable to crime Frequency, duration, priority, and intensity Learning criminal behavior same as learning other types of activities Criminal behavior not explained by general needs and values Docsity.com Drinking is OK. | don't get mad | get even. Don't let anyone push you around. Evil is always punished. Honesty is the best policy. People should take drugs if they want to. € Thomson Higher Education Docsity.com Learning Theories • Other Learning Theories – Daniel Glaser: Differential Identification Theory Rests on notion of reference groups Learning criminal behavior can occur without interacting with the group influencing you – Albert Bandura: Social Learning Theory Social learning theory of aggression Aggressive tendencies are learned Studied effects of mass media on aggression Docsity.com Learning Theories – Burgess and Akers: Differential Reinforcement • Integration of operant conditioning and differential association concept • Criminal behavior more likely to be learned if reinforced • People calculate potential rewards and risks of the behavior Docsity.com Control Theories • Introduction – Why do people not become criminals? – Personal controls: individual conscience, commitment to law, positive self-concept – Social controls: Attachments to and involvement in conventional social institutions (i.e. family, schools, religion) Docsity.com Control Theories • Gresham M. Sykes and David Matza: Neutralization and Drift Theory – Need to neutralize guilt before committing crime 5 techniques  Denial of responsibility  Denial of injury  Denial of the victim  Condemnation of the condemners  Appeal to higher loyalties – Drift into and out of delinquency Docsity.com He is a stranget! \ f “IY Cowards run away” ¥® to protect my buds? & © Thomson Higher Education Docsity.com Neutralization and Drift Theory – Evaluation of Neutralization and Drift Theory • Some don’t accept conventional values, thus having nothing to feel guilty about or to neutralize • Techniques of neutralization may be “after-the- fact rationalizations rather than before-the-fact” • Drift theory - What about chronic offenders? Docsity.com Social Bonding Theory (Social Control Theory) – Research supports the theory – Relatively simple to define and measure variables of the theory – Family structure: The way the family is organized – Family interaction: Nature of interaction and relationships – Family disruption Docsity.com Social Bonding Theory – Physical and sexual abuse are thought to contribute to delinquency – Children of teen mothers at higher risk – Poor grades and negative attitudes about teachers more likely to be delinquent – Religiosity helps prevent delinquency/criminal behavior? Docsity.com Social Bonding Theory – Sociodemographic Factors and Social Bond Theory • Gender; girls less delinquent than boys because of attachment to family and school • Race and Class; inconsistent findings in research; Asian-Americans traditionally have stronger bonds; social class and parental discipline • Age; bonding theory helps explain why criminality decreases as we age out of adolescence Docsity.com Self-Control Theory • Evaluation of the theory – Circular reasoning – What is the proper measurement of low self-control? – Does not adequately delineate causal order – Effects of low self-control are not strong – Assumes low self-control lasts throughout one’s life – Is the only source of low self-control ineffective child- rearing? – Assumption that all crime is spontaneous and unskilled Docsity.com Life-Course Theories • Overview of the Life-Course Approach – Recognizes importance of childhood problems for adolescent delinquency and adult criminality – Also emphasizes many children exposed to problems do not end up committing crime – Turning points in one’s life that may lead to desistance from crime Marriage Employment opportunities Docsity.com Life-Course Theories • Specific Life-Course Theories – Terrie E. Moffit: Life-Course Persistent/Adolescence- Limited Theory • Life course Persistent – less than 10% of the population, chronic criminals, antisocial behavior begins in childhood and continues through adulthood (perhaps due to neuropsychological problems prenatally). • Adolescent Limited – minor offending in adolescence which stops once they leave adolescence – Robert J. Sampson and John H. Laub: Age-Graded Theory • Key events over the life course act as turning points in helping individual desist from crime (e.g. marriage and job) Docsity.com