Soc 225 - Chapter 5

As taught by Chris Hay

Social Learning Theories

Suggest criminality is a learned behaviour; first proposed by Sutherland

Sutherland

An American sociologist who was ahead of his time and developed differential association theory and offered 9 propositions why individuals engaged in criminal behaviour:

1) Crime is Learned

2) Small Intimate Groups

3) Technique

4) Negative Societal Attitude

5) Frequency, Duration, Priority, Intensity

6) Any Other Behaviour

7) Same Goals as You

Differential Association Theory

About understanding/recognition to work with criminals (NOT empathy) and developed by Sutherland.

* how an individual becomes an individual NOT why it happens
* purely behaviourist view

Daniel Glaser

American sociologist who modified differential association theory to account for environmental factors and personal attributes.

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“A person pursues criminal behaviour to the extent that he identifies himself with persons from whose perspective his criminal behaviour seems acceptable”

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* How an individual identifies with others and surroundings

Ronald L. Akers

American criminologist who developed social learning theory to explain criminality. Was inspired by differential association theory and behavourial learning theories'

4 concepts could be used to explain criminality (Criminal Acts and Deviant Behaviours)

* differential association
* differential reinforcement
* imitation
* definitions (favourable to deviance/adherance to law)

Differential Association (Aker’s Concept)

Family and peers identified as the 2 primary association groups for most individuals with sub-association groups being composed of neighbors, teachers, church members, and other groups within the community

* Other forms of secondary association (music, TV, movies, etc.) can also impact an individual’s behaviour

Differential Reinforcement

Inspired by Skinner. Certain behaviours will increase/decrease in frequency or disappear completely based on positive and negative reinforcement associated with behaviour

Positive Reinforcement

The process of encouraging or establishing a pattern of behaviour by offering reward when the behaviour is exhibited

Negative Reinforcement

When a stimulus is removed to encourage a certain type of behaviour

Positive Punishment

A type of operant conditioning. Decreases the behaviour by introducing a negative stimulus

ex: arrest, parental notification, loss of driver’s license

Negative Punishment

A type of operant conditioning. Decreases the behaviour by removing a desirable thing

ex: changing majors, negative peer reaction, poor class attendance, failure to study

Definitions (social learning)

As defined by Akers and Sellers. Evaluative and moral attitudes that define the commission of an act as right/wrong, good/bad, desirable/undesirable, justified/unjustified

General Definitions

Guide an individual’s decision making based on moral beliefs, religion, values instilled in that individual by society

Specific Definitions

Held by the individual about specific acts

ex: lying, petty theft may be acceptable to individual but assault and murder (crimes against other people) are wrong

Imitation

Refers to the modeling of behaviour after observing it in others; includes assessing circumstances surrounding the behaviour and observed consequence of said behaviour

Critiques of Learning Theories

Testability

* Concepts are too vague to accurately measure

Failure to Explain Motive

* Suggests all behaviours (good/bad) are learned

Failure to Explain Serious Crime Against People

* Like rape, assault, murder

Social Control Theories

Suggest crime must be learned; focuses on learning to conform to the rules of society

* People are hedonistic
* Suggest formal & informal social controls are required to prevent criminal and deviant behaviour

Hedonism

People seek pleasure and assess situations based on how they might benefit us

Reckless

An American born sociologist who developed containment theory. Suggested that psychological factors (internal containments) and social factors (external containments) worked together to ensure individuals conformed to social norms

* Push-pull forces caused deviant behaviour

Containment Theory

Why individuals do not commit criminal and deviant acts based on external social factors and internal psychological factors.

* People do not commit crimes even when the environment induces others to commit crime

Internal Pushes

Related to an individual’s level of rebellion, aggression, hostility, living conditions, or boredom

External Pulls

Delinquent peers or delinquent groups

Hirschi

an American born sociologist who developed social bond theory - one of the most tested theories in criminology.

* Proposed an explanation to criminal and deviant behaviour through 4 concepts:

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1) attachment

2) commitment

3) involvement

4) belief

Social Bond Theory

Human beings are born hedonistic; inherently self-interested. Seeks to explain why some people refrain from crime rather than do crime

* People don’t do crime because they are bonded to society

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Consequences

* Poor people were blamed for crimes
* People believed being bored equals crime

Attachment

One’s bond to those close to them

Commitment

Concept that relates to strong bonds in the community, which could be broken or damaged if an individual misbehaved

Involvement

Suggests that the more an individual is working towards building strong relationships in community, the less time they will have to do deviant acts

Beliefs

The link between an individual’s attitude and her behaviour

Tittle

American born criminologist who developed control balance theory.

* suggests individuals with balanced control ratios are less likely to commit deviance than individuals who have **control surplus** or **control deficit**
* Control Balance Theory acts as a predictor of who is at risk of being a deviance
* Motivation is pre-dispositional and situational

Control Surplus

An individual who has excess control over others

* Will commit acts related to decadence, plunder, and exploitation

Control Deficit

A lack of control placed on a person by others

* Will commit acts related to predation, submission, and deviance

Constraint

Factors that negate the motivation to commit a certain deviant act

Hirschi & Gottfredson

Developed the general theory of crime.

* Proposed an explanation not just for criminal behaviour but for reckless behaviour, deviance, and sinful behaviour
* Importance of parenting in crime reduction
* Child’s level of self-control is established by age 8

Critiques of Social Control Theories

* Too simplistic
* Fails to account for environmental factors and social factors

Labeling Theory

Focuses on how individuals, society, and government reacts to individuals who were breaking the law to further their views about a just society and how these individuals reacted to the labels placed on them by the government

Dramatization of Evil

Good juveniles doing bad things for entertainment or excitement

Lemert

American born sociologist who developed the concept of labeling theory (societal reaction theory)

* after committing criminal/deviant acts, individuals are labeled based on the offense
* If individual can reject/rationalize/justify the label, it will have little impact on them

Primary Deviance

Individuals after committing criminal or deviant acts are labeled based on the offense

Secondary Deviance

A crime or deviance that has been committed because an individual was labeled based on the primary deviance

* Where the label cannot be rationalized
* ex: a youth is labelled a drug dealer, thus opportunities are restricted to them and they must do other crimes

Becker

American-born sociologist who expanded on the concepts of labeling theory. Similar to Beccaria (deterrence theory)

* Society creates crime
* “Social groups create deviance by making rules that create deviance; by applying these rules to people and labeling them outsiders, deviant behaviour is behaviour that people label”
* Introduced the concept of **master status**

Master Status

The labeling process; it is human nature to categorize people; the primary label for an individual and how most of in society will view that individual

ex: you are primarily labeled a student at the University of Alberta, though you may also be a sibling, a daughter, an employee, etc.

Goffman

A Canadian sociologist who supported the idea that “those who are labeled as deviant by society are more likely to become a deviant”

* human beings identified with personal identity and social identity
* social identity is more appropriate than social status
* those who are deemed criminal/deviant will be more comfortable finding support in a social setting with similar persons
* identified 2 types of stigmatized individuals…

1) Discredited

2) Discreditable

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* 3 Sources of stigma…

1) Character Traits

2) Group Identity

3) Physical

Critiques of Labeling Theory

* Which came first: the act leading to the label or the label? If labeling causes crime, the label comes first
* Acceptance/rejection of the label can undo years of learning appropriate behaviour
* Proposition of labeling is not supported

Braithwaite

English born criminologist who developed reintegrative shaming theory

* acknowledged the negative/stigmatizing labels used to identify individuals - had an impact on individual’s actions
* Reintegration - without it, those released from prison will reoffend
* Supported by recidivism data

Reintegrative Shaming Theory

An offender released back into society should be reintegrated

* includes formal acknowledgement from the society that the offender is forgiven for his actions

Recidivism Data

Suggests that between 50% and 70% of those released from prison reoffend (recidivate) within 3 years

Critiques of Reintegrative Shaming Theory

Empirical testing of the theory is limited

* studies that have tested this theory have mixed results about its effectiveness to reduce future criminal offending
* discounts underlying assumptions about human nature that are vital to consider when developing policies to reduce crime

Social Development Life Course Theories

To fully understand an individual’s behaviour, longitudinal data are required as social development (like cognitive development) is a continuing process

* at certain points in an individual’s life, certain behaviours appear appropriate or even warranted - those attitudes can change overtime because of continuing social development
* Focus on an individual’s life, his social relations, and interactions with others over the course of life

Glueck

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Two criminologists who conducted a study with 500 delinquent boys and 500 non-delinquent boys

* Found that there were several factors that influenced continued criminal behaviour
* Many had aged out of committing crime
* Continued crime kids had unloving parents, discipline issues, etc.
* Indicated support for criminological theories related to self control and a lesser extent biological and psychological theories of crime and deviance

Sampson & Laub

American criminologists who collaborated on a social development theory: age-graded theory

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Age-Graded Theory

Passage of time is related to a decrease in criminality

* individuals who have delinquent peers, discipline issues, etc. are more prone to delinquency
* each individual is on a pathway into the future
* Desistance is key

Desistance

Plausible turning points that could lead to a reduction in crime - more positive turning points = more likely the individual will be bonded to society (less likely to return to crime)

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Thornberry

American criminologist who developed an integrated interactional theory

“Human behaviour occurs in social interaction and can be explained by models focusing on interactive processes”

Integrated theory

A theory designed with components of existing theories to explain why certain individuals commit crime

* Combines concepts of attachment/commitment/and belief from Hirschi’s social bond theory & delinquency variables from Aker’s social learning theory (differential association and reinforcement)
* AKA attachment leads to reduction of delinquency

Critiques of Social Development Life Course Theories

* Fails to identify why some individuals with strong bonds to society still commit crime