explaining delinquent behavior

social psych final

labeling theory

views deviance as behavior that has been labeled, deviance is caused by social reactions to acts rather than the act itself

primary deviance

deviance that unlabeled and un-patterned, has not occurred as a result of the deviant label

secondary deviance

deviance that has resulted as a consequence of the “deviant” label being affixed to an individual

differential association theory

people can be socialized into committing or avoiding deviant acts

anomie theory

views deviance as resulting from incompatibility between socially valued goals and the socially sanctioned means of reaching them

strain theory

emotion connects strain with deviant behavior

negotiated quality of deviance

a person is in charge of deciding if a deviant label gets fixed to an action

breaches of social order

states not all norm violations are deviant, representations of what are deviant can change over time

the role of moral enterprise

what is considered deviant is often reflective of the efforts of a group seeking to impose their view of the world on the rest of society

role of the self

one’s self-concept influences what they think is considered deviant

Rosenberg et al.

observes a reciprocal relationship between the self-esteem and delinquency

prior self-esteem → prohibits delinquency

prior delinquency→ enhances self-esteem

social class and delinquency

official: negative relationship

self-reports: no correlation

race and delinquency

offical: poc are more delinquent

self-report: non-significant

age and delinquency

official and self-reports: both negative relationship

gender and delinquency

official: men are more involved