Differential association theory

This contains both AO1 and AO3

Who developed the differential association theory?

Edwin Sutherland

What is Sutherlands theory?

Interaction with others causes the individuals to learn the groups (friends and family) values, attitudes, techniques and motivation for criminal behaviour i.e. criminal behaviour is learnt in comparison to innate

What is differential association?

How many criminals someone associates with compared to the number of non criminals someone associates with can affect the likelihood that someone will be a criminal

How is criminal behaviour learnt?

• classical and operant conditioning

• SLT

• Vicarious reinforcement

  • can also explain reoffending

What is the Cambridge study?

Farrington

• All males at beginning of the study and all working class

• longitudinal study

• 41% of participants has at least one conviction by the age of 50

• The most significant risk factors at age 8-10 were family criminality, risk taking, low school grades, poverty and poor parenting

What are Edwin Sutherlands 9 proportions?

• criminal behaviour = learnt

• criminal behaviour is learnt in interactions with others

• principle part of learning criminal behaviour is through intimate personal groups

• learn techniques, motives and attitudes ➙ create rationales

• differences in legal codes affects differences in motivations

• isolation from anti criminal patterns

• differential association may differ frequently

• imitation

• criminal behaviour is expression of needs and values

What is the pro criminal attitude?

• justifying a crime

• disrespect of authority

• glorifying illegal behaviour

• seeing criminality as a way of life

• identifying with criminals

Differential association AO3: strength

• Explains all types of crimes

• One of the biggest limitations of Eysenck's theory of personality and moral reasoning is that is cannot explain all types of crimes

• However the differential association is that it states ask criminal behaviour is learnt therefore can be used to explain all crimes within all sectors of society

• Good external validity

Differential association AO3: strength

• Differential association changed to focus of offending explanations

• Sutherland was successful in moving explanations of criminality to a more realistic and behavioural explanation

• There was a paradigm shift from a biological view to a behavioural view

• This new way of thinking has good practical value through token economy, conditioning etc

Differential association AO3: counterpoint

• However differential association runs the risk of harmful stereotyping

• It ignores the idea that people might choose not tote a criminal regardless of being around criminals e.g. a family member

• This theory eliminates the idea of free will stating that if people are around people who are criminals they will also be criminals despite their own choice

• This leads people to assume some people will be criminals due to their background

Differential association AO3: limitation

• Difficult to test predictions

• Sutherland aimed to provide a scientific mathematical framework into criminal behaviour meaning predictions will be testable

• However many of his concepts are not testable because they cannot be operationalised, how do you measure pro-crime values?

• Reduces scientific credibility