Lecture 2: Individual Theories

Classical School of Crime and Deviance

A theory grounded in Cesare Beccaria's work, suggesting individuals have free will, rationality, and are manipulable by pleasure/pain.

Free Will (Classical School)

A basic characteristic of individuals, meaning their actions are voluntary.

Rationality (Classical School)

A basic characteristic of individuals, meaning acts require a conscious, voluntary, and deliberate process.

Manipulability (Classical School)

A basic characteristic of individuals, based on the hedonistic principle that people are driven to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

Hedonistic Principle

The idea that people are driven to maximize pleasure (benefits) and minimize pain (costs).

Rational Choice Theory

Views a deviant act as voluntary, committed based on an individual's rational decision, balancing benefits and costs.

Situational Choice Theory

An extension of Rational Choice Theory that adds the element of the environment into the individual's decision-making process, where an attractive situation increases benefits and minimizes costs.

Target Hardening

Securing a target or making it less available to decrease deviant acts, which may lead to crime displacement.

Crime Displacement

A potential outcome of target hardening, where decreased deviant acts in one area may lead to their increase in another.

Routine Activities Theory

Suggests that for illegal activities to occur, there must be a convergence in space and time of a motivated offender, a suitable target, and the absence of capable guardians.

Routine Activities

Any recurrent and prevalent activities that provide for basic population individual needs, such as formalized work, sexual outlet, leisure, or social interaction.

Motivated Offender

One of the three minimal elements required for direct-contact predatory violations, representing an individual willing to commit a crime (material or symbolic).

Suitable Target

One of the three minimal elements required for direct-contact predatory violations, characterized by value, physical visibility, access, and inertia (how easy to move).

Absence of Capable Guardians

One of the three minimal elements required for direct-contact predatory violations, meaning no one or nothing capable of preventing the event is present.

Exposure (Routine Activities Theory)

An increase in exposure leads to an increase in victimization risk, meaning more frequent contact between motivated offenders and potential targets creates more opportunity for crime.

Proximity (Routine Activities Theory)

The closer the residential proximity of potential targets to large populations of motivated offenders, the greater the risk of criminal victimization.

Properties of Crimes (Routine Activities Theory)

The less certain the material gains from the crime, the more exposure, proximity, and guardianship matter.

Societal Reaction or Labeling Perspective

Theories focusing on how societal reactions and labels influence deviant behavior.

Symbolic Interaction Theory (Cooley)

A theory that explains how our sense of self is a social construction, defined by what we think others think of us (Looking-Glass Self).

Looking-Glass Self

The qualities we assign to ourselves are those that we think others assign to us; our sense of self is a reflection of what we think others think of us.

Symbolic Interaction Theory (Mead)

A theory focusing on how a child develops a unique sense of self through communication, gestures, and symbols, and the process of 'taking the role of the other.'

Taking the Role of the Other

(Mead) The ability to view one's self from the perspective of another person, a lifelong process of defining and redefining one's self.

Labeling and Escalation of Deviant Behavior (Tannenbaum)

A perspective that describes how labeling first deviant acts of juveniles, and then the juvenile themselves, can lead to further deviance.

Dramatization of Evil

(Tannenbaum) Once an individual is labeled as deviant, they are ostracized by society, leading to isolation and association with similar others, increasing the likelihood of continued delinquent activities.

Societal Reaction Theory (Lemert/Becker)

A theory proposing two stages in the development of a deviant (Lemert) and emphasizing deviance as a social creation (Becker).

Deviance as a Social Creation (Becker)

The idea that social groups create deviance by making rules whose infractions constitute deviance, applying those rules to people, and labeling them as outsiders.

Self-Derogation (Howard Kaplan)

The process through which an individual comes to accept negative judgments of others, leading to a reduced motivation to conform to societal norms and a search for alternate means to gain self-esteem.

Stigmatization

The process of marking someone as socially undesirable, often associated with disintegrative shaming.

Reintegrative Shaming (John Braithwaite)

When a community conveys disapproval of a deviant person's behavior but maintains respect for the individual, valuing them as a person and wanting them to be reintegrated into society; emphasizes rehabilitation.

Control Theory

Theories positing that deviance results from a weakening of social bonds or a lack of self-control.

Hirschi's Social Control Theory

Suggests that individuals tightly bonded to social groups (family, school, peers) are less likely to commit deviant acts, based on four elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs.

Attachment (Social Control Theory)

Affection for and sensitivity to others, necessary for internalizing values and norms.

Commitment (Social Control Theory)

The rational investment one has in conventional society and the risk one takes when engaging in deviant behavior (stake in conformity).

Involvement (Social Control Theory)

Engagement in conventional activities, which reduces the opportunity for deviant acts.

Beliefs (Social Control Theory)

The extent to which one believes in the rules of society and whether to obey them.

Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime

Proposes that low self-control combined with opportunity leads to crime, focusing on childhood socialization producing low self-control.

Low Self-Control

An enduring criminal predisposition established in childhood, consisting of impulsivity, preference for simple tasks, risk-seeking, preference for physical activity, self-centeredness, and temper.

Crime Opportunity (General Theory of Crime)

Situations where force or fraud can produce immediate pleasure, is mentally and physically easy, and has little risk of detection or resistance.

Developmental/Life Course Approach

Focuses on the emergence, persistence, and desistance of deviance activities throughout an individual's life.

Developmental Approach (Sampson and Laub)

Views life as filled with 'trajectories' and 'transitions' that can influence an individual's social bonds and propensity for deviance.

Trajectories

Long-term patterns of behavior or pathways throughout life, such as marriage, work, or criminal behavior.

Transitions

Short-term events embedded in trajectories, such as getting married, getting a new job, having a baby, or going to prison.

Turning Point (Developmental Approach)

A transition that significantly changes the social bond between an individual and society, often leading to a decrease in criminal/deviant behavior.

Social Capital (Developmental Approach)

Positive relationships between a person and other members of society and its institutions; its increase is associated with a decrease in crime and deviance.