Remainder of Semester Information

This week and next week we will finish up Social
Process Theories and Integrated Theories (chapts. 8
and 10).

Next week (Tuesday) we will finish integrated theories
and briefly review for final exam.

I am removing one quiz which means we have 1 quiz
left and 3 remaining class sessions (so we will have a
total of 3 quiz scores – 2 quizzes and one paper).

Final Examination will be Dec. 3, 0600-0945 in HPA
126.
The Influences of Peers, Cliques
and Crowds
• To what extent is our behavior influenced by others?
• Do all people affect our behavior to the same
degree?
• Do different kinds of people have different kinds of
effects on our behavior?
• How do these questions relate to delinquency and
crime control?
Branches of Social Process Theory
 Social

Assumes people are born good and learn to be bad
 Social

Learning Theories
Control Theories
Assumes people are born bad and learn to be good
 Labeling

Theory
Assumes whether good or bad, people are controlled by
reactions of others
Social Process Theory:
Social Learning
Major Premise:
People learn to commit crime
from exposure to antisocial
definitions.
Social Learning Theories
Differential Association
MAJOR PREMISE
Criminal behavior
depends on the person’s
experiences with rewards
for conventional behaviors
and deviant ones. Being
rewarded for deviance
leads to crime.
STRENGTHS
Adds learning theory
principles to differential
association. Links
sociological and
psychological
principles.
9 Premises - Sutherland
Sutherland’s 9 Premises of
Differential Association
 See
Text for 9 Premises
4 Key Principles

Criminal Behavior is Learned

Learning of Behavior occurs in intimate groups

Learning of Criminal includes learning the techniques of committing the
crimes

Crime occurs when DEFINITIONS favorable to crime outweigh
definitions not favorable to crime
Matza’s Neutralization Theory

People neutralize behavior and neutralization
techniques learned through interaction

Techniques of Neutralization





Denial of Responsibility
Denial of Injury
Denial of Victims
Condemnation of Condemners
Appeal to Higher Loyalities
Social Control Theories
Containment Theory
PREMISE
Society produces pushes and
pulls toward crime. In some
people, they are counteracted
by internal and external
containments, such as a good
self-concept and group
cohesiveness.
Control Theory – Hirschi’s Version
MAJOR PREMISE
A person’s bond to society
prevents him or her from violating
social rules. If the bond weakens,
the person is free to commit
crime.
4 Elements of Social Bond
Elements of the Social Bond
Commitment
Attachment
Criminal
Behavior
Belief
Involvement
Labeling Theory
MAJOR PREMISE
People enter into law-violating careers
when they are labeled for their acts and
organize their personalities around the
labels.
STRENGTH
Explains the role of society in creating
deviance. Explains why some juvenile
offenders do not become adult criminals.
Develops concepts of criminal careers.
Labeling Theory
General Theory of Deviance
MAJOR PREMISE
People exposed to negative labels
experience self-rejection, which causes
them to bond with social outcasts.
Social
reaction
Deviant
act
Negative
Label
Degradation
Ceremonies
THE
LABELING
PROCESS
Secondary
deviance
Deviance
amplification
Selflabeling
Deviant
subculture
Social Process Theory and Social
Policy
 Learning
theories influence development
of facilities to “unlearn” criminality
 Control theories influence programs to
increase bonds to established values, like
the Head Start program
 Labeling theories influence diversion and
restitution programs