SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
DR. NGOZI OBETA ANADI
INTRODUCTION
• Sociological theories of crime are theories of crime that dominated the 20th century.
• During this period, the emphasis was on social factors that lead to crime.
• Sociological theories try to explain crime in terms of social environment: the family, school,
peer group, workplace, the community and society in general.
• Individually, Sociological theories differ from one another. Each one focuses on different
aspects of the social environment.
MAJOR SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
• There are three major sociological theories of crime:
• a)
strain theory
• b)
social learning theory
• c)
control theory.
THE STRAIN THEORY
• Strain theory was developed by American Sociologist Robert K. Merton.
• Strain theory suggests that criminal behavior is the result of strain an individual faces
when the community or society in which they live does not provide the necessary
means to achieve culturally valued goals.
• The theory tells us that crime may result from failure to achieve a lot of societal goals such as money,
status/respect etc. Everyone has a burning desire to acquire money, status and respect. People want to be
positively regarded by others. They want to be treated with respect by others.
• Strainful situations make people feel bad.The bad feelings in turn create pressure for corrective action.
Individuals with poor coping skills result to crime in dealing with their strain/stress. The society outlines all
the things that we need to achieve in other to be considered responsible members of the society, but society
does not always provide us with the necessary means to achieve those culturally valued goals.When society
fails people in this way, people resort to unlawful ways of achieving societal goals such as economic success.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
• Social learning theory was developed by Ronald Akers. This theory is one of the dominant theories of crime today.
• Social learning theory suggests that crime is a learned behavior. People learn to engage in crime in the same way they
learn to engage in conforming behavior through association or exposure to others. Also, one does not have to be in
direct contact with others to learn criminal behavior, mere observation of others in the media is enough.
• People can learn beliefs that are favorable to crime and can be exposed to criminal models. Individuals can view
crime as something that is desirable or justified in certain situations.
• Social learning theory explained three mechanisms by which individuals learn to engage in crime:
(a)differential reinforcement, (b)beliefs, and (c)modeling.
A)
Differential Reinforcement:
• Individuals can teach others to engage or disengage in crime through reinforcements and punishments provided for
behaviours.
• Reinforcement may be positive or negative. In positive reinforcement, the behavior results in something good such as
money, pleasurable feeling associated with drug use, attention from parents, approval of friends, increase in social
status etc. Crime occurs more when it is frequently or positively reinforced and infrequently punished.
• In negative reinforcement, the behavior results in removal of something.
• B) Beliefs
• Some people hold certain values that are conducive to crime. Most individuals are
taught that crime is bad or wrong and they eventually accept and internalize the belief.
This kind of people are less likely to engage in crime. Some individuals however are
taught beliefs that are favorable to crime and they are more likely to engage in crime as
a result.
• C)The imitation of criminal models
• Behavior is not only a function of beliefs and reinforcements and punishments
individuals receive, individuals also imitate and model the behavior of others especially
when they like or respect these others and has reason to believe that imitating them
will result in positive reinforcement. Individuals are more likely to imitate others when
they observe them receive reinforcement for their acts.
CONTROL THEORY
• Control theory argues that all people have needs and desires that are more easily satisfied through crime than through legal
channels. For example, it is much easier to steal money than to work for it. So, in the eyes of control theory, crime requires
no special explanation because it is obvious that it is often the easiest way to get what one wants.Therefore, rather than
explaining why people engage in crime, we need to concentrate more on why some people don’t.
• According to control theory, some people do not engage in crime because of the controls or restraints placed on them.
These controls and restraints are the barriers to crime. They are those factors that prevent people from engaging in crime.
• While most theories focus on why people engage in crime, control theory focuses on why they don’t.
TYPES OF CONTROL
• Control theory presents three major types of control: direct control, stake in conformity, and
internal control.
• A) Direct control: Direct control involves watching over people and sanctioning them. Such
controls may be exercised by family members, school officials, police etc. Family members are the
major source of direct control because of their intimate relationship with the person.
• Direct control has three components: (a)setting rules, (b)monitoring behavior and (c)effective
sanctioning.
• B) Stake in conformity:This refers to what one has to lose if he chooses the life of
crime. It functions as another major restraint to crime.Those with a lot to lose will be
more fearful of being caught and sanctioned and so will be less likely to engage in
crime.
C) Internal Control: People sometimes find themselves in situations where they are tempted to
engage in crime and the probability of external sanction and the loss of those things they valued is low,
yet they refrain from crime. Why? The reason is that they are high in internal control and that is why they
are able to restrain themselves from engaging in crime. Internal control is a function of their beliefs
regarding crime and their level of self-control.When people believe that crime is wrong, this belief acts as
a major restraint to crime. Their moral beliefs free them to pursue their needs and desires in the right
way.
• Control theory argues that some people are simply not taught that crime is bad.
LABELING THEORY
• Labeling theory was developed by the French sociologists Emile Durkheim and Howard Becker. Labeling
theory is the theory of how self-identity and behavior of individuals may be determined or influenced by the
terms used to describe or classify them. It is associated with the concept of self-fulfilling prophesy and
stereotyping. Labeling theory examines how the labelling of individuals causes them to engage in crime.
•
Social reactions to crime and official reactions (e.g police and other officials) can contribute to an
individual’s criminal behavior. According to labeling theory, official efforts to control crime often have the
effect of increasing criminality. Individuals who are arrested and punished are labeled criminals. Others view
and treat these people as criminals, and this increases the likelihood of subsequent crime for several reasons:
REASONS
•
.a) labeled individuals often have trouble obtaining legitimate employment. This increases their level of strain. When people are formally and publicly labeled
criminals and are treated as such for the rest of their lives, the chances is that they will return to life of crime.
•
(b) When conventional people are reluctant to associate with labelled individuals, it increases their association with other criminals and social learning of
crime increases by criminal association.
•
(c) labeled individuals with time accept the label and begin to view themselves as criminals and act accordingly as one. When ever the society applies labels to
people it is difficult to remove that label even if the individual does not commit further deviant acts.
•
Labeling theory posits that people with time come to identify with and behave in ways that reflect how others label them.
•
A self-fulfilling prophesy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true due to positive feedback between belief and behavior. No act is
intrinsically criminal. Definitions of criminality are established by the society.
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
• The chief proponent of this theory is John Hagan.
• Social disorganization theory is used to explain community differences in crime rates.The theory
identifies certain characteristics of the community as conducive to crime especially poverty and
unemployment. Communities with concentrations of poor people are high in crime. The core principle
of social disorganization theory is that place matters because a person’s physical and social
environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices the person makes.