Cultural Deviance Theories
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Attribute crime to a set of values that exist in
disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
Lower-class people have a different set of values, which
tends to conflict with the values or norms of the middleclass.
Programs based on culture deviance theories concentrate
on teaching middle-class values.
Deviance defined by sociologists as any behaviour that
members of a social group define as violating their norms.
Not necessarily bad, just different.
Two major cultural deviance theories: differential
association theory and culture conflict theory.
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Sutherland’s Differential
Association Theory
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Crime is learned through social
interaction.
The ratio of definitions favourable
to violations of the law and
definitions unfavourable to
violations of the law determines
whether a person will engage in
criminal behaviour.
Cultural transmission: the
process whereby values, beliefs
and behaviours are passed from
generation to generation through
the process of socialization.
©2012 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Latin Kings gang member teaches gang
hand symbols to a child. Social
interactions like these are learned and
transmitted from one generation to the
next.
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Sutherland’s Nine Propositions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Criminal behaviour is learned.
Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other
persons in a process of communication.
The principal part of the learning of criminal behaviour
occurs within intimate personal groups.
When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning
includes a) techniques of committing the crime, and b)
the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations
and attitudes.
The specific direction of motives and drives is learned
from definitions of the legal codes as favourable or
unfavourable.
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Sutherland’s Propositions (cont’d)
6.
7.
8.
9.
A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of
definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions
unfavourable to violation of law.
Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration,
priority and intensity.
The process of learning criminal behaviour by association
with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all the
mechanisms that are involved in any other learning.
While criminal behaviour is an expression of general
needs and values, it is not explained by those general
needs and values, since non-criminal behaviour is an
expression of the same needs and values.
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Critiques of Sutherland’s Theory
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Does not explain all types of crime.
 Does not explain why some people who learn
criminal behaviour patterns do not engage in
criminal acts.
 No account taken of non-social variables or
situational factors.
 Does not tell us how the first criminal became
a criminal.
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Sellin’s Culture Conflict Theory
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Sellin argues that
different groups have
different conduct
norms and that the
conduct norms of one
group may conflict
with those of another.
Peaceful protests turned “ugly” during the
Toronto G20 Summit in June, 2010.
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Sellin’s Culture Conflict Theory
(cont’d)
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Conduct norms: norms that regulate our daily
lives – rules that reflect the attitude of the
groups to which each of us belongs.
 Purpose of conduct norms is to define what is
considered appropriate or normal behaviour and
what is inappropriate or abnormal behaviour.
 The main difference between a criminal and a
non-criminal is that each is responding to
different sets of conduct norms.
©2012 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
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Sellin’s Culture Conflict Theory:
Types of Conflict
 Two
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types of conflict:
Primary conflict occurs when norms of
two cultures clash.
Secondary conflict arises when a single
culture evolves into a variety of cultures,
each with its own set of conduct norms.
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