The key assumptions underlying strain, control, and learning theories of criminal behavior are similar, which is why they are sometimes integrated or at least interrelated in criminological discourse. Strain theories evolved from Durkheim’s theory of anomie: the individual’s disregard for social norms arising from the breakdown of social cohesion (Crossman, 2019). A breakdown of social cohesion can result from the ineffectiveness or the perceived illegitimacy of social institutions. Thomas Merton proposed that anomie can be exacerbated when individuals experience strain—or psychological distress—resulting from unmet needs, especially when those needs are unmet due to sociological problems such as inequality, injustice, or disparity.
Control theories posit a set of internal and external controls on individual or even collective behavior. Social institutions are assumed to serve as mechanisms of social control, also influencing individual behaviors via a series of real or perceived constraints. Like strain theories, control theories assume that social cohesion is important for normative behavior, whereas the breakdown of social cohesion leads to the disregard for the institutions and the norms they uphold. Without institutions or their overarching rules, individuals lack the impetus to control urges and are therefore more likely to engage in impulsive or deviant acts.
Learning theories assume that deviance is learned, either through basic conditioning or through modeling. Differential association theory explains social learning in terms of an individual’s subcultural alignment, as deviant behaviors are labeled as normative within some subcultures. According to learning theories, individuals model their behavior or they are rewarded for engaging in deviant behaviors by those they admire or respect in the community—including family members. While they seem unrelated,...…like LGBT engage in deviant behaviors like drug use, and that those behaviors are labeled as normative within the subculture. Moreover, control theories show how the subculture removes the institutional level controls even while those controls remain tacitly extant in the dominant culture.
An integrated theory combining strain, control, and learning theories can help explain some criminal behaviors but may not necessarily establish the three criteria of causality. Causality is too delicate an issue, confounded by individual differences and psychology as well as sociological variables. At the same time, integrating these three theoretical orientations does a much greater job at clarifying the causal variables than any one of these approaches on its own. The two theories that might be best to integrate for criminology might be strain and social learning, given the fact that control…
Crime Theories and Sociology Crime theories and sociological perspective Crime is an overt omission or action through which a person breaks the law, hence the action is punishable and the person may be convicted in the court of law for the said action. It is the subject of great debate in sociology and criminology that what constitutes crime. Since deviation from law has to be considered as crime, the nature and context
Crime Rates and Abandoned Buildings Is there a relationship between crime rates and abandoned buildings? Theoretical background A vast portion of research on crime and its relation with location is centered at either validating or refuting 'broken window theory'. The theory states that disorders such as graffiti, litter, and broken windows may encourage or cause increase in other disorders and petty crime. The theory by virtue of its title, research objectives, and conclusions
Crime On March 9th, 2013, two New York City police officers shot and killed a sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray, and claimed afterward that he had brandished a handgun at them after being told to show his hands (Goodman, 2013). More remarkable than the New York Police Department's killing of a young black male, however, was the outpouring of community grief and anger that followed the shooting. The following Monday, March 11th, saw
Marxist ideas have also provided as a starting point for many of the modern feminist theorists. Despite these applications, Marxism of any variety is still a minority position among American sociologists (Conflict Theory, 2000). Marx's sociology state that: 1. Particular forms of property, slavery, feudal landholding, and capital are upheld by the coercive power of the state. Thus classes formed by property divisions, slaves and slave-owners, serfs and lords, capitalists and
As mentioned earlier, Sellin placed emphasis on the cultural diversity that was found in a modern society, in which wile criminal law contains the crime norms of inappropriate and deviant behavior, the conduct norms of less powerful groups that reflect their own specific social situations would conflict with the crime norms mentioned earlier, leading to the inculcation of criminal and deviant behavior among the members of less dominant and
The victims of crimes are very important in the operation of the criminal justice system; this is because they are the ones who can lead the police to the offender. However, after the victim reports incidents to the police, provide vital information for the investigation and cooperate with the persecution of the offender and appearing in court when required, the criminal serves his time and the victim goes on with
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