Analysis of Travis Hirschi's social control theory and juvenile delinquency

Sociology - Hirschi & Delinquency

HIRSCHI'S SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY and JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Twentieth-century sociologist Travis Hirschi formulated his theory of social control, according to which he suggested an explanation for antisocial and criminal behavior. Hirschi believed that the most important element for ensuring appropriate social behavior in the individual is the social connection to the family of origin and to the community and the values and ideals valued in society (Henslin 2002). Specifically, Hirschi characterized four main pillars of social control in the form of: (1) Attachment, (2) Commitment, (3) Involvement, and (4) Belief, according to which those pillars related directly to delinquency and crime prevention (Henslin 2002).

Hirschi maintained that attachment to family relationships and other social groups encouraged social conformity to community ideals and behavior and that commitment to positive future goals, active involvement in legitimate social activities, and a strong shared belief in communal values and mores were essential to preventing unwanted behavior and criminality (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005)). Conversely, relative detachment from family relationships and peer groups, lack of a future vision and commitment to pursuing legitimate opportunities, less involvement with organized social and professional endeavors, and minimal acceptance of communal social values correspond to increased likelihood of social deviance (Macionis 2002).

Hirschi's theories are particularly relevant to juvenile delinquency because adolescence is the period where many individuals begin to demonstrate a course of conduct that represents positive social conformity and positive goal orientation or deviance, rebellion, and a tendency toward social conflict and criminal activity.

Critical Analysis: In many respects, anecdotal observation might seem to validate Hirschi's theory of social control, particularly in the case of juvenile delinquency. Undoubtedly, in terms of relative likelihood of conformity to positive societal expectations, the greater one's exposure to positive role models (both at home and in the community) and the more opportunity one has to become involved in fulfilling social relationships in adolescence, the more insulated one would seem to be from negative influences that might contribute to delinquency. However, in other respects, Hirschi's theory of social control is so relativistic in principle that it is difficult to substantiate formally (Macionis 2002). For one thing, it is, necessarily, dependent on arbitrary assignment of what behaviors are characterized in society as "good" or "bad," as demonstrated repeatedly throughout recorded human social history, perhaps most dramatically by holocausts such as occurred in Nazi

Germany during World War II, and much more recently, by horrifically brutal episodes of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Rwanda. In those cases, "deviance" from socially accepted values would be considered a positive response rather than "delinquency" in an objective sense.

Alternate ideas, such as differential association formulated by Sutherland (Pfohl

1994), in particular, demonstrate that even in contemporary American society, social values are extremely subjective and that specific populations - most notably, incarcerated prisoners - form their own societal norms and shared values that contradict those of larger society and that those mores are as powerful and likely to shape future behavior among adolescents exposed to them for long periods (Scmalleger 1997).

Similarly, modern criminologists (Pinizzotto, et al. 2007) detail the extent to which violent criminal street gangs fulfill the same role as families of origin in many