Chapter 14

Question 1

Early social disorganization theories

Answer 1

• They proposed that the structure and culture of the American city was responsible for deviant behaviour
• Disorganized neighbourhoods were characterized by weak social institutions (family, schools, labour markets, etc.)
• This lack of effective social controls led to high rates of crime & other types of deviance

Question 2

Later theorists focused on..

Answer 2

the way the social bonds of individuals help constrain crime and delinquency

Question 3

Social control theory assumes…

Answer 3

• Human beings are neither good nor evil
• People are born with the capacity to do wrong
• No special motivation is needed to explain deviance
• It is conformity, not deviance, that needs to be explained

Question 4

Social control theory asks…

Answer 4

Why don’t we all commit deviance?

Not, why only some commit deviance?

Question 5

Social control theory focuses on

Answer 5

• Why we refrain from deviance

- The processes that bind people to the social order

Question 6

Durkheim and social integration

Answer 6

• Earliest social control theories explained how some types of social structure led to high rates of crime and deviance
• Durkheim emphasized the importance of social bonds to a understanding of deviance

Question 7

Egoistic vs anomic suicide

Answer 7

• Egoistic suicide occurs when there are weak social constraints and the person acts in self-interest
• Anomic suicide occurs when a lack of social integration leaves a society without a clear system of moral beliefs and sentiments

Question 8

Thrasher and the gang

Answer 8

• Gangs predominated in areas where there were breaks in the structure of social organization (where social controls were weak):
• -In city slums
• -Along economic or ecological boundaries
• -In adolescence
• Gangs not necessarily delinquent
• -However, delinquency often is the natural result of the activities of youth in areas with weak social controls

Question 9

Shaw and McKay: ecological analysis

Answer 9

• Deviance originates not in pathology of individuals
• • But in the social disorganization of communities
• Certain parts of Chicago had high crime rates over a long period of time
• -Despite racial/ethnic changes in population (i.e., problem was ecological)
• This was blamed on failure of neighbourhood institutions and organizations (e.g., family, schools)
• -Which did not provide adequate social controls
• Result: criminal subculture developed in these areas

Question 10

Theories of social disorganization

Answer 10

• Control theory all but disappeared between 1930s and 1960s
• Primarily because early research was methodologically flawed
• -Degree of social control in slum neighbourhoods was not directly measured, only inferred
• Also suffered from ecological fallacy
• -Inference that class (socioeconomic status) correlates with criminal behaviour is not necessarily true

Question 11

Albert Reiss

Answer 11

• Differentiated between
• -Social controls, which involve ties to social groups like the family, the community, other institutions, and
• -Personal controls, which are internalized by the individual
• If these controls are absent, break down, are in conflict, or cannot be enforced, delinquency will result
• Reiss found that success or failure of young males on probation was associated with the absence of both social and personal controls

Question 12

Ivan Nye

Answer 12

• Expanded on Reiss and used advanced methods
• Used self-reported delinquency from a sample of American high school students in 1950s
• His theory: delinquency is not motivated by the resulting gains, but prevented by the relative costs of alternative benefits
• -Weak controls free the person to commit delinquent acts by lowering their cost relative to available alternatives
• -People are motivated to achieve goals quickly but are prevented from doing so by laws and customs

Question 13

Social controls: family

Answer 13

• Family-enforced controls and how members got along influence child’s self-control
• Children of close families where there was agreement on basic values are unlikely to be delinquent

Question 14

Hirschi and the social bond

Answer 14

• Individuals are more likely to turn to illegitimate means if their bonds to society are weak or broken
• Four linked aspects of social bonds constrain our behaviour:
  Attachment
  Commitment
  Involvement
  Belief

Question 15

Self-control: the general theory of crime

Answer 15

• Developed by Gottfredson and Hirschi in 1990
• People with low self-control are more likely to commit crime and engage in risky activity when given the opportunity
• Low self-control individuals are impulsive, focus on the moment, have unstable personal relationships, and are less likely to feel remorse
• Low self-control is the result of early childhood socialization: poor relationships with parents and/or poor parenting
• Assumed to cause deviance throughout one’s life

Question 16

Self-control: the general theory of crime

Answer 16

• Some research support for this theory
• • Canadian research found correlation between low self-control and drug use (Sorenson and Brownfield, 1995)
• LeBlanc (1997): low self-control is just one of many psychological traits that should be a part of a holistic social control theory of offending
• Sampson and Laub (2003): lifelong deviance not always the case.
• • Deviance may subside with transitions (turning points) in one’s life and changes in social bonds

Question 17

Family Relationships

Answer 17

• Social control theory emphasizes family relationships
• • Since these provide children with the attachments that restrain their deviance
• Several aspects of family relationships are related to delinquency:
• Strength of family ties
• • Warm, affectionate family relationships are associated with low rates of delinquency
• • Mutual rejection and hostility are typical of the families of delinquents

Question 18

Parental supervision and discipline

Answer 18

• -Children who are adequately supervised by their parents have lower delinquency rates than their peers who are not
• -Clear, consistent, discipline that entails explicit disapproval of unwanted behaviour is related to non-delinquency
• -Strict discipline and harsh physical punishment, combined with lack of parental warmth, is related to higher rates of behavioural problems and delinquency

Question 19

Parental role model

Answer 19

• Strong ties to parents act as a deterrent to delinquency regardless of parent criminality
• Yet there is an association between criminality of the parent and that of the child
• -Which may be because of problems that accompany criminal parents (e.g., poverty, bad parenting, labelling)
• Direct modelling of parental behaviour does not seem to be the major cause of delinquency
• -The modelling of aggression and antisocial attitudes may be the most significant mechanism

Question 20

Schooling

Answer 20

• the school plays a primary role in socialization and is an important determinant of delinquency
• Those who are successful enjoy the experience, are rewarded, and have a stake in conformity
• Those who fail may be rejected by peers and adult world and have less stake in conformity
• The correlation between school failure and delinquency is strong

Question 21

The school affects delinquency in two interrelated ways:

Answer 21

1. It has taken over many of the occupational socialization functions formerly done by the family
2. The school is related to delinquency through its effects on children’s daily lives
   - The daily problems of coping with school failure have more impact on delinquency than how it may affect future occupational outcomes

Question 22

Religion

Answer 22

• Early studies showed a modest negative relationship between religiosity and criminality
• Hirschi and Stark’s (1969) methodologically superior research found that religiosity was not related to delinquency
• -Church attendance, a belief in supernatural sanctions for rule breakers, and religiosity of parents were not associated with delinquency
• Subsequent research did find a strong negative relationship between religiosity and delinquency or crime

Question 23

Religion: contradictory findings (Stark et al)

Answer 23

• Religion affects delinquency only if religious influences permeate the culture and the individuals in question (i.e., in a strongly religious community)
• Religion has its greatest impact when it binds its adherents to a moral community in which religious teachings are salient and consistently reinforced
• An individual is less likely to be deviant, for the costs of violating community norms will be high, while the likelihood of associating with deviant peers is low

Question 24

Issues: How does social control theory explain upper-world crime?

Answer 24

• Control theory does not seem to be able to explain the deviance of people have a high stake in conformity
• Watergate case study (Hagen, 1985):
• -Such illegal events might have been prevented by the belief that such acts arewrong
• -But, upper world morality has not been clearly defined
• -Elites often receive only token punishment for deviance and often see their behaviour as technical violations
• -Situational controls in upper-world settings are often inadequate

Question 25

Issues: Does everyone have the same motivation to deviate

Answer 25

• Social control theory sees no reason to account for the motive to deviate, as the motive is natural
• But researchers have found that some motive-related variables are more strongly related to deviance than control variables
• -“Ties to delinquent peers” has a stronger correlation with delinquency and drug use than social control.

Question 26

The role of delinquent peers

Answer 26

• By combining differential association theory and control theory, a better overall explanation of crime is obtained
• -Differential association’s emphasis on ties to deviant peers exposes social bonds as multidimensional: conventional and unconventional
• -The adolescent’s lack of ties to the conventional order will increase association with deviant peers since the adolescent has nothing to lose by this affiliation
• -These ties will increase the probability that the adolescent will be involved in deviance

Question 27

Issues: is control theory conservative?

Answer 27

• Conflict criminologists argue that the political and economic structure is ignored by social control theorists
• A fair criticism, since an individual’s relationships with institutions are conditioned by structural factors
• However, critics ignore that control variables can be incorporated into a structural perspective
• Control theory focuses on an individual’s relationships with social institutions; structural factors condition those relationships

Question 28

Policy implications: the family

Answer 28

• Address criminal behaviour by strengthening families to ensure parents love and care for their children
• Patterson (1980): punish misdeeds of children or they will tend to persist
• -Monitor and recognize deviance and punish
• -Train parents to use effective non-physical punishment
• Numerous other programs help parents establish bonds with children to foster their internal controls
• May be useful for families with children at risk of future delinquent and criminal behaviour

Question 29

The schools and social ploicy

Answer 29

• Schools can help at-risk students academically and behaviourally
• • Which can promote social bonds, self-control, and pro-social behaviour
• Qualities of effective schools:
• -High standards and values maintained by the school
• -Student participation in decision making
• -Small school and class size; low staff turnover
• -Mix of intellectually and socially disadvantaged students
• -Individual learning goals and pacing
• -Mechanisms for transitioning to a career
• -Curriculum relevant to student lives and minority cultures