Control Theories Flashcards
What aren’t the categories of age fixed?
Characteristics attributed to age categories are culturally produced & sustained
What is youth?
An ill-defined and variable period of the life-span between infancy and adulthood
What are the offences commonly done by the youth?
Theft/burglary
Car theft
Assault
What is commonly silenced in terms of young people being in crimes?
Peer-on-peer victimisation and offending regularly silenced
What is the basis of control theories?
Assumptions regarding anti-social and self-interested characteristics innate to all of us
What are the early influences of control theories?
Durkheim’s concepts of ‘homo duplex’ and also influenced by Sigmund Freud’s concept of id
What is personal control?
The ability of the individual to refrain from meeting needs in ways which conflict with the norms and rules of the community
What is social control?
The ability of social groups or institutions to make norms or rules effective
What is engagement in deviancy linked to?
how much investment or ‘stake’ one has in conformity & conformity with peers
How is control facilitated by a family?
Direct control (punishments, inducements)
Indirect control (fear of disapproval)
Internalised control (development of conscience)
Availability of alternative need satisfaction (different mechanism to achieve satisfaction)
Who is Walter Reckless?
Walter Reckless was a leading Chicago School control theorist
What are the forces promoting deviance?
Internal pushes – restlessness, discontent, anxiety, hostility
External pushes – poverty, unemployment, social inequality
External pulls – deviant peers, role models, subcultures
What forces promote conformity?
Outer containment : influence of family and peers; group membership; social pressure; supervision
Inner containment: self-concept; goal orientation; tolerance of frustration; norm maintenance
What was the main argument between Sykes & Matza?
Delinquents did not have fundamentally different values
What are the different techniques of neutralization?
Explanation for how offenders who subscribe to mainstream values justify their offending
Denial of responsibility
Denial of injury
Denial of victim
Condemning the condemners
Appeal to higher loyalties
