differential association theory

Question 1

differential association theory

Answer 1

an explanation of offending behaviour in terms of learning theory, how interactions with others lead to the formation of attitudes about crime as well as acquiring specific knowledge on how to commit crimes

Question 2

differential association

Answer 2

social learning theory of crime proposed by sociologist Sutherland in 1939

Question 3

sutherlands 9 principles

Answer 3

1. criminal behaviour is learned
2. learned through association with others
3. intimate personal groups
4. techniques and attitudes
5. either for or against crime
6. if the number of pro-crime attitudes outweighs the non-crime attitudes, person becomes offender
7. learning experiences vary in frequancy, intensity and duration
8. learned just like any other behaviour
9. general ‘need’ isn’t a sufficient explanation for cime because not everyone with those needs turns to crime

Question 4

osborne and west

Answer 4

• found that there when there was a father with a criminal conviction, 40% of the sons had committed a crime by the age of 18 compared to 13% of sons of non-criminal fathers
• such findings can be explained with genetics as well, which is a problem for this kind of evidence

Question 5

explains why crimes are represented by social groups

Answer 5

• gangs often commit similar crimes
• which suggests these social groups are learning similar crimes from the same gorup of people
• fits with predictions
• observations
• external validity