L7 - Differential Association Theory

Question 1

What does operant conditioning involve?

Answer 1

Direct reinforcement e.g. positive & negative reinforcement

Question 2

Who came up with differential association theory?

Answer 2

Sutherland, 1939

Question 3

What is differential association theory?

Answer 3

• Differential association theory (Sunderland, 1939) proposes that offending is learnt through socialisation.
• Pro-criminal attitudes/behaviour occur through association and relationships with other people (friends, family etc.
• From other people we learn our norms and values, even deviant ones.
• Offending behaviours/techniques are passed on from one generation to another or between peers.
• Everyone’s associations are different (differential association).
• Expectations/attitudes of those around us act to reinforce our behaviours (criminal or otherwise) through acceptance/approval.

Question 4

What affects offending behaviour?

Answer 4

• Reinforcement also affects offending behaviour – if rewards for offending are greater than the rewards for not offending.
• Learning pro-criminal attitudes/behaviours can occur through imitation, vicarious reinforcement, direct reinforcement or direct tuition from criminal peers

Question 5

Evaluation of differential association theory

Answer 5

strengths
- crime within all sectors of society
- moves away from bio explanations
- realistic
weaknesses
- scientifically test
- not everyone exposed commits crime

Question 6

Crime within all sectors of society

Answer 6

• This theory is able to account for crime within all sectors of society. While Sutherland (1924) recognised that some types of crime, such as burglary, may be clustered within inner-city, working class communities
• it is also the case that some crimes are most prevalent among affluent groups.
• White-collar (sometimes referred to as corporate crime) is a feature of middle-class social groups.

Question 7

Moves away from biological explanations

Answer 7

• Sutherland was successful in moving the emphasis away from early biological explanations of crime and those explanations which saw offending as being the product of individual weakness or immorality.
• Differential association theory draws attention to the role of dysfunctional social circumstances and
  environments in criminality

Question 8

More realistic approach

Answer 8

Differential association theory offers a more desirable and realistic solution to offending behaviour than the biological solution (eugenics) or the morality solution (punishment).

Question 9

Scientifically test

Answer 9

• Differential association theory is difficult to test scientifically, most of the evidence to support it is correlational (does not demonstrate cause and effect).
• How can the pro-crime attitudes a person has been exposed to be measured?
• Similarly, the theory is built on the assumption that offending behaviour will occur when pro-criminal values outnumber anti-criminal ones.
• However, without being able to measure these values, it is difficult to know at what point the urge
  to offend will trigger a criminal career.

Question 10

Not everyone who is exposed commits crime

Answer 10

• Differential association theory is difficult to test scientifically, most of the evidence to support it is correlational (does not demonstrate cause and effect).
• How can the pro-crime attitudes a person has been exposed to be measured?
• Similarly, the theory is built on the assumption that offending behaviour will occur when pro-criminal values outnumber anti-criminal ones.
• However, without being able to measure these values, it is difficult to know at what point the urge to offend will trigger a criminal career.