L8 - Differential Association Theory Flashcards
What does the theory state?
Interacting with others allows people to learn values, attitudes, and techniques for criminal behaviour
4 ways learning can occur:
Imitation
Vicarious reinforcement
Direct reinforcement
Direct tuition
What is imitation?
Someone observing a behaviour and copying them
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Observing someone carrying out a behaviour which is encouraged through a reward or discouraged through punishment
What is direct reinforcement?
Carrying out a behaviour which is rewarded or punished directly so that person continues/discontinues it
What is direct tuition?
Directly being told how to carry out an act of behaviour by someone who already knows how to do it
What is needed to become an offender in terms of attitudes one comes into contact with?
Pro criminal attitudes need to outweigh the number of anti criminal attitudes they come into contact with
What does direct tuition explain?
How reoffending upon release is high
How does direct tuition cause more offending
Exposure to inmates who criminals learn specific offending techniques from especially as inmates are likely to be more experienced
How does moving emphasis away from other explanations make this theory strong? (+)
Emphasis being moved away from early biological explanations e.g. atavistic form, and immorality e.g. moral reasoning, to one that focuses on a dysfunctional environment and social circumstances in criminality
The theory accounts for what about crime (+)
Accounts for crime within all sectors of society
Some types of crime like burglary are clustered inner-city, some are more prevalent among affluent groups
Corporate crime is more middle-class
What is difficult about testing the theory (-)?
Assumption anti criminal outweighing pro criminal is difficult to measure because of subjectivity of pro/anti crime attitudes, as we don’t know what point will cause offending
