Social Process Theory Flashcards
Social Process Theory
Theories suggesting that criminal behavior is learned in interaction with others and that socialization and learning processes occur as the result group membership and relationships.
Social Process Theories
1) Social Learning theories
2) Labeling Theory
3) Social Control Theories
Social Learning Theories
A perspective that places primary emphasis upon the role of communication and socialization in the acquisition of learned patterns of criminal behavior and the values that support that behavior.
Differential Association Theory
Suggest that all significant human behavior is learned and that crime, therefore, is not substantively different from any other form of behavior.
Social Learning Theory
Criminal behavior can not only be learned in social interactions with other humans who reinforce or discriminate against certain behaviors, but it can also be learned in a non-social context where the environment either reinforces or discriminates against behaviors.
Social Learning Theory has four components
1) Differential Association
2) Definitions
3) Imitations
4) Differential Reinforcements
Differential Association
The relationship humans have with others
Defenitions
Favorable or unfavorable to the violation of the law
Imitation
Occurs when a person observes another and decides to mimic the behavior
Differential Reinforcement
The perceived or actual consequences of a behavior.
Social Control Theories
- Ask why people obey rules instead of breaking them
* Predict that when social constraints on antisocial behavior are weakened or absent, delinquent behavior emerges.
Reckless Containment Theory
A form of control theory that suggest that a series of both internal and external factors contribute to law abiding behavior
Containment
The stabilizing force that, if effective, blocks pushes and pulls from leading an individual towards crime.
External Containment
the holding power of the group
Internal Containment
the ability of the person to follow the expected norms, to direct himself.
Reckless Containment Theory
*A focus on socially approved goals help keep people on the straight and narrow path
Pushes Towards Crime
Factors in an individuals background that might propel him or her into criminal behavior
Pull Toward Crime
Signifies all the perceived rewards crime may offer
*Financial gain, sexual satisfaction, and higher status
Delinquency and Self Esteem
Howard Kaplan- Proposed that people who are ridiculed by their peers suffer a loss of self-esteem, assess themselves poorly, and abandon the motivation to conform.
Social Bond Theory
Argued that through successful socialization, a bond forms between individuals and the social group.
4 Components of Social Bond
1) Attachment
2) Commitment
3) Involvement
4) Belief
General Theory of Crime
A Theory that attempts to explain all forms of criminal conduct through a single, overarching approach and holds that low self-esteem accounts for all crimes at all times.
General Theory of Crime is based on the belief that
Crime is a natural consequence of unrestrained human tendencies to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
*Also defines self-control as the degree to which a person is vulnerable to temptations of the moment.
Self control is fostered through parental emotional investment in the child, which includes:
1) Recognizing deviance when it occurs
2) Punishing the child for the deviance appropriately
3) Consistency in the recognition and punishment
Control Balance Theory
A blend of social bond and containment perspectives
Control Ration
Is the amount of control to which a person is subjective versus the amount of control that person exerts over others.
Control Ratio is said to predict
not only the probability that one will engage in deviance but also the specific form that deviance will take.
Labeling Theory
Society’s response o known or suspect offenders determines the individual future incidences of criminality by reducing the behavioral options available to labeling offenders.
Tagging
What happens to offenders following arrest, conviction, and sentencing.
Primary Deviance
An offenders initial acts of deviance
Secondary Deviance
The offenders continued acts of deviance
Moral Enterprise
The efforts made by an interest group to have its sense of moral ethical propriety enacted into law.
Moral Entrepreneurs
Individuals or groups engaged in the process of moral enterprise
Typology of Labeling
- Pure Deviant (appropriately punished)
- The Secret Deviant (not punished)
- Falsely Accused Deviant (inappropriately punished)
Social Process Theories
Suggest that crime prevention programs should work to enhance self control and to build pro-social bonds.
Prosocial Bonds
Bonds between the individual and the social group that strengthen the likelihood of conformity.
Pro-social Bonds are characterized by
attachments to conventional social institutions, values, and beliefs
Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP)
A program that places at-risk youth in one on one relationship with favorable adult role models
Preparing for the Drug-Free Years (PDFY)
A program designed to increase effective parenting for their children in grades 4-8 in an effort to reduce drug abuse and behavioral problems
Montreal Prevention Treatment Program
A program designed to address early childhood risk factors for gang involvement by targeting boys in kindergarten who exhibit disruptive behavior.
