Social Process Theories: Socialized to Crime Chapter Seven: Social Process Theories: Socialized to Crime

Social Process Theory The view that criminality is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society All people, regardless of their race, class, or gender, have the potential to become delinquents or criminals

Critical Elements of Socialization Family relations Peer group School Church

3 Major Types of Social Process Theories Social learning theory Social control theory Social reaction (labeling) theory

Social Learning Theories The view that people learn to be aggressive by observing others acting aggressively to achieve some goal or being rewarded for violent acts Types of social learning theories: differential association theory neutralization theory

Principles of Differential Association Criminal behavior is learned Learning occurs within intimate personal groups Learning involves assimilating the techniques of committing crime The specific direction of motives is learned from perceptions of various aspects of the legal code as favorable or unfavorable

Principles of Differential Association Continued A person becomes a criminal when s/he perceives more favorable than unfavorable consequences to violating the law Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity The process of learning criminal behavior involves all of the mechanisms involved in any learning process

Criticisms of Differential Association Theory Fails to account for the origin of criminal definitions Assumes criminal and delinquent acts are rational and systematic Tautological (circular in reasoning)

Neutralization Theory The view that law violators learn to neutralize conventional values and attitudes, enabling them to drift back and forth between criminal and conventional behavior The neutralization has to occur BEFORE the act.

5 Techniques of Neutralization Denial of responsibility Denial of injury Denial of the victim Condemnation of the condemners Appeal to higher loyalties

Social Control Theory The view that people commit crime when the forces binding them to society are weakened or broken Explains the onset of crime Has been empirically tested

Contemporary Social Control Theory Links the onset of criminality to the weakening of the ties that bind people to society Hirschi’s four main elements: attachment commitment involvement belief

Social Reaction (Labeling) Theory The view that people become criminals when labeled as such and when they accept the label as a personal identity Explains society’s role in creating deviance

Primary vs. Secondary Deviance Primary deviance is a norm violation or crime with little or no long-term influence on the violator Secondary deviance is a norm violation or crime that comes to the attention of significant others or social control agents, who apply a negative label with long-term consequences for the violator’s self-identity and social interactions

Social Process Theories and Public Policy Promote conventional lines of behavior Focus on the family and schools to strengthen bonds Reconfigure an offender’s self-image Diversion and restitution programs