CHAPTER V.

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
Sociological theories of criminology say that society creates conditions under which a person
commits a crime. That is, people are influenced by society to commit crimes. The words
‹sociological› and ‹society› are linked, so you can remember that sociological theories look at
crime as a social problem, not an individual one.
“People aren’t born criminals, it is the environment in which they live that influences how they
will turn out.”
DIFFERENT SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES:
1. SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
Social disorganization is defined as an inability of community members to achieve shared
values or to solve jointly experienced problems (Bursik, 1988). The theory directly links
crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics; a core principle of social
disorganization theory is that place matters. The theory suggests that, among
determinants of a person’s later illegal activity, residential location is as significant as or
more significant than the person’s individual characteristics (e.g., age, gender, or race).
Larry Gaines and Roger Miller state in their book Criminal Justice in Action that “crime is
largely a product of unfavorable conditions in certain communities.” The theory is not
intended to apply to all types of crime, just street crime at the neighborhood level. The
theory has not been used to explain organized crime, corporate crime, or deviant
behavior that takes place outside neighborhood settings.”
Edwin Sutherland adopted the concept of social disorganization to explain the increases in
crime that accompanied the transformation of preliterate and peasant societies—in which
“influences surrounding a person were steady, uniform, harmonious and consistent”—to
modern Western civilization, which he believed was characterized by inconsistency,
conflict, and un-organization. Sutherland concluded that if the society is organized with
reference to the values expressed in the law, the crime is eliminated; if it is not organized,
crime persists and develops. “A person’s physical and social environments are primarily
responsible for the behavioral choices that person makes.” (Sutherland)

2. STRAIN THEORY
Strain theory states that social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit
crime. Strain theory is a sociology and criminology theory developed in 1938 by Robert K.
Merton. The theory states that society puts pressure on individuals to achieve socially
accepted goals (such as the American dream) though they lack the means, this leads to
strain which may lead the individuals to commit crimes.
Strain may either be:
 Structural
 Individual

MERTON’S THEORY
 Argued that society can encourage deviance to a large degree. Merton believed that
socially accepted goals put pressure on people to conform. People are forced to work
within the system or become members of a deviant subculture to achieve the desired goal.
Merton continued on to say when individuals are faced with a gap between their goals
(usually finances/money related) and their current status, strain occurs. When faced with
strain, people have five ways to adapt:
1. Conformity 4. Retreatism
2. Innovation 5. Rebellion
3. Ritualism

GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

General Strain Theory (GST) is a sociology and criminology theory developed in the 1992
by Robert Agnew. The core idea of general strain theory is that people who experience strain
or stress become distressed or upset which may lead them to commit crime in order to cope.
• Emotion as the motivator for crime.

MAIN SOURCES OF STRAIN:

 Loss of positive stimuli (death of family or friend)
 Presentation of negative stimuli (physical and verbal assaults)
 The inability to reach a desired goal.

3. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

People develop motivation to commit crime and the skills to commit crime through the
people they associate with. Criminal behavior is said to be learned through social
interactions, according to the social learning theory, which was first proposed by Albert
Bandura and then extended by Ronald Akers, criminal activity increases if they are exposed
to norms and values that encourage crime. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory states that
people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. The theory has
often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive.
SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY
Most people would commit crime if not for the controls that society places on individuals
through institutions such as schools, workplaces, churches, and families. Theorists believe it
is society’s responsibility to maintain a certain degree of stability and certainly in an
individual’s life, to make the rules and responsibilities clear, and to create other activities to
the art criminal activity.
•It is society’s obligation to prevent crime from happening.

4. ROUTINE ACTIVITY THEORY

Routine Activities Theory is a theory of crime events. Developed by Marcus
Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen. Routine Activity Theory states that in order for a crime to be
committed, three specific criteria must be involved. These criteria are that there must be a
motivated offender, a suitable target, as well as the absence of a capable guardian.
A Suitable Target/Victim – Person, Object, and Place
Capable Guardian - Police Patrols, Security Guards, Neighborhood Security Group, etc.

5. UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism is a philosophical view or theory about how we should evaluate a wide range of
things that involve choices that people face. Among the things that can be evaluated are
actions, laws, policies, character traits, and moral codes. “Best action is the one that
maximizes utility.”
Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism.
PRINCIPLE: “Do what produces the best consequences”
We cannot understand this single principle unless we know (at least) three things:
a) which things are good and bad;
b) whose good (i.e. which individuals or groups) we should aim to maximize; and
c) whether actions, policies, etc. are made right or wrong by their actual consequences (the
results that our actions actually produce) or by their foreseeable consequences (the results
that we predict will occur based on the evidence that we have).

UTILITY - as the sum of all pleasure that results from an action, minus the suffering of anyone
involved in the action.

6. DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY

Differential association theory is a theory in crime. Differential association theory suggests
that individuals who commit deviant acts are influenced to do so by primary groups and
intimate social contacts. The degree of influence one receives from messages favoring
deviant behavior varies by intensity, priority, frequency, and duration. Proposed and
developed by Edwin Sutherland in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Nine (9) Assumptions of the Theory:

• Criminal behavior is learned behavior.

• Criminal behavior is learned by interacting with other people by communicating with words
and gestures.
• The main portion of learning the criminal behavior happens among small groups of people.
• Learning about crime includes learning the techniques of committing a crime, as well as
learning the motivation and attitudes towards crime.
• Legal codes demonstrate what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and provide a motivation for crimes. In
other words, the law expresses what is right and wrong to an offender.
• A person becomes a criminal because of frequent criminal patterns. For example, if one is
exposed to a repeated criminal scenario this scenario will eventually rub off on others nearby.
• The differential association theory can differ in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.
• The learning of criminal behavior by association is similar to all other types of learning.
• Criminal and non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values. In other
words, it does not discriminate and any person of any background can become a criminal.
7. CONTAINMENT THEORY
Developed by Walter Reckless in the 1960s, Containment theory suggests that individuals are
pushed and pulled into crime. Pushes are elements that pressure individuals to engage in
delinquency while pulls draw individuals away from accepted forms of behavior. Pushes and
pulls, according to the hypothesis, are cushioned by both external and internal containments.
Inner Containment: Internal containment involves the ability to withstand pressures and pulls,
to handle conflicts, to divert oneself from exciting risks, and to stay out of trouble.
The inner containment includes self-concept, goal orientation, frustration tolerance, and norm
commitment and retention (i.e., elements within the individual’s self)
Outer Containment: The social environment in which the individual resides and reflects
socialization within the community (i.e., elements outside one’s self).

RECKLESS - CONTAINMENT THEORY

Reckless saw that there were numerous temptations in city life to perpetrate crimes.
According to him, in order to commit a crime, the person must overcome a mix of internal and
external security. It was proposed that we could regulate our behavior even by containing
ourselves. When things outside of us were changing. Nevertheless, it was the parents,
regarded as the most powerful source of authority and conduct .

8. SOCIAL BOND THEORY

American criminologist Travis Hirschi in the late 1960s, social bond theory is sometimes
referred to as social control theory. It is the belief that socialization and the forming of
personal relationships are among the most significant aspects of human development that
keep us from committing crimes or other acts of social deviance.
Social bond theory is a framework that criminologists and sociologists use to explain why a
person would decide to engage in criminal behavior. In order to address such a complicated
and confusing issue, Hirschi has identified four major elements that can help social scientists
arrive at a conclusion.

9. SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY/SOCIAL BOND THEORY

The Social Bond theory was created by Travis Hirschi in 1969. Social Bond theory, that later
developed into the Social Control Theory, has historically been an interesting way of
approaching social problems and how we in turn explain them.
This theory is rooted and derived from the General Theory of Crime.

10. LIFE-COURSE THEORY

The life course perspective is a broad approach that can be used in a variety of subject
matters such as psychology, biology, history, and criminology. As a theory, the denotation
establishes the connection between a pattern of life events and the actions that humans
perform.
The theory that a person’s “course” in life is determined by short (transitory) and long
(trajectory) events in his life, and crime can result when a transitory event causes stress in a
person’s life causing him to commit a crime against society.
• Karl Mannheim demonstrates the findings of how the human experiences, specifically
undergone in childhood, shape their ultimate outcome.

11. DURKHEIM’S ANOMIE THEORY

“Crime is necessary; it serves a function in society. Although it is not preferable, with the
progression and evolution of modernity and emphasis on monetary success, crime is
inevitable because a perfectly stable, uniform, and able society is impossible.”
According to Durkheim, anomie reflects a sense of normlessness, the lack of any societal
norms that spurs the tendency to anomie act in a deviant way. Thus came a temporary
imbalance of norms, anomie, which enhances an individual's propensity to commit crime in
search for a stable environment According to Durkheim, anomie is a state in which
expectations are unclear and the social system that keeps people functioning has broken
down.
THEORY OF SOCIAL ANOMIE
The fundamental idea behind social anomie is the vast disparity between an individual's
actual capacity to fulfill their goals and their actual aspirations. An individual will become
alienated if he or she fulfills their social responsibilities in line with their function in society
and the social environment does not provide any feedback on their behavior . Social anomie
also happens when old rules or values are no longer relevant and new values or rules are in
direct conflict with old rules and values.

12. SELF-DEROGATION THEORY

Self-derogation theory, rooted in Kaplan's (1975) work, suggests that low self-esteem
motivates juveniles to engage in delinquent behavior as a way to restore positive self-regard.
This theory is based on the assumption that individuals have a fundamental need to maintain
favorable self-evaluations, especially during adolescence when self-concept is influenced by
relationships with conventional groups (e.g., family and friends).

13. INTERACTIONAL THEORY

Proposed by Thornberry (1987), Interactional Theory provides a comprehensive framework for
understanding the causes and consequences of antisocial behavior, particularly delinquency
and drug use during adolescence and early adulthood. It emphasizes the reciprocal and
evolving relationships between social bonds, delinquent behaviors, and deviant networks over
the life course.

14. SELF-CONTROL THEORY

The "Self-Control Theory of Crime", also known as the "General Theory of Crime", was
developed by Travis Hirschi and Michael Gottfredson (1990). It posits that "low self-control" is
the primary factor behind criminal and analogous (non-criminal but deviant or risky)
behaviors. The theory emphasizes the role of early childhood parenting in the development of
self-control and highlights its stability across the life course.

15. CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY

Developed by sociologists Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay in the 1930s, "Cultural Deviance
Theory" argues that crime is primarily influenced by the social structure, cultural norms, and
disorganization of communities, rather than being solely the responsibility of deviant
individuals. The theory highlights the relationship between community environment and
criminal behavior, with a focus on lower-class subcultures.

16. FEMINISM THEORY

Feminist theory on crime and deviance emphasizes the need to focus on "women's
victimization, delinquency, and gender inequality" in criminology, challenging traditional
male-centered approaches. It highlights the structural, cultural, and social factors that shape
women's criminal behavior and critiques the male-dominated explanations of crime causation.
1. Critique of Traditional Criminology
2. Feminist Schools of Thought
3. Steven Box and Chris Hale on Female Criminality
4. Freda Adler’s Theory of Female Criminality

17. DIFFERENTIAL OPPRESSION THEORY

"Differential Oppression Theory" by Regoli and Hewitt (2001, 2003) examines how children, as
a vulnerable and powerless group, are systematically oppressed by adults across various
social contexts. The theory argues that oppression negatively impacts children's
development, often leading to problem behaviors, such as delinquency, substance abuse, and
mental health issues.
1. Oppression and Children's Powerlessness
2. Contexts of Oppression
3. Adaptive Reactions to Oppression
4. Developmental-Ecological Perspective
5. Oppression as Objectification