Association, Strain, Social Control, And Labeling Theory

After reading this scenario, I noticed a few things about the character, John. He was a product of the environment in which he lived in. John did not know what “doing the right thing” was. He had no support system at all. Growing up, most of John’s family was either in prison or had some type of drug or alcohol problem. John’s father was not around throughout his childhood because he had hit his wife and his children. When John got out of jail the first time, he had nowhere positive to go. The only place that he could go was back to his old ways with his gang friends. It was clear that John had no faith in himself at all. He never seemed to want to put work effort in, because he always found ways to take the easy way out of situations. In some way, this was primary socialization, he was only ever shown that committing crime was right. …show more content…
The association theory is when certain people base their actions on their connections and interactions with others. According to boundless.com the strain theory is when social structures within society may pressure citizens to commit crimes. The social control theory is any process that is used to minimize deviance from social norms. Finally, the labeling theory states that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them, according to thoughtco.com. The article goes on to say that the association between crime and deviance, “is used to point out how social processes of labeling and treating someone as criminally deviant actually fosters deviant behavior, and has negative repercussions for that person because others are likely to be biased against them because of the