Essay On Social Control Theory

Social Control Theory is one of the most widely accepted theories for explaining criminal behavior and delinquency. Being first titled social control theory by “Travis Hirschi in his 1969 book, Causes of Deliquency.” (Costello, 2010) Social control theory has had the influence from earlier criminologists like Hobbes, Bentham and Beccaria where they stated that basically every individual’s human nature is selfish (Costello, 2010) and due to that selfishness people will usually commit delinquent acts in order to fulfill their self-interests. Most theories focus on that selfishness, for why people commit crime whereas social control theory tends to reject the normal question of why do people commit crime. Instead the fundamental question then …show more content…
By defining these terms in a more detailed manner, and looking at the history of how they came about has grown Hirschi’s social control theory. However every theory continues to grow by more tests being done on that specific theory. Recent contributions to Hirschi’s social control theory show that the four social bonds can focus on more than his original thought of “why don’t we do it?” (Hirschi, 1969) when referring to crime. Social control theory has successfully explained why delinquency happens but it is “better thought of as a general theory pointing to the lack of social integration as the major cause of crime and delinquency.” (Costello, 2010) Which becomes a focus for Hirschi’s later work. Regardless of Hirschi later expanding his work into the General Theory of Crime with Gottfredson, the social control theory is still greatly used today to expand, and highlight why individuals do and do not commit crime. Social control theory’s recent contributions include work on strain theory in China, friendship qualities, and fragile