Essay On Social Construction Theory

Serial murder, over the years, has received a great deal of interest from the media and the public at large. Over the last few decades, the act of serial murder began to increase. Law enforcement and their partners were tasked with the responsibility of tapping into the minds of serial killers that have been apprehended and, through their findings, developing methods of preventing serial murder. As a result, the subject has been intensely researched, books have been written, and theories have been developed in an effort to predict and prevent further killing.
The outcome of this intensive research and focus was a list of social construction theories established in an effort to prevent serial murder. Social structure, social class, social process, neutralization, social control, and labeling theories are utilized today to evaluate, understand, and ultimately prevent criminals from committing acts of violence.
Social structure, as it relates to serial killers, is the theory that asks the question of “why” individuals in today’s society commit deviant acts. The social structure theory presumes that individuals falling within the lower class and facing economic hardships are more prone to commit criminal offenses including acts of violence because of their social status in a community or a society. Research establishes that this theory …show more content…
Individuals study the techniques and attitudes of those around them to develop their behaviors, which essentially is the same way that any individual learns any given behavior. The learning process varies depending on the frequency of exposure to the behaviors. Further, social process teaches individuals that the incentive to commit a criminal act is greater when the benefits outweigh the unfavorable consequences, which is essentially a balancing of rewards and