Social control

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…

Criminology is defined as a branch of sociology that gives an account of the causes of crime, some of the effects of crime and their social implications in the society. The development of human beings is controlled by traits that individuals are born with (Siegel 2010). Criminology theories explain the existence of certain behaviours in individuals but do not give an account of why criminal rates change from one place to another. There have been many theories explaining why crime exists in the…

Social control revolves around why people conform or break social norms in society by exploring macro-sociological and micro-sociological perspectives. Macro-sociological perspective studies the formal system such as groups, laws, and enforcement that prohibit bad behavior. While the micro-sociological focuses on an individual’s internal belief, values and self-controls. For example, social control believes forces such as family, friends, religion, and moral beliefs regulate human behavior and…

Introduction In a study completed by Steven Downing, Gaming Subculture, Social Control, and Virtual Criminality: An Ethnographic Account, he observed the dynamics of formal and informal actions amongst gamers, whom were the subjects to participate in video games under Downing 's observed setting. The goal was to monitor the reactions these massively multiplayer online games, typically found on PCs, had on the gamers emotions and actions compared to the deviant and criminal behaviors which…

The two that most apply are the strain theory and social control theory. The strain theory, according to Glick and Miller, “views crime and delinquency as a result of the anger and frustration people feel because of their inability to achieve the American dream’’ (2008). This theory applies to this research because prisoners returning to society are often lacking resources that other non-offenders readily have available. Without those resources to achieve the “American dream”, a prisoner may…

the possible policy implementations. The essay will examine the comparison of Travis Hirschi’s theory of social control compared to classical criminology, Durkheim's theory, and Merton’s theory. Social control theory examines delinquency, and how “Delinquent acts result when an individual’s bond to society is weak or broken” (Hirschi, 2014, p. 231). He argues that delinquency is not subjected to one certain group, but anyone can become delinquent. Criminality is created through the social bonds…

Robert Agnew, and Robert Sampson were discussing their reasons why there is a high violent crime rate in Chicago. Since I could overhear the conversation, I can lay out the dialogue exchange among these men. Most importantly the reasoning, assumptions, empirical validity, weaknesses, and policy implications of each theory. Firstly, Travis Hirschi’s Social Control Theory can explain the high crime rates in Chicago. This theory revolved around the notion that social bonds between individual’s…

In a study of the Social Control Theory, Josine Junger-Tas was able to use a sample of 75,000 to gain a better understanding. After much research, Josine was able to develop a more defined meaning of the concepts in Travis’s Hirschi’s theory. Such as the concept of attachment being only to significant others, commitment to the conventional subsystems, involvement in conventional activities and beliefs in the conventional norms (Junger-Tas 10). She developed a consensus of Hirschi’s theory after…

Social control “refers to the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings, appearance, and behavior are regulated in social systems” (Crossman).The textbook describes four types of social control, belief, involvement, attachment, and commitment. Beliefs like always being kind and standing up for yourself has taught me to not fight with others but not agree to things that I do not want to do, keeping me from partaking in questionable activities. My involvement in activities like color guard in…

the moral codes are implanted. The Family functions as an institution of social control by socializing individuals as to accepted and expected norms, values and standards of behaviour of the wider society. If we conform we are praised, but if we deviate from these accepted values we are punished. This punishment may take various forms such as grounding, taking away one’s cellphone ridicule or gossip. This process of learning the rules and values is reinforced by our friends. When transitioning…