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Control Theories

Control Theories. Control Theory. Everyone is motivated to break the law Deviance results from weak social constraints. Social Sources of Control. We connect to society via social groups Social rewards are contingent on staying out of trouble. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory.

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Control Theories

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  1. Control Theories

  2. Control Theory • Everyone is motivated to break the law • Deviance results from weak social constraints

  3. Social Sources of Control • We connect to society via social groups • Social rewards are contingent on staying out of trouble

  4. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory • People break the law because they have not internalized society’s rules • Internalization requires social bonds

  5. Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory • Emotional Attachment • Material Commitment • Temporal Involvement • Moral Belief

  6. Age-Graded Theoryof Informal Social Control • Sampson and Laub (1993) extended social control theory to explain changes in offending behavior over the life course • Questions:

  7. The Life-Course Perspective • Trajectories = • Transitions/Turning Points =

  8. Age-Graded Theoryof Informal Social Control • Transitions increase or decrease informal social control • Life course persistent v. adolescent limited

  9. Policy Implications • Less reliance on incarceration • Job training and family counseling • Use of community based punishment

  10. A Contrasting View:Self-Control Theory • Control resides in the person, not in his or her relationship to social groups

  11. The Origins of Self-Control • Young children naturally break rules • By age 8-10, kids most kids learn to control their behavior • Parenting is the key

  12. Empirical Patterns that Fit • Offenders tend to be generalists • Most offending requires no special skil • Offending usually brings immediate benefit

  13. A General Theory • Self-control is the only important causal factor for understanding crime/deviance • Other factors are spurious (also due to self-control)

  14. Policy Implicationsof Self-Control Theory • Focus on early family-based intervention • Parents must monitor and punish behavior

  15. Code of the Streets? • Informal social control theory • Neutralizations • Age-graded theory of informal social control • Self-control theory

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