Social Control Theory Social Control Theory Everyone is

Social Control Theory

Social Control Theory • Everyone is motivated to break the law • So, the question is NOT: Why do we break rules? But, Why don’t we? • Deviance results from weak social constraints • A theory of conformity • Constraints originate in our social experience

Social Sources of Control • We connect to society via social groups • Family, neighborhood, school, work, etc. • “We are moral beings only to the extent that we are social beings” Emile Durkheim (1925) • Social rewards are contingent on staying out of trouble • We develop stakes in conformity • “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose” Bob Dylan

Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory • People violate social norms because they lack social bonds to conventional others (family, school, work) • Social bonds do not reduce criminal motivation, they simply enable us to resist temptation • A theory of informal social control

Hirschi’s Social Bonds • Emotional Attachment to conventional others (parents, teachers, friends), avoid their disapproval • Material Commitment = deviance places investments in conventional relationships at risk • Temporal Involvement = limits criminal opportunity – “idle hands are devil’s workshop” • Moral Belief in the “rightness” of rules and laws, internalization, personal standards

The Life-Course Perspective Sampson and Laub (1993) • Trajectories = long-term pathways through life • Turning Points = short-term events that affect life trajectories

Age-Graded Theory of Informal Social Control • Turning points increase or decrease informal social control • Create or destroy connections to society • School, employment, marriage, family • Tend to be age-graded, but vary by person

Braithwaite’s Shaming Theory • Effectiveness of punishment • Rooted in social bonds • Disintegrative shaming • Stigmatization, outcast status, social bond destroyed • Reintegrative shaming • Disapproval followed by reacceptance, preserves bonds

Implications of Informal Social Control Theory for Inmates • Preserve social bonds to work and family • Less reliance on incarceration • Job training and family counseling • Use of community based corrections

The Origins of Self-Control Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) • Young children naturally break rules • By age 8 -10, kids most kids learn to control their behavior • Parenting is the key • Monitoring, detection, punishment • Poor parenting leads to low self-control in children

Empirical Patterns that Fit • Offenders tend to be generalists (not specialists) • Smoking, drinking, drug use, speeding, unprotected sex • Most offending requires no special skill, tend to be impulsive • Opportunity is key • Offending usually brings immediate benefit, despite potential for long-term costs

Hirschi’s Informal Social Control Theory Bad relationships/ Weak social bonds Deviance

Low Self-Control Theory Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) Bad relationships/ spurious Weak social bonds Deviance Low self-control

Implications of Low Self-Control Theory • Focus on early family-based intervention • CJ sanctions can play only a minor role • Parents must monitor and punish the behavior of their children • For those with weak families, government supports are needed

Review of Control Theories • Informal social control (social bond) • Hirschi’s social bond theory • Sampson and Laub’s age graded theory of informal social control • Self-control • Gottfredson and Hirschi’s theory of low self control