Social%20Control%20Theory

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Social Control Theory
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Social Control Theory

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

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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

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Hirschis 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

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Hirschis 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 devils workshop
• Moral Belief in the rightness of rules and
  laws, internalization, personal standards

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The Life-Course PerspectiveSampson and Laub
(1993)

• Trajectories long-term pathways through life
• Turning Points short-term events that affect
  life trajectories

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Age-Graded Theoryof 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

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Braithwaites 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

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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

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The Origins of Self-ControlGottfredson 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

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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

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Hirschis Informal SocialControl Theory
Bad relationships/ Weak social bonds
Deviance
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Low Self-Control TheoryGottfredson and Hirschi
(1990)
Bad relationships/ Weak social bonds
spurious
Deviance
Low self-control
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Implications ofLow 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

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Review of Control Theories

• Informal social control (social bond)
• Hirschis social bond theory
• Sampson and Laubs age graded theory of informal
  social control
• Self-control
• Gottfredson and Hirschis theory of low self
  control