Professor Byrne Oct20 2015 Lecture Major Sociological Theories Strain Theories Cohen Cloward and Ohlin Merton Subcultural Theories Wolfgang and Ferracutti Miller Control Theories Hirschi and Gottfredson Reckless ID: 484140
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Slide1
Sociological Theories of Crime Causation
Professor Byrne
Oct.20, 2015 LectureSlide2
Major Sociological Theories
Strain Theories
: Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, Merton
Subcultural Theories
: Wolfgang and Ferracutti, Miller
Control Theories
: Hirschi and Gottfredson, Reckless,
Lifecourse Theory
:Sampson and LaubSlide3
Strain Theories : Merton, Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, Agnew
Strain theories may focus on different aspects of criminal behavior (e.g. juvenile crime, gang formation, specific offender types) but
they share one common assumption: some (otherwise moral) people are driven to crime out of the frustration( and illegitimate opportunity structure) associated with living in lower class communities. Slide4
Robert Merton’s Goals vs. Means Typology of Individual Adaptations
Conformists
: Accept societal goals and means
Innovators
: Accept societal goals but reject means
Ritualists:
Reject societal goals but accept means
Retreatists
: Reject societal goals and means
Rebels
: Redefine both goals and meansSlide5
Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory of Differential Opportunity
Individuals may have blocked access to both legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structure, depending on neighborhood context.
Criminal Subculture
: in some neighborhoods, there is a stable, criminal organization that can be identified.
Conflict Subculture
: in other communities, there is no dominant criminal organization with several groups competing for control.
Retreatist Subculture
: individuals who can not gain entrance into either the criminal or conflict subculture tend to cluster here—these are double failures, who can not make it either legitimately or illegitimately.Slide6
Albert Cohen’s Theory of Delinquent Gangs
Key terms: prior socialization, labeling, middle class measuring rods, reaction formation, college boys, corner boys, delinquent boys, anti-utilitarian delinquency.
Theory: In school, kids from lower class areas are labeled as either bad or stupid.
There are three possible responses to this initial label: (1) try harder, (2) accept it, or (3) reject it and redefine success.Slide7
Cohen’s Typology
College Boys
: these juveniles continue to strive for educational success.
Corner Boys
: these juveniles lower their expectations and engage in marginal forms of deviance( alcohol, drugs).
Delinquent Boys
: these juveniles reject the negative labels and redefine status in a manner where they can be successful, through a process of reaction formation.
Today’s delinquent boys are tomorrow’s criminal offenders .Slide8
Modern Strain theory:
Robert Agnew
Revised versions of strain theory attempt to explain middle class delinquency.
Adolescents are more concerned with achievement of immediate goals, rather than the long term goals emphasized by classic strain theories: monetary success or job status.Slide9
Immediate Goals of Adolescents
Popularity with the opposite sex
Good Grades
Athletic Success
Owning a car
Getting along with parents
Achievement of immediate goals is independent of social classSlide10
Is Strain Theory Correct? A Review of the Evidence
Proposition 1:The universal emphasis on success is internalized by significant numbers of people in all social classes.
Several studies have found that the above proposition is not supported.
Lower class individuals have lower levels of aspirations than do middle class individuals:
They desire less education, less money, and less prestigious occupations than their middle class counterparts.
However, relative to what they have, lower class individuals desire as much, if not more, success than do middle class individuals.Slide11
A Review of the Evidence: Strain Theory
Proposition 2: Relative to middle class individuals, lower class individuals are less able to achieve their goals through legitimate channels
.
The Evidence here is mixedSlide12
A Review of the Evidence: Strain Theory
Proposition 3:
Strained
individuals are more likely to engage in crime.
The evidence here does not support the theorySlide13
A Critique of Strain Theory
The Class-crime connection is overstated.
Strain
should result in more crime; there is too much unexplained conformity in lower class areas.
Research testing strain theory relies on official data sources, rather than self-report or NCVS data.Slide14
Policy Implications of Strain Theory
War on Poverty: the development and expansion of anti-poverty programs in mid-60’s:
TANF: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
From Food Stamps(1965) to SNAP(2008): Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
AFDC: Aid to Families with Dependent Children
TANF: Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
EITC: Earned income tax credit for low and medium income families enacted in 1975.
Medicaid
Other In-Kind Programs, such as ER( emergency assistance), and TRA( temporary rental assistance), Head Start and Upward Bound education programs
Social Insurance Programs: Social Security, Medicare, UI( unemployment insurance)Slide15
Effectiveness of Anti-Poverty Programs?
A new
paper
by economist Liana Fox and colleagues calculates historical poverty estimates using the U.S. Census Bureau’s new Supplemental Poverty Measure. That measure accounts for the impact of SNAP, the earned income tax credit, and other government programs on household incomes.
Using this supplemental measure, the authors suggest that poverty has declined from 19 percent to 16 percent over the past 50 years. And absent government antipoverty programs, while one-quarter of U.S. households would have been poor in 1967, fully 31 percent would have been poor today
.
https://screen.yahoo.com/war-poverty-didnt-fail-isnt-220240076.html
Slide16
Subcultural Theories
Wolfgang’s Subculture of Violence: Violence at home + Violence in community=situational use of violence by residents
Miller’s Theory of Lower Class : Focal Concerns of youth include:
Trouble, Toughness, Smartness, Autonomy, FateSlide17
Traditional Control Theories
Control Theory explains conformity
Hirshi’s 4 Bonds to Society: When these bonds are weak/broken, individuals are free to deviate
Attachment
Commitment
Involvement
BeliefSlide18
Lifecourse Theory
Four Key Turning Points in the Life course:
Marriage
Employment
Military
Relocation