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 PerspectiveSampson and Laub (1993)

• Trajectories = long-term pathways through life

• Turning Points = short-term events that affect life trajectories

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

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-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

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 SocialControl Theory

Bad relationships/Weak social bonds Deviance

Low Self-Control TheoryGottfredson and Hirschi (1990)

Bad relationships/Weak social bonds Deviance

Low self-control

spurious

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

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