Differential Association Theory: The Chicago School And Criminal Behavior

The way individuals learn to interact with society as children tends to predict how they will interact with society and respond to its environments as adults. There are social theories that help the understanding of why individuals choose deviant behaviors and how they progress through life. Social process theories view criminal and deviant criminal behaviors as evolving mechanisms learned through societal interaction. Social development theories view deviant and criminal behaviors as part of a maturation process. Social theories are conclusions that have come about based on the response of individuals to

Using criminological terms and concepts, focus on a jurisdiction, neighborhood, or geographic locale with which you are familiar. Regarding a human behavior which you select to focus on in that geographical space, write two concise yet comprehensive paragraphs on how social disorganization theory can inform your understanding of behavior and place, and one weakness which would find your understanding somehow lacking, and why. Then write two equally compelling paragraphs on how routine activities theory would foster your understanding, and one weakness which might leave your understanding lacking, and why.

It is stated through the studies of the Chicago school theorists, that from social surroundings individuals can pick up their values, including the conviction that in order to respond to injustice one must take matters into their own hands. It later comes out that Jimmy killed Ray for having to go to prison for robbery, and sends his family five hundred dollars a month, and they all assume Ray decided to abandon them, but in all reality Ray is dead, and was shot by Jimmy. Since Jimmy was sent to

Social disorganization theory was established by Shaw and Mckay (1942) in their famous work “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas”. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that, the place where people live will influence the individual’s behavior, and this may lead them to crimes. More precisely, certain characteristics of the neighborhood/community will strengthen or weaken the informal social control within the community, and this has mediating effect on crimes.

He then entered graduate school in SUNY Albany, where he is specifically studying sociology and the roles of society. While doing that he met and work with powerful sociologists. One of the sociologist Travis Hirschi, who help him promote his research on crime from his article Causes of Delinquency. It was his most cited and influential studies of crime, and he became more interested in criminology. Sampson was also introduced to sociologists that made a huge impact on his whole career. The Chicago School of Urban Sociology talked about the rapidly growing population in the early 1900s in Chicago. In that particular time. Sociologist focus on the social criminal behavior can be influenced by urbanization, immigration, and social structures. Sampson said “One way I look at the city is to try to understand how different social phenomena are clustered in the same places and follow similar patterns over time.” (Profile of Robert J. Sampson)

Neighborhood's ecological conditions shape crime rates over and above the characteristics of individual residents. Communities that have been invaded by businesses and industry cease to function effectively as a means of social control. Their traditional norms and standards eventually weaken and disappear. The community's resistance to

Have you ever watched the news and wondered why so much crime is taking place in or around your neighborhood and by whom? You're not alone in trying to figure out why that is happening. The city of Chicago was experiencing major crime in their neighborhood by juvenile delinquency and could not pinpoint the reason behind it. Criminology theorists went on a mission to find why crime was popular in the neighborhoods of Chicago. They created a theory called social disorganization theory which is also known as the theory of the Chicago school.

Social learning theory refers to Akers’ theory of crime and deviance. Akers attempted to specify the mechanism and processes through which criminal learning takes place by explaining crime and deviance; he did this in such a way that the likelihood of conforming or deviant behavior based on the influence of an individual’s history of learning was accounted for. This theory was based off Sutherland’s differential association

Differential association theory best explains the burglary deviance. There are many principles associated with this type of social learning theory. Edwin Sutherland’s theory discusses how crime is a learned

They were only concerned with one social group at the time. The continued research since they originally proposed the theory has developed, and finds crime and victimization to be the highest in communities with low social ties, lack of participation in volunteer opportunities, low levels of supervision or parenting, and high degrees of houses turning over. These findings are very consistent with the first findings that Shaw and McKay discovered when they conducted their study. Although there were some errors that were discussed years after they presented this theory, it has since been proven to still be an accurate theory. A lack of structure is not conducive to a positive environment for a child. Kids make poor choices, and will be more inclined to make poor choices if they do not have someone teaching them how to be a productive member of society. It is proven that young teenagers and early adults are more likely to commit crime, so if you combine that with a lack of structure, you are creating a situation that will not end well 9 times out of 10. If the child never had any reason to think crime was bad and that their actions would have both a victim and a consequence, if they are angry at parents or at the instability that was shown in

Personal group influences, whether criminal or not, also play a role in each theory. Personal group influences can include close family members, relatives, friends or peers. Inappropriate socialization is also a contributor to non-conventional acts. Both theories explain the reasons that led to the murders of rival street gang members and how they were learned. Overall, both theories help explain how individuals exposed to violent crimes such as murder in gangs, learn from the events and end up engaging in homicides due to social and environmental influences and

The social process theory suggests that criminals are raised in an environment that forms them to make unlawful decisions. People are influenced by what they are taught and their surroundings such as where they were raised, their guardians, and people they associated with. Individuals actions and thought process is going to be based off of what their first instinct is and their first instinct is going to be what they know best. For example, if a boy is raised in a home where their family shows their anger by reacting physically, then that child will be more likely the one that is getting in fights at school than the child who grew up in a home where fighting was never present. No one is born with the mind be

The Differential Association Theory, established by Edwin Sutherland in 1947, explicit the deviance of an individual's behavior and how it is learned through interaction with others or associations. There are several components that play a role in this theory that determines the main causes of delinquency. One of the components of this theory is, a person do not inherently become a criminal, it is a learned behavior. A person cannot decide one day he wants to commit a crime if he is not influence or challenge by others. When someone engages in criminal acts, they are most likely influence in some way that motivates them to commit the crime.

On the other hand, theorists have taken a different stand point to explain criminal and delinquent behaviour. Firstly, Edwin Sunderlands (1939) theory of differential

Mr. Reploge, I agree with your point of view. Criminal behavior is a learned behavior, not inherited. Gabriel Tarde challenged the concept of the born criminal developed by Cesare Lombroso. He believed that one becomes a criminal through their environment, not birth. Group dynamics validate this theory. The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making and criminal behaviors. It allows the principle of differential association to be examined through the rule of law.