Edward Gein Social Control Theory

This paper is based on the life of Ed Gein. He was an unusual character, born on a farm, and raised by a religious crazy, domineering mother. In the space of a few years his entire family passed away and he was left to take care of his farm all by himself. In the next few years he became a grave robber, a necrophiliac, a cannibal, and also took up arts and crafts in body parts. He is known as one of the weirdest serial killers of the twentieth century. He also inspired movies like Psycho, Silence of The Lambs, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Social control theory refers the ideas that society is responsible for maintaining law abiding citizens and/or producing deviant behavior (Hagan, 2016). The textbook generalizes that social control theories “view crime as taking place when social control or bonds to society break down” (Hagan, 2016, p. 170). This is concluded by the theories of four theorists – Walter Reckless, Travis Hirschi, Michael Gottfredson, and John Hagan – who investigated and theorized different philosophies that explain the relationship between crime and social control (Hagan, 2016). Reckless’s theory of containment is one of the most prominent and earliest models of social control theory (Hagan, 2016). Reckless theorized “that individuals have various social controls (containments) that assist them in resisting pressures that draw them toward criminality” (Hagan, 2016, p. 170). This theory holds that social factors and external or internal pressures influence individuals to either abide by the law or produce criminality (Hagan, 2016). A second theory is Hirschi’s social bond theory that states “delinquency takes place when a person’s bonds to society are weakened or broken, thus reducing personal stakes in conformity” (Hagan, 2016, p. 170). Hirschi posited that the bonds consist of four components: Commitment, belief, involvement, and attachment (Hagan, 2016). Commitment refers to an individual’s responsibilities, such as a job or providing for a family (Hagan, 2016). It states “if an individual

Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27th 1906 in La Crosse Wisconsin to an alcoholic father and an extremely religious mother who taught him that sex was a sinful act an early age and preached her religious teachings to both Ed and his brother. ( A&E Television Network, 2017) By 1915 Gein’s mother had decided to move the family to a farm in Plainfield Wisconsin and only let him go out in order to go to school. Due to this, the main influence in his life was his mother. Once his mother died in 1945 Geins obsessive attachment to her and her teachings would end up making him one of the most heinous and notorious killers in American history. This essay will show how the attachment theory is applicable in Ed Gein’s case. More specifically how Gein's attachment to his mother and how her death ultimately proved to be deadly.

The 1950s witnessed the obliteration of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein; the inquisitorial abhorrence of Californian Harvey Murray Glatman (who photographed his bound, terrorized victims

In recent discussions of serial killers, a controversial issue has been whether they were born being the killer that they are or if it is impacted by the way that they grew up. On the one hand, some argue that serial killers are influenced by things in their lives that cause them to become these guiltless killers. From this perspective, porn and violence in the home are big factors in what people believe to be influencing these people. On the other hand, however, others argue that these people are born this way and the way they grow up has no influence. In the words of Helen Morrison, one of these view’s main proponents, “No matter what country, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic background, education, familial background, they are all exactly the same.” According to this view, despite if they are born this way or grew up being influenced by things, they are all the same. In sum, then, the issue is whether they are born this way or if their lives are influenced.

Every day I enter the gates of a prison, sign out my keys, walk to my office and start my day. The first thing I do is log on to my computer, check my work email and then start inputting the details of last night’s new arrivals into our database. I stop pause and then wonder how, why, what makes a person commit a crime. Many crimes are committed throughout the world. There are several factors that instinctively contribute to one’s misconduct which can be explained by criminological theories. There are many core arguments of the criminological perspectives. These theories may help us to understand the problem. In this essay I will describe the criminological perspectives of Trait (biological/psychological), Social (structure/process), and Classical/Choice (deterrence) while addressing each of their core arguments; I will support an argument for which of the two sentencing models (determinate or indeterminate) is most likely to be effective at addressing crime from each of the three perspectives; and I will discuss

Hirschi’s theory of social bond, sometimes referred to as control theory is different from the other theories in criminology because it assumes that people would be deviant when left to their own devices and looks to discover why the individual chooses to stay within the social confines of the law when illegal methods would be more beneficial. The social bond theory

The readings in module five covered different perspectives on why crime does or does not occur. It covers differential association theory, learning theories, and control theories. Many of these theories play off each other when trying to explain why there is criminal behavior.

Do you ever wonder why some people become criminals? Is it a genetic compound that we are born with, or is it a casual effect of the surroundings we are raised in and the people we are raised by? It’s a complicated question with no absolute answer. Cyraus Foldger once said, “We are all capable of becoming something monstrous.” Foldger’s statement couldn’t be more accurate, human beings are shaped by their surroundings and relationships and because of this, we all have the ability to become criminals. There is a view of crime called the social process theory which is the view that criminality is a function of people’s interactions with various organizations, institutions, and processes in society. Social process theory consists of three independent

Ed Gein was the first original “Psycho” serial killer. (6)His first ever victim was his older brother Henry. Henry died in what seemed to be an accidental brush fire that raged out of control. There was later evidence that he, Ed Gein was responsible for his brothers death. His victims didn't stop at his brother, over the years people started disappearing. On november 16,1956 Bernice Worden was reported missing. Many people suspected Gein, police were sent to his house, only to be welcomed by Bernice Worden only

Biological and psychological perspectives seek to explain the underlying cause of criminal behavior through the means of individual genetic and mental ailments. However, these views are different from sociological aspects in that sociological theories focus on environmental factors found among groups and do not account for genetic and personality traits of those who have come from both good and bad situations. Therefore, psychologist and biologist try to account for influences of a genetic and mental nature in connection with the one’s social environment.

Throughout the decades many theorists have tried to define as to why an individual may engage in a ‘criminal’ manner. But we have to ask ourselves whether or not that is the right question. Travis Hirschi goes beyond and asks why do most of us conform to societal views, allowing him to understand what differentiates offenders from non-offenders rather than uncovering why someone commits a deviant act. Despite disagreeing with the others starting point, Hirschi did indeed attempted to mix the theories in with each other in order to explain social control. In this sense, control theory is not so much a theory of deviance as a theory of conformity (95). This essay will argue that Hirschi’s Social Control (Bond) theory is easily comparable and contrastable with Classical Criminology, Durkheim’s Theory of crime, and Merton’s Theory of crime

He is not, however, the first scholar to examine the extent of individual social control and its relationship to delinquency. In 1957, Jackson Toby introduced the notion of individual “commitment” as a pow-erful determining force in the social control of behavior. Scott Briar and Irving Piliavin extended Toby’s thesis by advancing the view that the extent of individual commitment and conformity plays a role in decreasing the likelihood of devi ance. They noted that the degree of an adoles-cent’s commitment is reflected in relationships with adult authority figures and with friends and is determined in part by “belief in God, affection for conventionally behaving peers, occupational aspirations, ties to parents, desire to perform well at school, and fear of material deprivations and punishments associated with arrest.” Briar and Piliavin were not entirely satisfied with control dimensions alone, however, and added another factor: individual motivation to be delinquent. This motivation may stem from a person’s wish to “obtain valued goods, to portray courage in the presence of, or to belong to, peers, to strike out at someone who is disliked, or sim-ply to get his kicks.” Hirschi was less interested in the source of an individual’s motivation to commit delinquent acts than in the reasons people do not commit such acts. He claimed that

In a criminology perceptive standpoint, criminologists disseminate their varied understandings of criminal behavior by the aspects of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and biological theories. Through the early philosophies of crime studies, the classical theory foist the belief of censurable punishment can deter people from committing criminal acts. The biological positivists believe that certain biological and mental traits present at birth can make people more contingent to crime. On the other hand, the sociological theorists believe that a person’s gauche social status within family, academia, and society are determinants of criminal behavior. The accurate lab results of psychology corroborate the explanation of criminal behavior by

Edward Theodore Gein was born on August 27th, 1906 in La Crosse, Wisconsin to an alcoholic father and an extremely religious mother who taught him that sex was a sinful act an early age and preached her religious teachings to both Ed and his brother. By 1915 Gein’s mother had decided to move the family to a farm in Plainfield Wisconsin and only let him go out in order to go to school. Due to this, the main influence in his life was his mother. Once his mother died in 1945 Gein's obsessive attachment to her and her teachings would end up making him one of the most heinous and notorious killers in American history. This essay will show how the attachment theory is applicable in Ed Gein’s case. More specifically, how Gein's attachment to his mother and how her death ultimately proved to be deadly.